Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 104185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 521(@200wpm)___ 417(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 521(@200wpm)___ 417(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
My whole body went rigid under his kiss. He was an attractive man, but there was zero desire in my system right now. Couldn’t he sense that? When I didn’t answer his kiss, he raised his head and, for a fleeting moment, he looked off-balance.
“Don’t you want to have some fun?” he asked, not releasing me.
My tone was firm. “No, thank you.”
This wasn’t the answer he expected, and I used his confusion to squirm out of his hold and start for my room, my fingers fumbling in my purse for my keycard.
“Why? You don’t like fun?”
His voice was harsh and right behind me because he’d kept up with me, passing by his own room. My pulse beat a furious tempo while everything inside me screamed I needed to get away from him and into the safety of my room.
“No,” I said. “Good night.”
As soon as the flashing green light signaled my door was unlocked, I reached for the handle, but he beat me to it. He pushed it down, shoved me inside the darkness, and kicked the door closed behind him with a heavy slam.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I cried as he flicked on the lights.
“Open that door.” He pointed to the adjoining one that connected our rooms.
I didn’t move. “Why?”
“Because this would have been easier if we’d gone to my room.”
My breath came and went in short bursts. “No. Get out.”
His piercing blue eyes blinked slowly, and when I didn’t do as he’d commanded, he did it himself. The door to his room was open, as if he’d prepared for this. The thought made me shiver.
“You’re going to go in there and sit on the bed.” His tone was icy, detached. “And we’re going to have a conversation.”
His large frame blocked the door that led out into the hall, and I was sure I’d never make it past him. But I could run through his room, and there was a chance I could escape out the main door before he could stop me.
“Do as you’re told, Laurel. Or I’ll make you.”
Well, that was all I needed to hear.
I charged through the now open doorway, barreling into his room—but he moved so fucking fast, it almost seemed inhuman.
Seth’s arm hooked around my waist, knocking me off my feet before I was flung backward. I sailed through the air, landed onto the bed, and skidded to a stop, narrowly missing the black case that lurked there. I scrambled across the slippery comforter to bolt again for the door, but he towered over me.
“Stay,” he ordered.
When his lips peeled back an evil smile, it turned my skin to ice. For a long, tense moment, the world ceased moving.
Finally, he flung a finger at the black lockbox beside me. “What do you think is inside?”
On the outside I was stone, but my head buzzed with panic. There was no doubt I wouldn’t like it.
He didn’t wait for an answer. He bent and stabbed in the code, unleashing an electronic ping as the internal mechanism disengaged. The lid was lifted to expose blue felt that sheathed black metal.
He retrieved the sleek, deadly looking gun and gripped it with haunting familiarity. My throat closed, blocking my airway as the room shifted and swayed. He used the barrel to flip the lid shut on the case and sank to sit beside me on the bed, as if we were friends, or worse—lovers.
“It’s going to be all right,” he said, yet it sounded all wrong. His southern accent had vanished. “I need to know exactly what you saw in the theater, and what you told the FBI.”
He didn’t threaten or even lift the weapon toward me. Instead, he simply let it rest in his lap with his finger nestled on the trigger. It made his words a challenge to understand.
My voice was whisper quiet. “I didn’t see anything.”
He jammed the tip of his gun into the muscle just above my kneecap. I swallowed a moan, trying not to reveal the shock and pain.
“I’ll put a bullet here.” His tone was matter of fact. “Think about what that would do to you.”
Of course he’d choose that spot. A wound there wouldn’t just hurt like hell, it would end my career. The pressure of his gun made me clench my teeth, so I had to bite out my words. “I didn’t have anything to tell them.”
“You looked right at me.” He didn’t let up on the gun.
“The theater was dark and there was a light behind you. All I saw was the man dying.”
Did he believe me? His expression seemed to say so, but his intense eyes were cautious. The gun returned to rest on his lap, which gave me relief, but only for a sliver of a moment.
I hadn’t seen his face in the theater, but I certainly had now. My voice quavered. “I won’t tell anyone about this.”