No, I’m mistaken. That can’t be what he said. He’s missing a few marbles, just a select few. I heave a sigh, deeply troubled by my lack of paranoia.This is Adnan all over again.As the ridiculous thought crosses my mind, I let it flit straight in one ear and out the other.
This isn’t the same scenario.
* * *
Ethereal evening sunrays drape over the horizon. Kieran’s at my side in jeans, wearing his signature motorcycle boots and a linen shirt that the bastard didn’t finish buttoning. At least I have a more glorious sight than the ridges of his chest. Ignoring his awaiting hand, I wrap my arms around myself. The soft wind wisps the tips of my ankle-length dress, which I’ve paired with dainty sandals, and the sea-salted wind glides over my bare shoulders.
At our elevated position on an emerald, sweet grass precipice, I glance over the distant horizon to the sparkling ocean.Can’t escape by water. Sure, I grew up near the ocean, and I can swim, but I’m no Olympian.
“Not that way.” Kieran captures my hand in both of his.
“No?” I arch a brow in frustration. “Am I taking a long walk off a short cliff?”
“What?” His brogue increases a couple of notches. It’s almost charming, despite the skeleton and bone tattoos peeking out from his button-up.
I jerk a shoulder. “I haven’t satisfied you.”
“Who says you’ve not satisfied me, Ava?” His tongue darts out, and my body waits in heady anticipation. Only, he licks the devilish smile from his lips. “The taste of you, Ava.”
“Stop playing as if you’re thisniceperson.” I stop walking suddenly, flexing my fingers at my sides. “First impressions are often . . . often . . .”
The debate perishes in my throat. I struggle to remove the straps of my sandals.First impressions, my ass!Adnan presented himself as a valiant knight.
Kieran clasps my cheeks. “If I’d not choked you, would you’ve come willingly?”
“No,” I gasp.
The glimmer in Kieran’s eyes suggests I’ve made his point. Nevertheless, his jaw tightens. His next words are somewhere between demanding and beseeching. “Then give me a chance.”
“And if I don’t?”You’ll become the man I believe you to be.
My eyes flicker over his entire frame, scrutinizing the line of muscles at his jaw, the tautness of his biceps. If he ever treated me to the same knuckle sandwich that Adnan had, I wouldn’t just see stars. I’d see the sun, the moon, meet my maker,andreconcile the lonely bridge between myself and my parents.
Although not burly, Kieran is brute power. The force he exuded while killing my assailant at the grocery store.Aye Dios!
Although I can’t fathom how I’ll flee Kieran, my eyes look past him. I’m taken aback by the sight below. Twinkling in the fading light are candles—votives, pillared, tapered—all sunk in glass casings to weather the soft wind.
“Come.” Kieran takes my hand, thumb grazing over the delicate patch at the inside of my wrist. I shiver as his touch reverberates through my entire body.Aye Dios,if he’s a ScottishEl Santo, I think about the serial killer on the east coast, then I’m as good as dead.
One second, we’re equals, descending a slope of the hill, the next, I’m in Kieran’s arms. I hadn’t seen it coming. His hands dominate my hips, his skull-adorned chest pressed to mine.
Nervous, I mutter, “I can walk.”
He laughs softly. “Don’t let anybody tell you you’re incapable of doingshite.”
Blinking, I gawk at the jokester. “Who are you?”
Kieran laughs, his abdominals tugging against my snatched waist. The feel of his body holding me tightly as he swaggers down the rest of the incline is titillating and screwing with my mind.
He leans down, placing me onto a wrinkled blanket. The subtle brush of his lips against mine has heat on the rise in my veins. I smell his fresh body wash, crisp and heady. When Kieran controlled me in the house, I’d been too afraid to exhale. But dammit, he smells amazing.
Drawing in a shaky breath, I lock my eyes on his. Although a little tingly with the intoxication of Kieran’s nearness, I blink, face stoic. I’ll be damned if I show the beast how he affects me. He laughs at me, just a little chuckle that warms the pit of my stomach. I ruin the moment by pushing at his chest. Kieran pulls away as though the fire between us has burned him.
“I asked you a question, Kieran,” I repeat myself as he grabs a wooden flask. The stems of two wine glasses rest between his fingers.
“I’m yours, and you are mine.”
Aye, mentiroso!I call a liar, well, a liar, of course. But it simply wouldn’t do to utter those words aloud or incur his wrath. I murmur my appreciation for the white wine. After allowing the crispness of it to flow down my throat, I shrug a shoulder. “If I were yours, wouldn’t I be allowed togowhere I please. Or leave. How simple is that?”