12
1045 Words
Breathe. Stay cool. He’s just trying to intimidate you. “Your briefs.”
“You’re wearing my underwear?”
His gaze flashes up to mine. I never knew blue eyes could burn so hotly, but they do.
It’s my turn to moisten my lips. He watches the movement of my tongue with the sharp gaze of a predator.
“In case you haven’t noticed, I don’t have any other clothes.”
I was going for a tone of cool disinterest, but miss badly. I sound like I just ran a four-minute mile.
Declan’s hand tightens around my shoulder. The pulse in the side of his neck throbs.
Holy s**t, it’s sweltering in here. I need to get out of this closet before I erupt into flames.
“I’ll let you go when I’m ready,” he murmurs.
My held breath comes out in a rush. “You don’t get to start reading my mind. That isn’t a thing that’s going to happen, so forget it. Don’t even try.”
“Can’t help it. You’ve got a face like an open book.”
Unnerved by how throaty his voice is, how sweaty I am, and how my traitorous ovaries have decided to stage a coup on my entire nervous system, I shake my head. “No, I don’t. I’m as cool as a cucumber. I’m an ice cube. I’m a cat.”
“A cat?”
“You know. Aloof. Unreadable.”
Maintaining eye contact with me, he slides his hand down my arm until it reaches my wrist. He encircles it with his giant paw, pressing his thumb against my pulse point.
After a moment, he says softly, “For such an aloof little cat, you’ve got quite the frantic heartbeat.”
“It runs in my family.” Stop panting! Why the hell are you panting? You sound like a Labrador!
Declan’s thumb moves slowly back and forth over my throbbing, tattletale vein. His gaze drops to my mouth.
“Would you like to know what runs in my family, little cat?”
There’s a voice between my legs screaming Boy, would I! but with a valiant effort, I ignore it.
When I don’t answer, Declan leans close to my ear and murmurs, “That’s what I thought.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Aye, lass, you did. Just not in words.”
I want to scream. I want to punch him in the throat. I want to stomp on his toe and slap his arrogant face and s***h every stupid black suit in his closet to shreds.
Instead, I muster my dignity and say calmly, “You wish.”
He inhales against my neck, his nose skimming the sensitive spot underneath my nose. It makes goose bumps break out all along my arms.
Then he withdraws abruptly and releases my shoulder. He steps back, blinking, looking like he’s not sure what just came over him, and also that he’d like to give himself a black eye.
He digs into his jacket pocket and produces a cell phone. He thrusts it at me.
“Here.”
He pauses for a rough throat clearing as I take the phone. “My number’s programmed in. If you need something, text me. You can’t dial out except for that number. There’s no internet connection. Don’t bother trying to contact anyone else.”
He spins on his heel and strides out of the closet.
“Wait!” I run after him. He’s already halfway across the room. “Declan!”
He stops at the door. Without turning around, he says gruffly, “What?”
“How long are you going to keep me here?”
“As long as it takes.”
“As long as what takes?”
He’s silent for a moment, debating with himself, then turns and faces me. His expression is grim. “I wasn’t going to tell you this, but those MS-13 lads who shot at us? That wasn’t a rescue attempt.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean they were trying to kill us. Both.”
A chill runs down my spine. “Why would they try to kill me? You said Kage sent them.”
“No, I said your abduction wouldn’t go over well with him. And that was accurate. He did mobilize his own soldiers to form a rescue party. But somehow, the other syndicates discovered the identity of my cargo as well.”
Cargo. I’m nothing more than a package to these people. “And?”
“I told you. We’re at war. You’re a valued member of the Bratva—”
“Whoa. Hold on. I’m not in the Russian mafia.”
Declan gazes at me with dark, unreadable eyes. “You’re loved by some who are.”
Natalie. Stavros. Oh god. “So you’re saying now I’m a gangster by default?”
“What you are is a target. Because of the shootings that happened at the annual Christmas Eve meeting of the families, Kazimir closed down all the ports, disrupted distribution pipelines, sabotaged shipments, and interrupted the flow of money. Everyone’s hurting. If the other families get their hands on you, you’ll be used as either a bargaining chip or…”
Payback.
He doesn’t have to say it. I understand where this story leads.
Holding his gaze, I say, “And which will you use me for?”
“If I wanted you dead, you already would be.”
“So it’ll be a negotiation, then.”
“I’m not negotiating with that piece of rubbish.”
There’s something hateful in his tone, something that hints at old vendettas and even older scars. He despises Kage, that much is clear, but also seems to think he’s superior to him.
As if one racketeering, drug-smuggling, money-laundering criminal is better than another.
“If I’m not a bargaining chip to you, or a means for retaliation, what am I? Why am I here?”
“I already told you, lass. Right now, it’s safer for you with me than anywhere else.”
It hits me then: Declan saved my life.
If what he’s saying is true and MS-13 had managed to get their hands on me… No. I won’t think about that.
- Writer
