“Your phone is in my office. Don’t worry. I’ll give it back to you when we go down to get something to eat.”
“Y-you took it?”
“I did. I like to know who I’m in bed with.”
I’d known this was a bad idea. “That’s… You can’t.”
“It’s done, and I think you know very well that I can do whatever the fuck I like.”
I did, and it terrified me, yet when I looked up at him, even knowing what he’d done, knowing what he could still do, part of me wanted to climb right back in bed with him, pull him on top of me and… “What time is it?”
Remy shook his head. “Not time for you to be out of bed.”
“I thought you wanted me gone at noon.”
“I said you had to stay until at least noon. I never told you I wanted to get rid of you.”
“What did you do with my phone and—” I stopped myself from mentioning my license and the money that was in between the case and the phone. Possibly he hadn’t looked.
“Your license and money?”
“Fuck. You found those?”
“I did. Like I said, I wanted to know more about you.”
“So you’re just shamelessly admitting to stalking me while I slept?”
He nodded, showing absolutely no remorse. I hated to admit it, but his confidence was more than a little hot.
“Come back to bed, Henri.”
“Do I have a choice?” I needed a real answer to that question. If he wanted to keep me there, I couldn’t exactly run from him naked with no phone. I doubted I’d beat him to the door anyway.
“Do you want a choice?”
“What kind of question is—” I stopped when he raised his brows and gave me a too-knowing look. I thought I wanted a choice, but did I? Was I so eager to go back to my sad apartment where any day I was sure the water stains on the ceiling would grow large enough that water would begin to run down onto my bed? Did I want to go back to the streets tonight and see if I could drum up some more business? No. I needed the money he’d promised me. With it, I could make a start at turning my life around.
I could stand there stubbornly confronting him naked, just like I’d feared, or I could climb back into that warm bed and enjoy the way his body felt next to mine. I chose the bed and Remy.
“That’s better.” He pulled me against him. I felt his hard cock against my thigh. He was so warm, so big, so manly. “Did you want…”
“Yes, but we’re not going to now. I’m going to feed you, then we need to talk.”
My fear returned. “Talk about what?”
“I have a proposition for you.”
While that didn’t settle my nerves, at least it appeared that I’d checked out okay when he stalked me. Other than my debt, which I would’ve owned up to if he’d asked, and my current profession, I hadn’t done anything worth noticing.
“Will you give me my phone back after you proposition me?”
He smiled. “I will. I needed to make sure our meeting last night was truly a coincidence. I found no evidence to make me think otherwise.”
“Why would it be anything else?”
“In my line of work, it pays to be cautious.”
Did he think I was some kind of spy or something? “What exactly is your line of work?”
He raised his brows. “I think you know better than to ask that.”
I did. I really did.
He slapped my ass lightly. “Let’s go have some breakfast or lunch or whatever you want to call it. We can talk more once we’ve eaten.”
“I thought you wanted me back in bed.”
“I wanted to know you would obey me.”
“That’s…” I wanted to yell at him, to tell him he couldn’t make assumptions like that. I wasn’t his to command just because he’d hired me to stay the night, but there was a part of me that really liked his possessive nature and his need to have control. Those were qualities that had always filled my fantasies, but I hadn’t thought I’d ever meet a man like Remy.
We both rolled out of bed, and I grimaced when I thought about putting on my clothes again.
Remington grabbed them from my hand. “I’ll have those cleaned. I’m sure I can find something for you to wear.”
I looked up and down his tall, muscular frame. “Nothing of yours is going to fit me.”
He chuckled as he pulled out a t-shirt and tossed it to me. “This will do.”
“No pants?”
“Do you need any?”
“Is anyone else here?” I’d thought I’d heard voices when I’d woken in the night.
“No. I’m the only one who lives here, and I don’t have any visitors.”
“Or any wives hidden in the attic?”
He rolled his eyes. “No wives. Why are you shy all of a sudden?”