Page 18 of Bought

“No shit, Sherlock.” I let my hands lie still in my lap, even though every part of me wanted to claw at the silk to get free. “How about my name is whatever you want it to be.”

He leaned forward and picked up my bound wrists by the silk, moving unhurriedly and with purpose, slowly but surely dragging me closer until his piercing blue gaze was mere inches from mine.

My heartbeat was like a hammer in my head, fear crawling under my skin. All my muscles had locked, the reaction I so hated kicking in, where I froze like a prey animal helpless before the wolf.

“Shall I put you out on the street now?” His voice was rimmed with frost. “Is that what you want, little one?”

I tried to find my fury, desperately wanting to throw it in his face, to scream at him that he could stop with the stupid threats and his patronizing terminology, that I wasn’t going to give him what he wanted. Yet, I knew if I did that, he’d stop the car and out I’d go.

I had to pull myself together. I had to.

He was so close. His powerful body inches away, his aftershave clouding my senses. I’d never been this close to a man, apart from that moment in the room in Arcadia, and I’d never wanted to be. So I wasn’t sure now why everything about him seemed to consume me, especially with him radiating threat so strongly. He made my heart beat fast, my skin prickle with heat, a subtle pressure start up between my legs, and I had no idea why.

“No.” I tried to sound as if I didn’t even know the word fear. “I don’t want you to put me out on the street.”

His gaze bored steadily into mine. “But you’re afraid of me.”

“Seriously?” I fought not to rip my hands from his grip and put some distance between us. Fought not to betray even the slightest hint of fear. “As if.”

“You are. You’re desperate for me to release you.”

“I am not.” I attempted a laugh. “I couldn’t give a shit what you do.”

He didn’t even blink. “Do you think I’m going to hurt you? Is that why you’re afraid? I told you I wouldn’t.”

A cold sensation was spreading through me. I tried to sneer. “People say that all the time. Why would you be any different?”

“What people?”

Oh no, I wasn’t going to talk about me. “It doesn’t matter.”

“It does.” His grip tightened on the silk, intensifying the feeling of restriction. “In my case it’s true. I never say anything I don’t mean. So you’ll have to trust me.”

Panic had begun to build inside me, but I wasn’t going to give in to it. I fucking well wasn’t. “Trust you? Are you crazy? Why should I?”

He just stared at me, his grip on my wrists strong, apparently impervious to the fear gathering in my throat that surely, he could see. “Because you either trust me, or I put you out on the street. So. What’s it to be?”

I hated him suddenly. Hated how he was holding me, using my fear against me. Hated how delicious he smelled and how I was inexplicably drawn to the strength of his body and the force of presence, at the same time as I was repelled by it.

I hated myself too, for the way I responded to him. For how confused I was by him. And for how the fear that I thought I’d left behind years ago was still there, sitting like ice in my gut.

I had to give him some truth, I knew. I couldn’t afford for him to put me out on the street. This job was too important.

“I can’t tell you my name,” I said. “I’m sorry but I can’t. There will be…repercussions if I do. Just know that I wasn’t lying when I said that I was at Arcadia tonight for you. And that I wanted you to buy me and no one else.”

His gaze pinned me, a steady, cold light. “Where do you come from?”

“Nowhere.”

“Everyone comes from somewhere.”

Damn him. Why did he have to keep asking questions? Why did he tell me he wouldn’t hurt me and yet have no qualms at all about frightening me?

He’s ruthless, remember?

Like I didn’t know that already. Like I hadn’t read all those articles about him and watched all those interviews with him. Like I hadn’t learned everything I could about him.

I knew he was ruthless. You didn’t build a multi-billion-dollar company from nothing within the space of a few years by being shy and retiring and kind to everyone you met.