“But you can’t let me go?”
The hum of the engine grew louder as he gave the car more gas, the scenery whipping by in her peripheral vision. She held onto the edges of her seat as her heart began to race. Her life had never been a thrill ride like this.
“It’s for your own good. Without me, you wouldn’t last a day,” he said.
“What do you mean? Who would want to kill me? All of Semenov’s men are dead, and you destroyed all the security footage.”
“My boss doesn’t like loose ends. You’re a loose end.”
She kept quiet. Bain wanted to protect her, and it turned her on to be so important to another human being—to a beast like Bain. Even her own parents discarded her as if she had no worth.
He parked the car on a busy street. It was almost dinner hour, and she was getting hungry.
“I can’t go anywhere in public like this.” She was still wearing Bain’s oversized shirt and boxers. Not a good look for the Junction area of the city.
He squeezed the steering wheel, staring straight ahead. “It would have been better if I’d put you in the trunk, or drugged you.”
“Really? I won’t leave the car. Like you said, it’s dangerous for me anyway, right?”
“Every chance you’ve gotten, you’ve tried to get away. I can’t trust you,” he said.
She pointed to the shop right beside them. “Just get me anything decent to wear—extra large. I like blue and purple, if it matters. You’ll be able to see me through the store windows.”
He took a deep breath, scanning the crowds as they walked by and darted across the road. “I’m putting the car alarm on, so don’t touch the door handle. If you try to get away, I’ll be back in less than one fucking minute. I won’t be happy if I have to chase you down.”
“Relax. I just want food and clothes.”
He adjusted a shoulder-holstered gun under the front flap of his suit jacket, and then stepped out of the car. The alarm system beeped three times as it activated. Scarlett watched Bain. He towered over the crowds, and his presence was so menacing that they parted for him as he moved. Just before he entered the little specialty shop, he turned and stared directly at her. God, he did wild things to her body. His musky cologne still lingered in the car, invading all her senses. Why did he have to have so much self-control?
Scarlett was alone. She could run into the crowd, honk the horn, or attract attention. She would have loved this opportunity yesterday. Today, not so much. Her past had been rough, filled with heartache and abuse. There was one secret Bain didn’t know. This secret had a life of its own, haunting her, pulling her into a ravenous pit of depression whenever she didn’t resist. It was easier said than done to let go of the past and move on. She understood Bain more than he knew. He had his demons, but so did she.
Bain returned in record time, rescuing her from her darkening thoughts. She would have barely started combing through the racks, but he entered the car with two bags, thrusting them onto her lap. “Get dressed.”
“Here?”
“The windows are heavily tinted. Just make it quick.”
She started sifting through the contents of the bags and found a pair of black capri pants and a purple shirt with three-quarter sleeves. She smiled to herself. Scarlett started wiggling into the capris, lifting her hips to get them on in the cramped passenger seat. Bain had already seen her naked, but there were so many people passing by.
“What next?” she asked, trying to discreetly switch shirts.
“We’ll get some food. I think a change of scenery will do you good, no?”
“You’re actually taking me out in public? All this change because of the blood thing?”
“I’m trying to be nice. It’s not something I usually do. You want me to stop?”
She shook her head and began twisting her hair up into a bun. Bain reached across the center console and stilled her hand. “Leave it out,” he said. “I like it loose.”
Her chest felt like it was clenching down around her heart. Was she actually falling for a hitman?
They got out of the car, and she felt awkward walking next to Bain. He was so much taller than she was, a presence unto himself. Not to mention he was completely out of her league. She could already see the way women looked at him, a desperate longing in their eyes. When he didn’t respond to their blatant flirting, it pleased her deep down inside.
If you were smart, Scarlett, you’d run the other way. Her first serious relationship with Jerry ended because he’d been a serial cheater. He’d torn her confidence to shreds, and made her more needy and clingy than she’d been to start out with. Then came Michael, a few years later. She could never have prepared herself for the physical and mental abuse. It crept in slowly until it became so extreme, so all-encompassing, that dysfunction became her whole world. She felt like nothing, and never believed she deserved better. It was a vicious cycle of abuse, and she’d been caught in it for much too long. Scarlett would probably still have been trapped in that dark world if the unthinkable hadn’t happened—but it had.
And it changed her forever.
Now there was Bain. He was just another mistake, a man she should stay far, far away from. She needed to put an end to her fucked up relationships and find a good man, one with a normal job, normal life, normal hopes and dreams, and a normal body. Normal was good, right? Then why couldn’t she stop envisioning herself naked in Bain’s bed? Why was he taking control of all her thoughts?