Page 9 of A Ruthless Bargain
His smile disappeared at the same time I asked, “What? Our gravity?” Confusion swept through me. Was he from a higher altitude, that the gravity difference was noticeable? I didn’t remember that from when I was in school.
“Stop interfering with my work,” he ordered.
The deflection worked. “What are you talking about? I’m not interfering with anything.”
“Did you, or did you not, call the US Marshals to confirm my identity?”
I stared over his shoulder and fumbled with how to respond. How could he know that?
“You are probably wondering how I know you called.”
My gaze snapped back to his mirrored sunglasses. Fear coursed through me and I glared harder at him. Was he reading my mind?
“Whether or not I am an actual US Marshal, I have connections.”
A flare of tension caused my body to tremble. This could get so much worse than alleyway encounters and lost jobs if I wasn’t careful.
He leaned forward and whispered in my ear, “I can monitor anything.”
His hot breath against my flesh spiraled me back to that morning’s encounter. My nipples hardened and desire pooled in my belly.
“Why are you interfering with my work?”
“I’m not,” I argued again. This was becoming tiresome. Why did I have to keep denying my involvement in something I knew nothing about? Especially given his behavior that morning. My rising anger obliterated my longing, fear, and common sense. Fuck this dude and his power trip. “You abused your power. I wanted to find out if you were an actual federal agent.”
His eyebrows lifted above the top of his mirrored sunglasses. “I did what?”
“You abused your power.” My legs quivered at my repetition of the statement. No matter how my body responded in the moment, and still flashed to it, saying the truth out loud scared the fuck out of me.
“I did not.” His words, so matter-of-fact and without rancor, floored me.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“I did not abuse anything. We bartered to an acceptable interaction, like at home.” He shrugged.
Bartered? At home? The fuck?
“Bartered?” I asked.
“Yes. I do not normally barter with females… around here,” he finished after another odd pause. “You seemed… different.”
My head swam with the nonsense he was spewing. Where the fuck did this guy come from? Another planet? The memory of his penis vibrating against my backside and feeling like it split into multiples surfaced unbidden in my mind. Nah. That was just my emotions fucking with me. Had to be… didn’t it?
“You interfered with my pursuit.”
“I don’t know what pursuit you keep referring to,” I interrupted with a snarl.
“I offered not to make things difficult for you,” he continued, ignoring my outburst, “so long as you cooperated with the necessary action to determine that you were not helping my fugitive this morning.” He held his hands clasped in front of him, appearing at ease.
I, on the other hand, wanted to jump out of my skin. “Bartered? Cooperated? I don’t know what you’re even talking about.” My head shook of its own volition.
His mouth drew up on one side. “I do not understand.”
“You don’t understand?”
“Yes. We bartered, you cooperated, I cleared you of involvement, we both enjoyed it. End of story.”
“End of story?” My words continued to parrot his. “Where the fuck are you from that femalesact like that?” I mimicked his voice on the word females.