“Don’t you think that’s a little too much?”
Ginny really wished she kept the sarcastic thought to herself when Gavin jumped off the bed taking the comforter with him. He tucked it around the metal frame of the mirror above the dresser. Seemingly satisfied, he pulled the drapes closed over the balcony doors before going to the bedroom door. Her heart went to her throat when he turned the lock, then turned around to face her.
“My luggage should be here any moment,” Ginny hastily reminded him.
“They won’t be coming anytime soon.”
“Why not? It’s not that long of a drive from the airplane. Agent Collins already checked my luggage before I left.”
Gavin’s lips curled in a sinister smile. “I bet it only took him a couple of minutes, too.”
“Yes. Why does that matter?”
“I can guarantee nothing will be coming through that door that Allerton doesn’t want you or me to have that could be used as a weapon or a way to contact someone off the island. Do you have your cell phone?”
“Yes.” Ginny took out her cell phone. “See? We can call—”
“How many bars do you have?”
Ginny pressed the button on her cell phone and then her heart sank with a thud. “None.”
“Me neither.”
“When did you check?”
“When we got out of the Moke.”
“I didn’t see you.”
“You were too busy looking across the water at Clindale. Does it look like you remember?”
“No, and I don’t know why ….” Ginny still couldn’t put her finger on the difference, but then she became sidetracked when Gavin started dragging the chair over to the bedroom door.
“What are you doing now? You need to unlock the door if you’re going to put the chair in the living room.”
Small tendrils of alarm began filtering through her bloodstream as Gavin tilted the chair back to brace the door. Her eyes widened when he started undressing. Once his shirt was removed, he began unbuckling his belt, sliding it loose from his jeans as he walked toward her.
“What are”—Ginny lowered her shrill voice—“you doing? If you lay a hand on me with that belt, I’ll—”
“You’ll what?” he goaded, moving closer to her with determined steps.
There was a time to reason, and then there was time to run. Now was the time to run.
Ginny hopped up from the bed, but before she could move a centimeter, Gavin reached his palm out to shove her back onto the bed. Finding herself on her back, Ginny didn’t miss a beat, rolling onto her stomach and bringing her knees up to begin crawling over the mattress in the direction that was closest to the bathroom. If she could make it there, she could lock the door and reason with him from the other side.
The jerk let her make it halfway before she felt a loop of leather snag her ankle. Astounded, Ginny turned her head to look over her shoulder at him. “Gavin—”
A huff of air escaped her when he tightened his hand on the leather belt and gave a firm jerk, pulling her knees out from under her. With her fingers, she tried to hold onto the bed as he inexorably reeled her toward him, causing her dress to roll upward as she was tugged across the mattress.
“We should talk ….” Desperate, Ginny tried to reason with him while being flipped over onto her back.
“You had all the time last night and this morning to talk.”
Her awkward attempt to straighten her dress to a more modest covering was hampered by Gavin leaning over her, and it became more imperative to maintain a safe distance from him.
“I should have told you. I screwed up. Umph.”
Another huff of air escaped her when Gavin grabbed her upper arms, moving her higher up on the bed, and moving his massive body along with hers.
She brought her hands to his chest to push him away and was relieved when he raised up to sit on his knees between her splayed thighs, giving her breathing room.
“And you’re angry.”
“Angry doesn’t begin to describe how I feel.”
The man above her was as unapproachable as the first day she talked to him when he was working on his bike. There was no hint of warmth or understanding on his face.
She frowned up at him when he reached over and started taking her shoes off, throwing them onto the floor.
“Do you know how terrified I was when I read your letter, and the FBI told me you had already left Treepoint?”
“No.” Ginny moistened her dry lips.
“I drove like a madman to get to your house, only for Silas to tell me you were coming here, to an island owned by a man who wants to see you dead.”
If his intention was to make her regret the decisions she had made, he was achieving his goal.
“I’m so sorry.”
“As bad as I took the letter, it didn’t come close to how awful Trudy reacted.”