Page 118 of Crossed Wires: The Complete Series
“Where in Australia?”
Amy tried to retrieve her hand, but he refused to let go. “Where?” he repeated. “Is she at your house?”
More silence met his question.
“Fine. I’ll find her myself.”
“How?” she asked.
He didn’t have a clue. He didn’t know Amy’s last name, didn’t have any idea where she lived in Oz, nothing. “You’re going to tell me.”
She laughed. “I already told you I wouldn’t. Australia’s a bloody big country, you know? If you’re going to go over there to look for her, you better start now. Should only take you a few…dozen years or so.”
“Thanks for the geography lesson, but I’m not going off on a wild goose chase. I won’t need to. You’ll tell me everything I need to know. I can be very persuasive when I need to be.”
She didn’t bother to respond, her smirk tweaking his nerves. “I’d really love to hang out and chat, but I need to get going. Looks like I need to find a new place to stay since my holiday home is already occupied.”
Now it was his turn to grin. “You’re not going anywhere. In fact, you’re my collateral. Until you tell me where my sister is or until Harper comes home, you’re staying right here where I can keep an eye on you. Consider yourself under house arrest.”
He expected her to argue, to pitch a fit, to wage a battle similar to the one they’d engaged in the previous evening. His damn cock actually started to thicken at the thought.
He should have known better. Amy hadn’t done a single predictable thing since stripping off her clothes and crawling between his sheets.
Instead, she smiled, looking very pleased by his threat. “Fine. I don’t have enough money for a hotel anyway.” She stood, though he still kept hold of her hand. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go unpack my things in the guest room.”
“Oh. Did I forget to mention? You’ll be staying in this room. With me.”
Amy feigned a yawn. “Been there, done that.”
“And you’ll be doing it again.”
She started to tug against his grip in earnest, but he held firm. “Not in this lifetime, hotshot. Last night you got lucky because I was tired and not thinking straight. Today’s a different game.”
“That’s right.” He twisted her hands behind her back, securing them there in one of his then reaching into the nightstand drawer and pulling out a pair of handcuffs. He snapped then in place easily, despite Amy’s struggles. “This gameiscompletely new.”
Amy’s head spun. Andrew was keeping her here? In his room?
And he thought she’d be resistant?
Andrew really didn’t understand the difference between punishment and bloody good fun. His high-handed ways were slightly annoying, but they were nothing she couldn’t deal with. She’d held her own against Thomo and Blue for years, so this Yank had another thing coming if he thought he was going to run roughshod over her.
Besides, he was playing completely into her hand. She needed a place to stay in Chicago the next two weeks and sharing his king-sized bed would be no hardship. In fact, despite the cuffs at her wrists—how hot were they?—she’d say the morning had turned out much better than she’d expected.
She’d woken up in a full-fledged panic, wondering what the hell she was supposed do. Instinct overpowered intelligence and before she could think through why she shouldn’t call Harper, her friend was on the other end of the line.
It had been on the tip of her tongue to confess to the misunderstanding that had led to a night of amazing sex, but Amy wasn’t sure how Harper would feel about her friend sleeping with her brother. Besides, Harper sounded so happy and excited, she hated to say anything to ruin her friend’s vacation.
Just because she’d epically fucked up everything, there was no reason to take Harper down with her. Instead, she’d simply told her friend that Andrew had returned early. She wasn’t sure what she had expected Harper to say, but she was surprised when her friend begged her to continue to hide the fact she was in Australia.
How was Amy supposed to stay in Harper’s house without confessing to Andrew who she was? Although she’d suspected—and rightly so—that Andrew would figure it out on his own eventually.
Then Andrew had walked in. One look at his pissed-off face and she’d begun trying to mentally calculate how much money was in her bank account and how high she’d have to charge up her credit cards to foot the bill for a hotel room.
Her conscience nagged, telling her it was wrong to sleep with Harper’s brother. Fortunately, she’d always been very good at justifying most of her questionable actions. After all, Harper was forcing her to take this path as Amy was simply trying to protect her friend’s secret.
God. She was pathetic.
And still bloody horny.
