‘What did you buy?’ he took a sip of his wine and eyed me over the rim of his glass.
‘Just some stuff,’ I blushed. I didn’t want to tell him that I’d bought ketchup and candy.
‘What stuff?’ he pressed. ‘Am I going to come home to twelve new sofas and a new four poster bed?’
‘No. I didn’t buy anything like that,’ I snapped.
‘So, what did you buy?’
‘If you must know, I bought some bubble-bath, ketchup and candy. Oh, and my favorite teabags. A new pillow as I don’t like the ones on your bed. A couple of picture frames and some candles.’
‘That’s what you bought to make you feel at home?’ he asked with a raise of one eyebrow.
‘Yes,’ I said suddenly feeling embarrassed by my simple tastes in front of this man who thought nothing of ordering an eight hundred dollar bottle of wine with dinner.
‘Why didn’t you just ask for them to be put on the grocery list?’
‘Because there was nothing wrong with the brands you have in your house. But when I thought about what things would make your house feel more like my home, they were the things that I thought of.’
He frowned at me and I suddenly felt the need to explain myself.
‘That brand of ketchup is what my grandma used to use when I was a kid. It reminds me of her house, and that was always where I was happiest. I love English breakfast tea in the mornings. The tea you have doesn’t taste as tea-like.’
‘Not as tea-like?’ he asked as the corners of his mouth curled into a smile.
I shook my head in frustration and went on. ‘That bubble bath is the one my grandpa used to buy me every Christmas, it always makes me think of him. The candles are jasmine and that’s my favorite smell in the world. I like a nice firm pillow, and the ones in your bed are too soft. The candy was just because I love candy and there is never any in your house. And the picture frames are to put a couple of pictures of my family in. Happy now?’
He stared at me and I couldn’t read what was going through his head at all.
Did he think I was an idiot? Well, I didn’t care if he did. They were the kinds of things that mattered to me – not sofas and four poster beds.
‘You surprise me, Alana,’ he said eventually.
‘It shocks you that I’d buy things like that and not spend a fortune on pointless furniture that we don’t need?’ I challenged him.
‘Yes,’ he answered a little too quickly.
‘Well, that’s because you don’t know me at all, Alejandro.’
‘Don’t I?’ he asked, his eyes narrowed.
‘Tell me what you think you know then?’ I said as I glared back at him.
He sat back and ran a hand over his dark stubble. ‘You’re a spoiled little princess who has never had to work for anything in her life.’
I blinked at him. That wasn’t me at all. Not even close. But I reminded myself that I didn’t care what this monster thought of me. In fact the less he thought of me, the better. Maybe then he would let me go.
I leaned back in my seat and picked up my wine glass. ‘Well, in that case, you’ve got me completely nailed,’ I said as I gave him my biggest fake smile.
The rest of our dinner had passed pleasantly enough. Alejandro and I had concentrated on making small talk rather than anything more contentious. I had just finished the last bite of the most delicious steak I had ever tasted in my life and I looked up at him. He was cutting into his steak and I looked at his hands. They were large and powerful, and I suddenly had a vision of him ripping my panties off with them.
He did everything with such certainty and confidence. I squeezed my thighs together as I felt the heat building in my core. I should hate this man, and I did most of the time, so why did my body want him so badly?
Why did I have constant visions of those beautiful hands running over my body. Of him holding himself over me and …
He looked up at me and caught me staring and flashed me a wicked grin that made my insides turn to molten lava.
I was about to ask him how his steak was when I saw the flash of metal from the corner of my eye. Before I could register what was happening there was a gun pointed at my face, and Alejandro was jumping up off his seat. I stared at the barrel and could see nothing but the gun in front of me.