A Prince's Ransom: Kidnapped by the Billionaire (39 page)

Grabbing her purse off the passenger seat, she climbed out of the car and quickly locked it before glancing around the parking lot. There were quite a few people here, slowly making their way toward the entrance with the music about to start; it was a pretty good turnout for a band she’d never heard of. That was a good thing. More people meant he’d be less likely to do anything. And she wouldn’t be going into the bathroom unless she was sure there were a lot of other women in there this time. Yes, she had gotten that paranoid.

But she ignored these fears and concerns and headed toward the front, only to feel a smile growing when Kevin was outside, waiting for her. He was scanning the crowd diligently, and a matching smile touched his lips as he saw her, pushing off of the wall and walking toward her. “Tobin! I’m glad you made it,” he beamed at her.

“I wouldn’t have missed it,” she fibbed. “This is quite the place! I didn’t even know there were bars like this in this part of the city.”

“Hah, yeah, it’s pretty obscure. I’m from Nebraska, so when I first moved out here I was a bit homesick—but I found this place and it’s just kind of a standard hangout for me now.”

She lifted a brow curiously. “Nebraska, huh? You’re definitely a long way from home. What made you decide to be a doctor here?”

“I went to medical school here—and as homesick as I was, I fell in love with the city and its people, so I decided to stay.” He glanced at her with a sheepish guy-next-door smile. “I’m glad I decided to stay.”

Her own smile broadened. “I’m glad you decided to stay too. You seen this band before?”

“A few times. They’re pretty good. I think this will be one of their biggest shows so far, though, so they might be a bit nervous. Hopefully that won’t detract too much.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine.” They entered the bar, where it smelled distinctly of malt-heavy drinks and cigarette smoke, along with some sort of raw woodiness that was entirely unfamiliar to Tobin. Everyone inside seemed friendly, though, a couple of them waving to Kevin as they passed. The bartender seemed to be a friend of his, and he introduced her; the bartender, Rick, got a big grin on his face at the sight of her.

“Well, it’s about time you get a girlfriend, Kev! Been here seven dang years and I don’t think you’ve even gotten laid.”

Kevin’s cheeks colored. “Uh, well, I…”

Tobin leaned on the bar and smirked at him. “Oh, I don’t know, I have a feeling he probably does pretty well for himself. He just doesn’t need to brag about his conquests to compensate.” She wrinkled her nose at him and Rick howled with laughter.

“Alright, this one’s a keeper! What’ll it be, though?”

Her date was recovering after her words, and he grinned at her. “Ale?”

“Sounds good.”

“Two ales, then.” Even though it was getting busier, it only took a couple of minutes for them to get a few large ales and head to one of the tables—not too close to the stage, where the amps were propped up. “Where I come from, girls don’t usually answer guys that way,” Kevin told her sheepishly as they sat down.

She laughed slightly and lifted a brow at him. “That a problem?”

“Not at all! I told you, I fell in love with the city and its people. You just don’t quite compare to the sweet demureness of a country girl.”

Tobin grinned at him, pleased with the answer, before the band climbed up on stage and welcomed everyone, starting their set. It seemed like everyone here had seen them perform a couple of other times elsewhere; they got a lot of cheers and clapping in rhythm and people singing along with the lyrics. The atmosphere was infectious, and she found herself actually having a good time. She hadn’t expected that, admittedly. She had wanted to have a good time, with Kevin—if things hadn’t gone the way they had, she had a feeling that she would’ve just liked him right off the bat. She still did like him right off the bat. Things were just complicated.

But as they drank and talked between songs and laughed as the bandmates bantered with each other, a lot of her paranoia started to fade away. Kevin was a really great guy—even he started singing along with all the others, though he blushed when Tobin started laughing after she noticed. She was genuinely amused, though; she didn’t mind at all, and it was nice seeing a guy who was genuine. She loved the city, she had lived here all her life, but maybe her problem was city guys. This nice country boy who’d become a big-city doctor seemed like a much better match than anyone she had met recently—or ever, honestly. All the way back to her first failed relationship in high school. If relationships at that age could be considered relationships.

After maybe forty-five minutes, the band announced that they were going to take a quick break to refresh and be able to feel their fingers after strumming their guitars for so long. Tobin looked at Kevin. “I’m going to go get us some more drinks.”

He looked up and smiled. “Yeah, sure thing! How are you? You enjoying yourself, Tobin?”

“Absolutely,” she answered truthfully and leaned over to kiss his cheek before getting out of her seat and moving back to where Rick was dispensing a lot of refills during the lull. “Hey! Two more ales when you get a chance!” He nodded in acknowledgment, and she turned around to look around the rest of the bar. She was having a good time—this was a really nice change of pace. From the past few weeks especially, but a lot of other stuff, too. Maybe she could have a normal life after everything after all. She wouldn’t be telling Kevin what had happened any time soon, though. He seemed like an actual nice guy who wouldn’t condemn her for that, but she didn’t really want to get into it with someone else again.

There was a dark movement out of the corner of her eye that seemed discordant with the rest of the room around her, and she turned toward the sight. Her brow furrowed, and she craned her head around a few people who were standing and talking, playing darts. All at once, immediately and without any hesitation, she felt all of the color drain out of her cheeks. It went silent around her, as she caught a glimpse of auburn hair—brown eyes. No. God, no. Not here, not tonight. She had needed tonight. A night to feel safe, to feel normal. He couldn’t be here. He just couldn’t be here. And yet the people who stood in front of him continued to shift around, parting before him; he was leaning against a wall, a bottle of beer in his hand, arms crossed moodily over his chest. Tobin’s heart plunged into her stomach and started to get swallowed by the acid as she stared at him. He was staring right back at her—almost pleased to finally be noticed, she thought.

“Hey, here are your drinks!” Rick called, his hand nudging her shoulder, and she quickly turned around, tearing her gaze from his.

“Thanks,” she answered, just loud enough to be heard, before grabbing the glasses and heading back to her and Kevin’s table. A few other people he knew were there, and he was talking to them, but he looked up immediately with a smile when he noticed her coming back.

That smile faltered, though, and she could only guess what expression he saw on her face. It wasn’t a good one. “Hey, are you okay? You don’t look so good.”

She forced a smile to her own lips. “Yeah—yeah, I’m okay, I, uhm… I just got a little dizzy. I’m going to step outside for a few minutes before the next set starts. I promise I’ll be right back.”

Kevin frowned. “Are you sure? You don’t want me to come with?”

“No, no, it’s fine—it’s been a long time since I had ale. Maybe it’s just getting to me a little bit.” He was worried she was going to bail, she thought, and glanced around uncertainly for a way to make him not think that without explaining… “Watch my purse, okay?” She gestured to where it was strung across the back of her chair, between where she had been sitting and where he had been, and some of the concern faded from his face.

“Sure thing, Tobin. I’ll see you in a couple of minutes—they haven’t even played their best songs yet!”

She smiled a bit more genuinely. “Awesome, I look forward to hearing more.” But before he could say anything else, if he had been going to, Tobin bolted. Or, at least, she bolted as much as she could in a packed barroom, heading for the entrance and stepping out into the cooler, crisper air. Some people were outside in the parking lot, but pretty much everyone seemed like they were staying for the rest of the show, so there weren’t that many. She moved away from the door and propped herself against the wall nearby, beneath one of the flickering fluorescent bulbs that lit up the entryway, and took several deep breaths.

It wasn’t going to happen again. He wasn’t going to take her again, it wasn’t going to happen again. She wasn’t going to be forced to perform surgery she didn’t know how to do, she wasn’t going to feel a gun against the back of her head. No one was going to threaten to rape her, she wasn’t going to wonder if she was ever going to see her family or her friends or her cats again. Because, yes, some part of her worried about her cats’ futures without her, and she just… no. It wasn’t going to happen again. She wasn’t going to let it, whatever else happened.

“An interesting place for a first date,” a low, rumbling voice mused nearby, and she squeezed her eyes shut tightly, digging her nails into her arms. She didn’t want to open her eyes.

“Go away,” she whispered. “Just go away. Leave me alone. Haven’t you done enough?”

“I feel like we’ve had that conversation already,” he answered, drifting nearer to her, but he didn’t try to touch her. She could feel his eyes on her, though, penetrating her to her core, and she tried hard to keep herself from panicking.

“Then let’s skip to the part where you go away. Can’t you just let me live my own life? I just wanted a normal night, with a nice guy—”

“You deserve more than just a nice guy, Tobin.”

Her eyes flared open and she stared at him. “And you’re more? You’re more than a doctor who actually wanted to get to know me and doesn’t just grope me intermittently? You’re more than the guy who held a gun to my head that you’d already used on someone else that day? Give me a freaking break! I want you to go away. What could I have possibly done to make you do any of this?”

“That, right there,” he answered softly. “That little spark of anger that slips past your fright when you don’t expect it to—that’s what you did. There’s not a girl I know who has that, and even fewer who would still have it after everything that’s happened.”

Tobin’s throat tightened. “Oh, good. So the fact that I still have the willpower to get angry with you when you terrify me is why. That makes me feel loads better.”

“You don’t actually want me to go away, Tobin,” he answered with a laugh, lifting a brow at her that made her want to hit him.

“I don’t?” she asked incredulously.

“You could have called the police—several times now, you could’ve called the police, and you didn’t.”

“I just want you to go away. I want all of it to go away. I want my life back more than I want you to go to jail for what you’ve done.” Through the wall, and the window nearby, she could hear the muffled sound of a microphone announcing that the band was returning to the stage to resume playing. She needed to go back inside.

“That isn’t all you want.” All of a sudden, before she had the chance to react, he was surging against her, cupping her cheek with a rough hand and pinning her against the wall. Her stomach twisted into knots and she gasped, feeling his hard, chiseled strength, hands instinctively lifting to press at him.

“Stop it,” she whispered. “Just stop it. I don’t want this.”

“What a liar you are,” he murmured, leaning nearer to her so that his forehead pressed against her own, and his warm breath brushed against her lips, her cheek, and she trembled. “Maybe you’re right, that I’m not better than—than a doctor, that nice guy in there who took you to this… backwater, of all the places a girl like you should be taken.”

“Stop—”

“But when you get home from your third or fourth date, and you invite him up to that apartment you can barely stand to be in by yourself, you think he’s going to be enough then? You think he’s going to be better than this, that he’ll even compare?” His fingertips slid down, over her jaw, onto her throat, and she let out a shaking breath. “And when you’re alone in your bed, do you really think it’ll be him you’re thinking about, Tobin? Another nice guy, probably gentle, attentive. No—my money? It’s on that kiss, in a damn bathroom stall, that you’re going to be thinking about. That’s going to crop up when you’re right on the edge of sleep.”

His lips brushed against hers, and she whimpered, trying to deny him even a little bit of what he wanted in this moment—but what she knew he was getting. He was getting her desire, stirring it, and her nails twisted into his shirt in a mixture of frustration and something else entirely. “I don’t even know your damn name,” she hissed against his lips.

“It’s Sebastian,” he murmured. “Not that that matters, unless you’re the type to cry out the name of your lover during sex—you are, aren’t you?” He grinned against her as she turned the name over in her head. Sebastian—yeah, that definitely suited him.

“You are such a fucking asshole,” she whispered.

“No arguments on that front.” His lips drew closer, but he still wasn’t quite kissing her. He still hadn’t gone quite that far. “Admit I’m right, Tobin. Admit that you want this—that you want me more than you want him, however much of a nice guy he is.”

She shut her eyes tightly, squeezing them shut, and whimpered. The music was starting up again, and she gritted her teeth. “Fine,” she hissed to keep herself from shouting. “Fine! You want me to admit it—you want one night?” She opened her eyes just long enough to see his flare with surprise, and then darken into a lustful smolder. “Fine.”

“Are you sure you’re feeling alright to drive yourself home, Tobin? You seemed pretty out of it earlier. I’d be happy to do it,” Kevin asked as the two left the bar after the second half of the concert. If it had been a weekend, they probably would have stayed later, but it was a Wednesday, and they both had to work in the morning.

“I’m sure, honest,” she answered untruthfully. “Besides, I really need to have the car to get to work in the morning. I told Kate she didn’t have to worry about picking me up, and my apartment is pretty out of the way for her anyway. I’m fine—I had a really good time tonight, though, Kevin. Thanks for inviting me.”