Page 37 of Scarred Ruin

“What are we doing here?”

“We,” he offered as he approached a craft near the end, “are sharing a nightcap in privacy.”

Instinct had me stepping away. “I think I’d prefer to call it a night. I have a lot of work to do in the morning.”

For all the times I’d believed his guard had fallen, now I realized he’d been playing me. I could sense that with the change in his demeanor, the predatory actions as he turned toward me slowly.

He took an easy stride at a time while I backed toward the edge of the dock, the water lapping at the weather-worn posts. The sound was ominous, especially since there didn’t appear to be any other activity anywhere close.

I heard footsteps, becoming almost hopeful of being rescued until I realized the sound came from the two men bought and paid for to keep Maxsim alive.

Now, only inches away, he took his time responding. A tactic likely used by all those who believed themselves to be almighty.

“Again, Isabel. I didn’t ask.”

“And I said no.”

The moment shared was eerily calm and in the ambient glow of the dock’s scattered lights, I noticed his jaw was tightly clenched. He was even grinding his teeth in frustration. “If you’re worried I brought you here to do harm, you’d be wrong.”

“How do I know that?” I hated the timid sound of my voice. I wasn’t frightened of him. Okay, maybe a little, but with the circumstances of working together, the puzzle would be solved quickly should I end up dead or missing.

“As I said before. What you must think of me. I’d divulge yet another secret, but for your ears only.” His actions weren’t exactly threatening although his presence could be considered menacing. However, when he placed just the tip of his index finger on my nose while leaning in, not only did my heart flutter.

My pussy throbbed.

He wanted me intimidated, yet I was even more attracted to him? “What?” I managed.

“You’ll always be able to find men who have no value in human life, including a woman or a child. They simply take what they want because they have no moral compass. As you so aptly believe, in my line of work, I am required to handle difficult situations.”

He was lowering his head even more, leaving my stomach fluttering from so many butterflies.

“Which means, Isabel, that I’ve done at least a few of all those dark and disgusting things that have run through your mind. But there is a distinct difference between me and the bad men you’ve read about or the boogeymen who slither in the darkness.”

He was waiting for affirmation. I refused to give him any even as my body betrayed me both in tensing and in the scent of my desire growing between us.

His dark, slow, and husky chuckle was his way of telling me he was completely aware of what he did to me. “I have never and will never hurt a woman or a child. Or an animal in case that big brain of yours heads to that heinous level. I would hate for you to warn Mina that her papa would slice and dice her new pet. I don’t allow her to experience horror if at all possible.”

He slowly curled his finger, pulling his hand away, yet he didn’t move. The way he was hovering close created even more energy between us, a level of current that had been underlying before. And now was breaching the surface.

I even involuntarily lifted my chin until our lips were almost touching.

“If I’d wanted to hurt you, Isabel, that would have occurred. You have no need to worry about my intentions.”

His enunciation of a single word brought back one of the reasons I was standing here.

He backed away, sweeping his gaze one more time. “Now, we have that drink.”

Still authoritative. Still refusing to take no for an answer.

Abhorrent.

Yet I followed him down the dock, my deep breathing matching his slow and easy steps. When he stopped at one of the boats, I was somewhat surprised.

“A SeaVee.”

I could sense obvious surprise. “You know your yachts?”

“To a point. You can’t live in a city by the ocean for long and not know.”