by Jesse Joren
"I don't believe we've actually met in person," he said to Phillip and Natalie.
Both of them waited, silently appraising him.
"You have me to thank for stealing Eva," he said. "I'm Stephen D'Amitri."
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
My heart pounded in my temples
Stephen D'Amitri. Hex is Stephen.
For a long, slow moment Phillip and Hex seemed to take each other's measure through the screen.
"Nice to meet you," Phillip said at last. "To be perfectly frank, Stephen, this was done badly, but I'm relieved that this assignment seems to be a good thing for Eva."
He put a slight emphasis on "seems."
"No one will ever understand exactly what she's contributed to this project," Hex said.
An image filled my mind of me with my arms cuffed over my head. Naked and writhing under his hands, up to my knees in rose-scented water.
I struggled to keep a neutral expression.
"We'll be keeping a close eye on her progress until she comes back," Phillip said. "Thanks for checking in, Eva. I'll turn you back over to Natalie."
An instant later he was gone, leaving Natalie to fill the screen again.
"I'm Natalie," she announced as her eyes X-rayed Hex. "Nice to meet you."
"Ditto, Natalie. Very sorry I interrupted. I didn't know Eva was chatting with you."
"While you're here," Natalie said, "has Eva told you how bad her connection can be sometimes? I'd think a city the size of Miami would have great connectivity."
"We're actually north of Miami," Hex said, "but sometimes we do get glitches. We'll work on speeding that up. Nice to meet you, Natalie."
His eyes flicked to me, sparkling with hidden amusement.
"Take all the time you'd like. You know I think you work too hard," he said.
Then he was leaving, heading into the pantry. His quiet laughter drifted up the stairs.
Natalie was smirking on the screen.
"You alone?" she asked.
"I am now," I said, unsure if I was or not.
"Toad, my ass," she snorted. "No wonder you're glowing, with a client like that leaning over your shoulder. Those eyes. That face. Wow."
"It's not like that," I protested.
"Look me straight in the face and tell me you're not in bed with him."
"I solemnly pinkie swear," I said, "that I've never had sex with him."
And I hadn't. Not exactly.
"Maybe I'm not his type," I added
She gave me a look of disbelief.
"If you really think that," she said, "then you seriously need to get a tune-up on your female instincts. Didn't you see how he looked at you?"
"No," I said. "I was too busy watching him and Phillip give each other the hairy eyeball."
"Good for Phillip. Your hot boss isn't getting the all-clear from me, either. This still feels wrong. Don't let him get the upper hand, Eva."
"I'll watch myself," I promised.
"And listen," she said briskly, "you might be glowing, but you're whiter than usual. Like Cullen clan, vampire white. Tell Stephen to unchain you and let you go outside once in a while."
If she only knew how close she was to the truth.
"I'll demand the key," I said.
Natalie made a sound of irritation.
"I gotta go. Damn client meeting has popped up on my calendar. Don't they understand priorities? Later, girl. Tell Kermit I've got my eye on him."
Then she was mockingly waving bye-bye as she ended the call.
For a long time I sat staring at the blank, dark screen. My thoughts were in a whirl.
Natalie. Phillip. Hex. No…Stephen.
I wondered why he'd materialized today to face Natalie and Phillip. It would be easy to read that as a display of power, but I knew him too well now. That wasn't his style.
My mind ticked back over every detail of how he'd looked in the expensively casual business clothes. More carefree, less serious and controlled.
The fading throb between my thighs was hard to forget, but I needed to put it aside. Hex hadn't touched me since the night I'd awakened to find him in my bed, after the dream about Michael.
He was still charming, a demanding taskmaster, brilliant and sometimes maddening. But the sexy encounters in Atlanta and early in my captivity were starting to seem like a dream.
Why hadn't he touched me since then? I should feel relief, but I didn't. My mind wouldn’t stop working it over and over, like a dog with a bone.
Maybe his game was over. Maybe he just no longer wanted me and didn't know how to end this. Maybe I was just a project to him now, and when I was the right size, he'd dump me back in Atlanta.
Part of me knew this was totally unfair. Hex had never had the size obsession. That was my baggage. But what had changed, that he put up that wall? It didn't really matter, but –
Bullshit, bullshit, and bullshit. It matters, all right. Because you think he doesn't want you, and now you want him.
Part of me squirmed at the accuracy of that diagnosis.
It wasn't like I felt forgotten. Hex still worked me mercilessly in every way that the cabin had to offer. Hundreds of miles on the bike. Thousands of stairs. Sit-ups and hanging on that damn rope until I cried.
All of it together had its effect. Depending on which store you asked, I was no longer in the plus sizes. I wasn't small, but I was starting to be in terrific, if reluctant, shape.
Restlessness overtook me, so I stood up and began to pace. Hex had said nothing about his schedule for me today, and I didn't like breaks in his pattern. That usually signaled something wicked coming my way.
A few hundred sit-ups. A few hundred more stairs. A bike marathon.
His light tread sounded on the stairs, telling me that he wanted me to know he was coming. A moment later he appeared in the doorway, still breath-taking in the sleek clothes.
"I heard you pacing around up here. Are you bored, Evangeline?" he asked.
My nerves were strangely on-edge, and I wasn't in the mood for a round of verbal sparring. Especially since I always seemed to lose.
"Why did you do that?" I blurted.
He crossed to the table and sat down, light from the windows glinting on his bright hair. Sunlight and shadow, lightness and dark. That would always be Hex to me.
"Do what?" he asked.
"You know what I mean. Show up today. Feed them that load of crap about my work. Tell them your name. Is it really your name?"
"Seeing a face and hearing a name eased some of their suspicion," he said. "They worry less, and it comforts you. That's the only reason I care."
"It would be strange if I didn't praise you," he went on, "since I exploited Ms. St. Claire's greed to get you here. It's not a lie. I can honestly say that you've worked your ass off."
His eyes slipped down over my body, and for a moment that look of desire was back in his eyes. My mouth suddenly went dry.
"Well," he drawled, "some of it. What's left is certainly worth a bonus."
"My guess is that your friend is running Stephen D'Amitri through every of check she knows. She seems very sharp, so I imagine that's quite a few."
"And what will she find?" I asked.
"Respectable thing. Boring things. Comforting things."
He was watching me with that intense gaze again. It was always like standing in front of him without my clothes.
"Natalie is right," he said. "You look pale."
"It's hard not to be a vampire when you never go outside," I pointed out. "So what horrors do you have lined up for me today?"
"What makes you say that?"
I ticked off on my fingers.
"One, there's no lurking message on the bike. Two, you always come down on me hard after I Skype. Three, you never show up in person before night unless something new is coming."
His grin was a little rueful.
"And here I didn't think I had
patterns. I'll have to watch that. It makes me too predictable."
"So what is it?"
"I'm not sure if we can do it now, with you being a vampire," he teased.
"Why? Are we having a garlic-eating contest and doing holy water shots?" I asked sarcastically.
"Only if you know where to find some out in the woods."
"What?"
"Eva," he said, "how'd you like to go outside?"
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
I gawked at him, sure that I'd misunderstood.
"Well?" he asked after a moment. "Do you?"
"Are you trying to trick me?"
"No. It's a bona fide offer."
"What's the catch?" I persisted. "The fine print. The sting in the tail."
Hex leaned against the doorway.
"I thought you'd jump at this chance. Where's your sense of adventure?"
"It's hiding," I said. "It's been slapped around at every turn for the past few months."
"No catch," he said. "If you'd rather not go for a nice long hike in the woods, I can whip something up for you on the bike."
Ugh. That damn bike.
"How long of a hike?"
"Maybe twenty miles round-trip."
That would be hours outdoors. In spite of my suspicion, my heart sang at the thought of being out in the sun.
"Are you sure you aren't walking me to some grave in the woods?" I asked.
I meant it as a joke, but it didn't come out like that. For the briefest instant there was something like hurt in his eyes.
"If that was my plan, I wouldn't need to take you on a death march," he said. "I'd just do it here. Maybe right there in that bathtub you love so much. All the evidence goes down the drain."
For the first time in a long time, I felt a prickle of real fear.
"You look scared to death," he said. "If you think I'd do that, then you don't know me at all."
I don't know you. Not really.
He gave a short laugh.
"Sometimes I think you get that, then you look at me like I'm the big bad wolf, come to eat you alive. You have no idea how many times—"
He cut off his words. A short, tense silence followed as I wondered how he was going to finish that sentence.
"Forget I said anything," he said. "We don't have to go if you're afraid."
"I want to go," I blurted, now desperate not only for the sweet outdoors, but also to wipe away this moment. It was all in his eyes, how much my casual comment had hit a nerve.
Nice. Stockholm Syndrome has put down some really good roots.
"Please," I added.
"How can I say no when you ask so nicely?" he said with heavy irony.
Another uncomfortable moment of silence fell over the cabin.
"Alright," he said at last. "If we leave in half an hour, we can be back by dark. I brought some better hiking clothes for you, in case you said yes. Check downstairs."
He stepped away from the doorway to let me pass. I was halfway down the stairs when his voice stopped me.
"Eva, before you go down, just one thing. There is one condition before we can make the trip."
Somehow I wasn't surprised.
"Wake up, Eva."
For a dizzying moment I remembered those words from that night, months ago, when Hex had kidnapped me. Today the choice to be put to sleep had been mine.
This time I woke up faster, with almost no disorientation. Whatever whiff he'd given me, he knew exactly what he was doing.
His face was close to mine, filling my vision and my nose with his presence. There was a warm, rich aroma of leather.
We were sitting in a car. No, not exactly a car, but an SUV. A very expensive one, from the look of things. A discreet emblem on the dashboard read "Autobiography." It meant nothing to me.
"How about a treat you haven't had for a while?" he asked.
His eyes were locked on mine, intense and gray. Nervously I licked my lips.
"Open your mouth just a little," he said, low and provocative. "Then close your eyes."
I did as he said. My heartbeat hammered in my ears as I waited for the softness of his lips to crush down over mine.
Something hard and cold touched my lips.
"Iced mocha," he said. "Your favorite drink. It's been a long time since you've had it, so take it slow."
Oh, that first long, slow sip of the cold sweetness. His lips would have been better, but this was a very satisfying runner-up.
"Where did you get this? I asked.
"We weren’t too far from a Starbucks up the road," he said, reaching to tuck my hair behind my ear. "I want to propose a bargain."
Oh god. I wasn't awake enough yet for another Hex bargain.
"Take a look around," he said.
The windows were down, and for the first time I noticed a soft, fall-scented breeze drifting inside. A wall of green pines surrounded us.
"This road is secluded," he said. "We have about an hour's drive left, and it's a beautiful day."
He held a pair of dark sunglasses in his hand.
"These are completely blacked out. If you wear them, you won't be able to see anything," he said, "but you can enjoy the drive without being asleep."
My ill-considered words at Walden were still very much in my mind.
"Please tell me," I said with slow caution, "why I need to wear these? I have no idea where we are right now."
"We're going to be on a highway with signs for part of the way. The place I'm taking you is one that I keep completely private."
He paused for a moment. I heard a sound that I couldn't place at first. It swelled and then faded: a car passing somewhere in the distance.
"You sure believe in keeping secrets," I said, stalling for time.
"Secrets have a way of keeping me alive," he said. "It's best you don't know too much, for your sake."
The cynical part of me still said this was all an elaborate ruse. But something made me believe him when he told me things like this. Maybe it was the wary look that came into his eyes, the tight intensity in his body.
Suddenly I was tired of thinking so much. It was a beautiful day. I had a measure of freedom, and the undivided attention of the most captivating guy I'd ever seen.
Carpe freaking diem.
I took the sunglasses and put them on, and the world went dark. They fit almost as if they were made for me. They probably were.
"How do they feel?" he asked.
"Can't see a damn thing," I grumbled.
'Then they're working."
"That's what you—"
I never finished the sentence. Hex locked his lips over mine, soft and firm all at once, pressing me slowly back into the seat.
Blinded by the glasses, all other sensations were heightened. His fingertips held my face with feathery softness, like I was fragile glass that might shatter.
"Beautiful Eva, shining in the sun," he said.
A slow, warm flush started at my throat and trickled down to my breasts and belly. I knew that feeling. Oh my, yes.
My mouth opened under the coaxing of his tongue teasing its way inside. He tasted like chocolate and mint and sex, all rolled up into one beautifully wrapped package.
With a strange, sure instinct my hands came up and touched his face. Like the blind person I was pretending to be, my fingers mapped his face as he kissed me.
I savored the sensation of his soft, moist lips, the slight stubble of his face. The tiny indentation of that white scar at the corner of his mouth. The sleekness of his pulled-back hair.
For the briefest instant, a surge of desire radiated from him. Something told me it had always been there, that he'd never stopped wanting me.
I strained toward him, all caution thrown aside. Right or wrong I wanted him. He wanted me. It didn't get more right than this.
Like a physical barrier, the wall of his reserve came up between us again. I could almost feel it snap into place. W
ith a final lick he pulled away from me. A moment later he cupped my hand around the cold, damp base of the Starbucks cup.
"Make sure you're buckled up," he said. "It's highway for thirty miles, then we turn off on the last leg. It's not on any map, and it's bumpy."
A bumpy road with no map. That was our strange relationship in a nutshell.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
"How does that feel?"
Hex stepped away from me as I tested the weight of the backpack he'd settled over my shoulders. It was bulky but light. His pack was larger and seemed much heavier, but he'd buckled it on with ease.
We were standing beside the black SUV, which I now realized was a Range Rover, parked in a barely cleared area in dense woods. He'd traded me the blackout glasses for a regular pair of Oakleys. My nose soaked up the pine-scented air and wind.
"I've got it," I said. "Why are we taking all this stuff on a day hike? Back by dark, right?"
"That's the plan," he said, "but it never hurts to be prepared. How are the boots?"
Hiking boots had never been on my feet. They were stiff and unyielding, and my feet felt strange from the pieces of moleskin Hex had insisted that I apply to prevent blisters.
"They're fine," I said, not sure if they were or not.
The sun filtered through the trees, throwing his face into light and shadow. If possible, he was even more devastating out here in the wild than in the limited world of Walden.
His white T-shirt and Levis clung to his lean, muscular body in a way that made me feel light-headed. Maybe it was just the mocha, since I was no longer used to mainlining sugar and caffeine.
Yeah. That's why your heart is racing.
"See that oak?" Hex asked, indicating a huge tree off to the left. "Those blue marks on the trunk?"
I nodded.
"That's the start of the trail. Six or seven miles to where we're going, same trail back. I go first, in case of problems. Got it?"
"Yes," I said, feeling a thrill of adventure.
Natalie would laugh at my enthusiasm. I'd skillfully avoided any type of outdoor outing that she'd ever proposed, pleading everything from menstrual cramps to stomach flu.
