"How did you track me down?"
He turns down a road, and the muscles of his forearms flex as he steers the car. "The man who saw you noticed a symbol on the windshield. One that, as we found out, is associated with the Kane Company. From there, it was a matter of raiding each of their strongholds. If we had gotten to you even a few seconds later—" His jaw tics, "I’ll never forgive myself for letting you leave unprotected. If it were up to me, I’d tie you to me and never let you leave my side. If I could, I’d take back everything I said."
"But you can’t."
He grimaces, then turns onto another road. "I am going to try my very best to make it up to you."
"I... I'm not sure that's a good idea."
"What's that supposed to mean?" he growls
"We are not good for each other, Michael." I firm my lips, " For heaven’s sake, I tried to kill you. Twice… And you forced me to marry you, then turned me out when you felt like you didn’t want me around anymore."
"That’s not true," he says through gritted teeth, "I turned you out, because…"
"Because?"
"Because I knew if I kept you around, I’d end up falling for you."
"Huh?"
"Surprised?" He peers at me from the corner of his eye, "Didn’t think I could admit that to you, huh?"
I swallow, "It still doesn't change the fact that every time we are together, we bring out the worst in each other."
"That’s how the best relationships are." He stares through the windshield. "We are not a normal, staid couple meant to have a normal, staid marriage, where the husband holds down a desk job and makes an appointment to have sex with his wife—"
"You’re right."
"I am?"
I nod, "We’re the kind of couple who needs to steer clear of each other if we want to survive."
"Survival is overrated." His lips curl. "We bring out the darkness in each other. We speak to each other on a primal level. Even now, as we maintain the distance that society asks of us, our bodies hunger for each other, our flesh wants to reach out to the other, and our souls? Our souls recognize the twisted, fuckedupness that each of us has tried to hide from the world, but which we haven’t been able to hold back from each other."
"My point, precisely." I pull my hand back from his thigh, but he captures it and imprisons it between his big palm and the solidness of his thigh. My core flutters.
Shit, even as I am trying to put distance between us, I can’t stop being aware of him. Can’t stop myself from being turned on by his strength. Can’t stop myself from wanting to turn to him and crawl into his lap and feel his arms around me as he hides me from the world. Tears prick at the backs of my eyes. Goddammit, since when have I become so needy?
Is it his dominance, his need for control that brings out the feminine side in me? Is that why I veer toward him for safety? Is that why, despite everything in me knowing how wrong it is to want to be with him, I want to trust him?
"We need to have nothing to do with each other."
His fingers tighten on the wheel.
"You did the right thing in turning me out earlier." I set my jaw. "It was my bad luck that I ended up being kidnapped again. But I’m safe now, so there’s no reason for you to hold onto me."
He doesn’t answer, simply keeps his gaze forward.
"If you return my phone back to me, I can call Summer and have her send someone to help me leave here."
"No."
"What do you mean no?"
"If you think I am letting you go that easily, you are mistaken."
"I thought you said that you were falling for me."
"All the more reason to not let you go."
And there…he is. The big, bad, alphahole Capo. Guess it was too much to hope that he was actually revealing his more sensitive side. Not that I doubt he has it. Not that I want him to share it with me. Somehow, it’s easier if he continues to stay in his arrogant, over-the-top, alpha persona. It’s much easier to deal with him that way. It’s so much easier to hate him when he doesn’t reveal the man behind the ruthless Capo. Yeah, I’d much rather he be unreasonable, and inconsiderate, and conceited.
I whip my head toward him. "I thought you said you were going to try to make it up to me."
"Doesn’t mean I am going to let you go free."
"Then your idea of making it up to me and my idea of your making it up to me are, clearly, different."
"We’ll see."