Tempted by a Dangerous Man

by Cleo Peitsche

  He blinked slowly. “No. I don’t.” He turned back to the stove and resumed frying the onions. “It was her life to live as she chose. Do I wish I had been in Nigeria with her? Yes. Would I have given my life to keep her safe? Of course. But tell her what to do?” He shook his head. “What keeps me up at night isn’t that she’s gone. I’ve made my wretched peace with it. It’s how things were handled. What happened might have been unavoidable, but that’s far from a foregone conclusion. The governments didn’t want to get involved. France dragged their feet through red tape until it was too late. Algeria said she was French, and it wasn’t their problem.”

  I could tell that I was losing him, and I sensed it would be some time before he would want to talk about this again. But he hadn’t even answered the question that most confused me. “But you weren’t a spy while you were a chef, were you?”

  “Revenge,” he said. “Audrey was headstrong, and she was her own person, but she was also mine. My best friend, my wife. My life. In some ways, it was a very immature sort of relationship, two workaholics as married to our careers as to each other. But we were strong. That she died, I can accept it. I’ve had to. But I still want her back. To bury her next to her father and grandparents.”

  “You didn’t get the body?” I blurted. “How do you know she’s—”

  “No. Oh, I hoped that for the first year. Prayed that she’d met someone else, that she was alive and happy. But I always knew better. She was very close to her father, who had been in poor health for years and in fact died the year after she did. She would never have abandoned him. Never.”

  He pulled a large jar out of a cupboard, wrenched off the top like it had insulted him, then dumped the contents into the pan with a jerk of his arm. The warm scents of curry filled the air, but I had completely lost my appetite.

  “There’s a bottle of wine in the refrigerator, and I need a drink,” he said.

  ~~~

  I split the last of the wine between our glasses. I had a nice buzz going and didn’t want to lose it.

  As we ate, Corbin had told me about how he’d gone through his wife’s email. After that, he had called in favors from friends. He spent a month in Nigeria and eventually tracked down the interpreter who had tipped off the kidnappers to his wife’s whereabouts.

  “I killed him.” He wiped his lips on a cloth napkin. “And before you ask, murder wasn’t my goal when I went down there, but at the same time, I wasn’t surprised when I did it. By the third time, it had become a pattern.”

  My stomach knotted up, gurgled. I could taste bile.

  “Not claiming that’s a good thing. In fact, I now think the opposite. That it was bad for me. But I was crazed with grief. I wasn’t myself. And I’m different now.”

  “Well that’s good,” I muttered.

  “You wanted to know.” He tossed back the rest of the wine. “It didn’t take long for my activity to catch the attention of a few people who thought they had a better way to channel my… newfound talents. Are you ok?”

  I had clutched my stomach. “Yes,” I said. I just wanted him to get the confession over with.

  “My actions were causing trouble. People who were important for greater purposes were disappearing. And anyway, I had dealt with everyone except for four men, the people who would surely be able to lead me to Audrey’s remains, but I wasn’t making any progress in finding them. The deal that was offered to me was a chance to make a difference in exchange for help. The truth is that the men I had found were unsophisticated thugs. Easy to find and kill. I would need more than luck to locate the last four. Please try to eat.”

  I pushed away my plate.

  Corbin sighed but didn’t press the issue. “That’s what I’m closing in on now. The last two. The end. I didn’t start this fight, but it was brought to my doorstep. The day I chose revenge, I gave up my right to a future. For every man I’ve killed, there are several others who now want to kill me. It’s like a bloody Ponzi scheme.” He rotated the empty wine glass, twisting the stem between his fingers. “Some nights I think that if I could kill them all, I would. Every murderous scumbag on the face of the earth. These are the ones dealing in human trafficking. Raping children. Letting entire villages starve. They are the most despicable people imaginable. You know what I like about you?”

  The sudden conversation shift left me reeling. “No, actually.” I hadn’t meant to speak so bluntly, and my face heated as Corbin stifled a laugh. “It’s ok,” I said, smiling weakly. “It’s funny.”

  Corbin shook his head. “I would never laugh at you. With you, only. There are many things I like about you, but what always amazes me is the way you see the world. Whenever I think you’ll do A, you do B. A little impetuous, yes, but you’re intelligent and inquisitive. Jaded, but not really. Not deep down. You’re a lot like I was before I let the blackness eat me up inside. I became calculating. Cynical.”

  My face had gotten so hot that the potbelly stove and electric heating were completely superfluous.

  “I won’t allow blackness to devour you, Audrey. You’re my light. God, you have no idea. You fell into my life at the right time. The weekend that I saved you, I was about to cross a line I never had before. And don’t ask what it was because I’m so ashamed to admit it. And there you were, a frozen lump in the road. Someone I could help instead of hurt. I felt my humanity, which I had thought extinguished. It hasn’t been easy thinking about the things I did, the things I would have done. A murderer who has rediscovered his empathy. You saved me. And all that before I even got to know you.”

  As he talked, I felt my eyes filling with tears, and I stared at the food so that Corbin wouldn’t see. Knowing, of course, that he would. He noticed everything.

  I grabbed a fork. “The curry’s kinda spicy,” I mumbled even though I hadn’t taken a bite in half an hour.

  “You deserve better than this,” Corbin said.

  That made me laugh, and Corbin sent a curious look my way. I could tell that he wasn’t going to ask, but after he’d confessed so much to me, it felt petty to withhold something so trivial.

  “It’s just funny that you say that, because you’re…” I waved my hand.

  He frowned. “I’m what?”

  “Gorgeous. Smart. Attentive. I’ve always seen you as the perfect guy.”

  Unexpectedly, he chuckled. “No, baby. If you knew, you wouldn’t stay in this cabin another minute with me.” He leaned forward. “Despite my best intentions, look how much I’ve complicated your life.”

  “That’s not—”

  “Must be the sex.” There was a gleam in his eye.

  “Must be,” I murmured, wondering if the most perceptive man I’d ever met was truly unaware of my feelings. Though I had been pretty emphatic in my denial.

  I stood and began cleaning up, but Corbin stopped me. “Go relax.”

  With sex on my mind, I took a fast shower and got into bed. Unfortunately, I fell into such a deep sleep that I didn’t even notice Corbin getting in next to me.

  But he did, because I woke the next morning tucked under his arm and so horny that I could barely breathe. Instead I got up, slipped into an oversized tee that I found on a chair, and went to make him coffee. There weren’t many opportunities for me to do something nice for him, and I wasn’t about to pass one up.

  “Nice,” Corbin said. “Hot woman making coffee.”

  I jumped. Corbin came up behind me and grabbed a glass, filled it with water. His hair was mussed, but his eyes were clear.

  “Had the weirdest dream,” I remembered. “You gave me your house and car.” I paused, thinking. “You remember how I was hell-bent on turning you in?”

  “Not the sort of thing I’m likely to forget,” he said dryly, but his full lips smiled.

  “No joke, but I actually had this weird fantasy…” I trailed off as Corbin leaned in, interested. “Perv,” I said.

  “Tell me your fantasy,” he purred in a deep voice.

  “You’re going to be so d
isappointed. I had hoped you would try to bribe me to let you go by leaving me your house. It wasn’t realistic, of course.”

  “Wow.” Now he wore a huge smile. “I thought sex with me was worth the two-million-dollar bounty, but I was wrong. That’s a fifteen-million-dollar house.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “It’s got a lot of invisible perks.”

  “Like extra security.”

  “Yes, for example.” He studied me. “You can have whatever you want, you know. Ask and it’s yours.”

  I laughed, but Corbin cleared his throat. “I’m serious. You lost your job. It’s in my best interests if you’re not homeless.” He held out a glass of water.

  “Ok.” I waved away the glass. “I’m not comfortable where this is heading. I’ll get a job to support myself until the non-compete expires in the fall.”

  Corbin shrugged mildly. “Don’t want to make things awkward. It’s just that I have a lot of money—”

  I covered my ears. Corbin’s hands wrapped around my wrists, pulled them down. “Ok,” he said, disappointment tingeing his voice. “I got it. Won’t offer again. But you’re going to let me pay for dinner.”

  “Tonight or all the time?”

  “Hurry and get dressed.”

  “Where are we going?”

  A grin stretched across his gorgeous face.

  “Well?” I prodded. “No more secrets, right?”

  “I’m amending my decision. Fun secrets are allowed.”

  “Convenient,” I said. But I was excited about spending the day with him, doing the things he planned.

  ~~~

  After a leisurely breakfast and several hours of tobogganing, we snowshoed back to the cabin. We’d had another snowball fight and ended up making out for an hour. Sadly, I hadn’t gotten any sex out of it.

  “Shower,” Corbin said, ushering me toward the bedroom.

  “Want to join me?” I gave him my best come-hither look.

  “No time. We have to leave.”

  I started to protest that it would be more time-efficient to shower together, but Corbin shut the door on me.

  I showered, making use of one of the new razors that sat on the edge of the tub, then toweled off.

  “Don’t put on pants or a shirt,” Corbin said when I walked out of the bathroom. He handed me a large toiletry bag. “Everything you need should be in there,” he said, walking past me into the bathroom.

  “Thank you,” I called out.

  He wasn’t kidding. It had everything, from deodorant and lipstick to tweezers and nail polish remover. While Corbin showered, I took my time pampering myself, smoothing silky, lavender lotion over my dry knees and elbows. Amazing how something as simple as a hot shower, a shave, and some aromatherapy could make me feel so human again.

  Corbin had thought of everything. He had a superior attention to detail that probably made him a great chef… or a great assassin, apparently.

  I hadn’t yet had time to process what he’d told me about his wife. Hadn’t wanted to think about it while he was there—he had a way of intuiting what I was thinking and feeling, and I wanted to digest this on my own.

  Everything he had been through must have had an effect on him. He’d said that meeting me, saving my life, had changed him. I couldn’t help but remember my first impression of him, as well as those moments when something truly horrifying seemed to shine through. I couldn’t imagine him being like that all the time, but assuming he wasn’t exaggerating, that’s what he had been. But those traces of the person he used to be, the man he was trying to shake off and leave behind… was that something he could really walk away from?

  I had accidentally participated in someone’s death, and I knew I would never be the same. How many pieces of Corbin’s soul had been torn off?

  I wondered what it felt like. He seemed to regret having lost five years of his life in the pursuit of vengeance. I wasn’t naive enough to believe that I had been the inciting factor. Maybe saving me had been a catalyst, but Corbin must have been wanting to change already. At lunch he had said that people change when they want to. Surely he was speaking from experience.

  I noticed a white strapless bra and sheer white panties sitting on the pillow. Very virginal. I put them on. My hair was dripping down my back, so I plugged in the hair dryer and parked myself in front of the little mirror.

  Well, whatever part I had played in saving him, it hadn’t been intentional, and I didn’t deserve any of the credit. As I thought about it, I came to a different conclusion. That extreme thing that Corbin had nearly done? That was what had saved him. It had shocked him out of his complacency.

  And I fully agreed with him; I didn’t want to know what it was.

  While I ran the blow dryer over my curls at a low setting, I wondered how Rob was doing. He had probably texted at least once about getting dinner. Much as I was enjoying being off the grid, I would need to get my phone back and touch base.

  The day before, when Corbin had said that Zachary’s body would never be found, I had been uneasy. But knowing what I knew now about Corbin’s wife, and thinking about Rob, I decided that I couldn’t let Zachary’s family go through that.

  Maybe Zachary deserved whatever Corbin had done, but the people who cared about him didn’t. They wouldn’t get closure.

  I realized that my hair was already dry, had been for several minutes and now I was just turning my curls to frizz. Just as I switched off the dryer, Corbin came out of the bathroom, his hair dripping, beads of water trailing seductively down his chest. The white towel around his waist begged to be yanked away.

  “Want me to do you?” I innocently held up the dryer.

  That devilish light appeared in his eyes. “Always.”

  “No wonder you don’t want me getting dressed.” I tried to sound scandalized.

  “No time for fooling around, I’m afraid.” He pushed wet hair out of his face and grinned. “Lend me a hand?” He went into the main part of the cabin. I followed him, admiring the strong lines of his back and broad shoulders. He had amazing legs, too. I could have stared at his calves for hours.

  He headed toward what I’d thought was the broom closet and pulled out two garment bags. “Can you?”

  Frowning, I took the garment bags from him. I recognized the boutique name on one. La Diva. I knew of it, but I had never set foot inside. It was way out of my price range. The snooty saleswomen probably would have called the police if I had even walked by the door too slowly.

  Corbin opened a cabinet under the sink and extracted two shoe boxes. I couldn’t help but notice that one was twice the size of the other.

  “You have big feet.”

  He smirked as he turned. “I know.”

  We stared at each other, grinning. My smile faltered as I remembered a news story I’d seen.

  “What?” Corbin used his body to corral me toward the bedroom. He placed the shoeboxes on the bed and then took the garment bags from me, hanging them up on metal hooks that arced from the wood walls.

  “Celebrities buy these expensive German Shepherds for, say, fifty thousand dollars. And the dogs are like family pets. Playing catch and doing tricks. You’d never know that they’re capable of ripping someone’s throat out.” I shuddered. “You’re like that.”

  Corbin frowned. “Anything else?”

  “Didn’t mean it as an insult,” I said. “Just an observation. You look dangerous, but in a socially acceptable way. Like a professional sports player.” I licked my lips. “There is one thing. I think Zachary’s family deserves to have him back, so—”

  “Do I scare you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Audrey. Baby.” He grabbed my shoulders, aimed for my mouth, but when I lifted my chin to meet him, he veered away, planted a gentle kiss on my forehead. He squeezed my shoulders. “Less thinking, more dressing.”

  I glanced at the hanging bags. “What is that?”

  “Dress for you, suit for me. We’re going out.”

&n
bsp; “Where?”

  “Dinner, of course.”

  A little flutter of worry raced through me. “We’re snowshoeing down in formal wear?”

  “Nah. I drove up.”

  “How?”

  “Got behind the wheel, put the key in the ignition… let me know if I’m going too fast.” He smirked, and I tried to rip off his towel.

  But he evaded me without missing a beat and unzipped the La Diva garment bag. I gasped. The dress inside was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. The fabric was an iridescent black that reminded me of a butterfly’s wing on a summer day. It was sleeveless—now I was really glad for that razor in the shower—and short. The waist nipped in, and the skirt flared.

  Corbin unzipped it and slid it off the hanger. He held it low and open for me to step into.

  Bracing myself against his shoulder, I stepped into the dress and helped him pull it up.

  “Turn,” he said, his voice husky. He was breathing faster now, and there was a look on his face that I’d never seen before.

  I turned, and he zipped up the back. The dress was a perfect fit. Without a full mirror, I couldn’t be certain of how it looked, but it felt like a second skin. A much more beautiful second skin.

  “How is it?” I found myself biting my lip, nervous.

  Corbin walked around me. “If ever there was a woman who deserved nice clothing, it’s you.”

  After all the filthy ways he’d fucked me, blushing really should have been physically impossible, but a flush immediately spread over my chest, throat and face. “I’m too muscular,” I said. “Short arms, short legs. Not so sexy in a dress.”

  “Nonsense.” His gaze trailed down my body and then settled on his towel. Or rather the massive rod underneath it; apparently, his cock didn’t agree with my self-assessment, either. “You’re not too short. You’re perfect.”

  “You wouldn’t like me better if I were taller?”

  “Let’s find out.” He opened the shoebox and handed me a pair of black three-inch heels. The insides of the shoes were a soft pink.