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Okay. Now they were both confused. “You aren’t dreaming, I’m real. Do we know each other?”

“Do we know each other?” Her voice rose with every word until she was almost screeching. “Do we know each other?”

Without warning, she swung her free arm straight at his face. Her fist connected with his nose, and he toppled to the floor. Where he lay, staring at the roughly carved ceiling as his nose bled and his thoughts spun wildly.

CHAPTER TWO

Sarah was disgusted with herself. She stared at Ryan in horror as blood trickled from his nose. How could she have lost control like that? There was no excuse for it. None. The first time she’d seen him in over a year and she turned rabid. Mortified did not go anywhere near describing how she felt.

“Ryan.” She tried to salvage a sliver of dignity. “I shouldn’t have hit you. I’m very sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”

“Anger?” he asked dryly.

“That’s no excuse. I…you surprised me, and well, I wasn’t expecting to see you again after…well, last time, and here you are…” She frowned as the “here” part of the sentence began to register. “Um… exactly where are we?”

Carefully, she swung her legs over the edge of the stone platform she found herself lying on and took in her surroundings. And what she saw made her heart race and her mouth become suddenly dry.

She’d been in a cafe, meeting a client, and now…

She was in a cave?

With Ryan?

How was she supposed to process this?

As her hands began to tremble, she sucked in some much-needed air, only to find it musty and dry. She licked her lips as she tried to figure out what was happening. It was useless. Literally no logical explanation came to mind.

Dread seeped into her bones, making her feel heavy and cold. She attempted to wrap her arms around herself for warmth and comfort, but her arm felt weighted and restrained. There was a thick metal cuff, fastened tightly around her wrist.

A low scream started to build in the back of her mind as the horrors of the situation sank in.

“Ryan?” Her voice sounded like it was coming from far away as she stared at the restraint. “What’s going on?”

“It’s going to be okay,” he said as he got up from the floor. “Don’t panic.”

Sarah never panicked. But then, she was never in a situation that merited panic—at least not since she’d been a child. Did wanting to scream and claw at the cuff mean she was panicked?

“I just want to know what’s going on.” Her voice sounded tinny and tight.

“Listen to me.” Ryan didn’t sound panicked. He sounded calm and reasonable. “We’ve been abducted. I’m not sure where we are or who’s behind this. All I know is we were drugged. I woke up a few minutes ago and my head is still foggy. You have to be feeling disoriented too, but it’s going to be okay. I’ll get us out of here.”

Nope. That didn’t clear anything up. “I don’t understand. I was in a cafe, meeting a new client, and now…”

“You’re shivering. Here, this will help.”

Something wrapped around her shoulders, and warmth seeped into her. Ryan’s concerned face peered down at her. Which begged the questions, where had he been and why was he suddenly back? He was just standing there, staring at her. This huge, hunky apparition from her past, acting as though nothing had happened between them. Surely it wasn’t a coincidence that he turned up at the exact same time she ended up cuffed to the wall of a cave? Which meant…

“Why did you bring me here?” It amazed her that she sounded so calm.

He reeled back. “Wait a minute, you think I did this?”

Sarah held up her restrained hand. “I don’t see one of these on you and there’s nobody else here to blame it on. The logical conclusion is that you brought me to your…dungeon.” It became harder to breathe as that scream in the back of her mind grew louder. “Why do you have a dungeon? And why am I chained to the wall? What are you going to do with me?”

The scream in her head became too loud to contain. Sarah opened her mouth, sucked in air, and—

A hand gently, but firmly, covered her lips.

“Please don’t, my head is pounding and I’m pretty sure you’re only going to attract the attention of whoever dumped us here. You have to believe me, I had nothing to do with this. I’ve been abducted the same as you have.”