But the voice that comes out of him isn’t the roar I expected. It’s soft. Almost seductive. But there’s a sickening, dominant edge underneath it like a core of steel.
“I don’t plan on keeping you here forever.”
A chill ripples down my spine. He breathes slowly and then adds, “You won’t be alive that long, anyway.”
Then he hoists me back up over his shoulder and carries me through the apartment while I scream obscenities at him. We burst into another room. For the second time in as many minutes, he dumps me on the floor, next to a four-poster bed. This time, it knocks the wind out of me.
I see stars dancing around the edge of my vision and I can’t get my balance right, so when I try to squirm away, I don’t get very far before he clamps down around my wrist.
“Nuh-uh,” he chides. “Not so fast.”
“Fuck y—”
He twists my wrist, making me hiss with pain. The stars in my eyes thicken into a flurry. Then I hear a quick, metallic snapping noise.
And when my vision sorts itself out again, I realize he’s handcuffed me to one of the bedposts.
I jerk at it. The chain rattles but it doesn’t even budge. “Let me go! Are you fucking kidding me?”
“No,” he replies calmly as he rises up to his full height and steps away from me. “Not until you start cooperating.”
“What have I said that makes you think I’m interested in cooperating with a fucking murderer like you?” I snarl. “You expect to abduct me, cuff me here, and I should just be happy about it?”
“I said nothing about being happy.”
I let out a low breath and my shoulders slump down. I pull at the handcuffs again—and this time, I notice a weird little bit of slack. Room to maneuver them off the post, maybe? I want to examine it further, but I don’t want to tip Kian off to anything.
So I decide on a different tactic for now. “You want me to behave?”
He shrugs. “Things will go easier for you if you do.”
“Fine,” I say heavily, “I’ll behave then. In fact, I’ll prove it to you.”
He’s looking at me skeptically, clearly suspicious of my sudden change of heart. “How do you plan on doing that?”
I notice how his eyes flicker to my heaving chest. He’s trying hard not to let his gaze settle there, but he doesn’t always succeed. It’s a dead giveaway.
“Come here,” I coax. “And I’ll tell you.”
He doesn’t hesitate. Why would he? He’s the one with all the power here.
He stops about a foot away from me, but I shake my head. “Come closer.”
It’s a gamble. A dangerous game I’m playing. But to my surprise, he does. This time, he stops only about an inch or two away from me.
I rise to my knees—as far as the cuffs will let me go—and lean forward, closing the gap between our bodies. I press my breasts up against his chest and look up at him, softening my gaze just enough.
He’s definitely suspicious. But he’s also curious.
Since my right hand is chained to the bedpost, I use my left hand to snake up his torso.
It’s slightly irritating how fucking hard his body is. Even through his shirt, I can feel the hard wall of muscle. And it’s more than slightly irritating how that sends a strange ripple of heat surging through me.
“I can be a very good prisoner,” I murmur. “…If you let me.”
His gaze seems to stall on my lips. I lick them slowly.
Something flickers across his eyes. “You can’t buy your freedom with your body,” he tells me.