The lights going out made the decision for her. The sudden plunge into darkness left tiny starbursts of phantom light dancing in front of her eyes, and flooded by panic, her adrenaline spiked higher.
Afraid of the dark from a young age, she cried out as her phobia set her body into rapid motion. The metal of her cuff scraped along the rail and clanked in the dark when it reached the end of the line. The bed frame hit the backs of her legs, and she sagged onto the mattress, pulling her feet off the floor with a sob.
Knife clutched in one hand, metal bar in the other, she brought her thighs to her chest and curled into a ball. Forehead pressed tightly against her knees, her brain stuttered on repeat.Don’t be scared. Don’t be scared. Breath coming in jagged bursts and eyes squeezed shut against the darkness, Eve rocked back and forth, her heartbeat thundering in her earsas she wept.
CHAPTERTHREE
“Let me do this for you,”Chase said, his heart hurting for Gray.
Head down because she hovered on the verge of tears, she sat cross-legged on the end of their bed. Crouched in front of her, he had his hands on her knees, his thumbs stroking over the black fabric of her yoga pants.
She hadn’t been his for long, but he knew saying no to Detroit outright would be the quickest way to an argument that had the potential to last several days. And since his goal was to be naked and back inside of her by morning, an argument would be detrimental to the success of his plans.
Any points he raised about her safety would also fall on deaf ears. Gray didn’t give a damn about her own safety, not if it meant doing what she thought was the right thing. Despite that, he could see she struggled.
After everything she’d been through in the last few weeks, she didn’t want to watch another man die. She just wanted to do what she thought she should for Tara’s sake. There would be no battle of wills between them tonight. Gray wanted to give in to him. All he had to do was lead her down the path.
“Let me be your eyes, baby.” He kissed away a tear before trailing his mouth across the smooth skin of her cheek. “Your ears,” he whispered, brushing her hair aside and nipping at her earlobe. “And your heart.” He took her face in his hands, lifting her chin and kissing her mouth softly. “I promise you. Tara will have justice.” He searched the depths of her green eyes and knew he had her. “Let me do this for you. It’s what she would want.”
“You don’t fight fair, Chase Mackenzie.” She brought her lips to his, giving into him in the best possible way.
“You love me anyway, Grace Grayson.” He would have kissed her back, but she pulled away.
“It’s Emerson, dickhead.”
For personal and professional reasons, Gray preferred using her mother’s maiden name. He wanted her to go by a third. “How about we make it Mackenzie and call it even,” he said, pushing her flat onto the bed and caging her beneath him.
She snorted and wrapped her arms and legs around his torso, pulling him closer. “Not a chance in hell.”
Gray had made it clear. She had no intention of getting married. To him or anyone else. He on the other hand, was every bit as stubborn and pigheaded as she. “We’ll see about that.”
He licked at her lips to open. When they did, he slid his tongue inside, claiming hers and making her moan. The sound sent a thrill through his core, nailing him right in the head of his cock.
Terrific. He’d be sporting a set of blue balls all the way to Michigan and back.
“You know you’ve never asked me on a date,” Gray said, breaking their steamy kiss far too soon for his liking.
He lifted a brow. “A date?”
“Yeah, you’re going to have to woo me.”
“Woo you?” He laughed, now there was a word he never expected to hear from his woman.
Gray scrunched her brows together and made her annoyed face. “Seriously, are you going to repeat everything I say?”
“You want to go on a date? Like to a movie?” With the pads of his thumbs, he smoothed the vertical line between her brows, kissing the spot when it was gone.
“Actually, I had something a little more romantically challenging in mind.” Gray’s smile turned wicked, and Chase knew he was in deep trouble. As often as she gave into him, he gave into her. “Ever been to Mallorca?” she asked as he did a quick time check.
According to his battered G-Shock, they were due in the boardroom in two minutes. He slid his hands between her ass and the mattress and picked her up. Her hair tumbled down her back, making him want to tangle his fingers in the dark waves.
Heading for the door with Gray wrapped around him, he had a feeling he already knew the answer to his next question. “What’s in Mallorca?”
“Sun, heat, and me deep water soloing in a string bikini.”
Yep, exactly what he’d been thinking. The mental image of Gray clinging to a rock face in a bikini stopped him in his tracks. His mind, however, took off at a hundred miles an hour in another direction.
He needed to get things squared away with her before he went after Johnson, and this was a situation he could take advantage of. The fucker didn’t have Tak, but he knew who did, and Chase would do anything necessary to get his best friend back.
