Caught Up In You 5: No More Denial (Edgeplay) (8 page)

“As tempting as you are, I won’t be distracted by your charms just now.” Ian tosses the sheet over me. He opens the nightstand drawer, sets the phone and the sex toy inside, and withdraws a revolver. “I must remain vigilant. He’ll be here soon. I’ll relish taking you for the first time when he lies dying, bleeding out on the floor.”

“You won’t get away with this!” I pull against my bonds until the chains rattle. It does no good.

“Of course I will. I already have with your grandfather.”

“There’s a difference between poisoning an old man and shooting one in his prime.”

“We’re in the middle of nowhere. Hours from the interstate. By the time anyone discovers the body we’ll be long gone.” He’s so sure, so arrogant. Using the barrel of the weapon to caress my cheek, he smirks. “And then no one will be left to look for you. You’ll be mine. Forever.”

Gravel crunches under tires and Ian moves to the window. “It’s him. Only one car. I knew he’d come alone. Like I said, stupid when it comes to you.” Excitement rolls off of him in waves.

“Connor!” I shout. “He’s armed!”

Ian pistol-whips me so hard the back of my skull bounces against the headboard. My vision wavers but I scream again, determined to get my warning out.

Ian stuffs a rag deep into my mouth. “This won’t take long, darling.”

No! This can’t be happening. I do my best to work the stale rag out of my mouth but my jaw is wedged wide open with no room to work. I yank on the restraints again and again, desperate to get to Connor before Ian does. I can’t let him die because of me.

A gunshot. Then another. Tears break free and my heart seizes.
Connor.

A huge crash sounds from the door, followed by more gunfire. It sounds like world war three has erupted in the next room.

Trussed up as I am, there’s nothing I can do to help the man I love. I know he’ll fight for me with everything he’s got but fear it won’t it be enough. Is he even still alive?

Through my tears, I see a huge form in the doorway. Bigger than Ian, even larger than Connor, and it has
glowing red eyes?

“Stand down.” That’s Connor’s voice, and Connor’s battle bot looming in the doorway. My heart leaps at the sound. He’s alive!

“Baily.” Squeezing past the bot, Connor charges into the room. He rips the gag from my mouth and then attacks the chains. “Is there a key?”

 I’m crying too hard to answer him, all my anxiety and relief taking over. He’s alive and here to set me free. I may never regain the power of speech.

“Justin. Check the body for a key.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Connor grips my face in his hands. “Baby, listen to me. You have to tell me if he hurt you.”

Having his warm hands on me again helps ground me. I’m still a blubbering mess but I need to ease his mind. “He drugged me twice with a needle and hit me with the gun.”

“But that’s all?” His hands are shaking where they rest on my cheeks.

I meet his steady gaze. “That’s all.”

“Thank God,” he breathes, burying his face in my hair.

Behind him, Justin clears his throat. “Sir, the key?”

When Connor pulls away, I see his eyes are wet. He takes the key from Justin, who murmurs, “I’ll find your clothes.” Obviously trying to give us privacy.

“We’ve got to get out of here. Get you to a hospital.” Wrapping the sheet around me, he picks me up off the bed. “I have a helicopter a few miles from here.”

I’m content to lean against him as he carries me from the room but look down when I see the limp form crumpled on the floor. “Is he dead?”

“No, but don’t worry, he won’t be waking up until after the police arrive. And he’s tied up. Justin will stay with him.”

I struggle in his grasp. “Put me down. I want to finish him.”

Connor carries me outside to the SUV. “No, baby, it doesn’t help anything.”

My eyes overflow again. “He murdered Pops and he wanted to kill you too. He doesn’t deserve to live.”

Connor sets me inside and strokes my cheek. “It won’t help anything, taking justice into your own hands. You’ll still feel the need to do something, to fix something.”

I can tell he’s talking from his own experience and reach for his cheek with a shaking hand. “It doesn’t?”

 His eyelids lower to half-mast and he leans into my touch. “If I thought it would, I’d put a bullet in his brain right now. Or hold your hand steady while you do it. Don’t let him change you, sweetheart. You don’t have a killer’s soul. It would haunt you.”

“Maybe you’re right.” My head hurts and I lean back against the seat.

“I just need to secure the bot. I’ll be right back.” Shucking his heavy pea coat, he drapes it over me.

I snuggle into the heavy fabric, still warm from his body heat, while he and Justin load the bot into the trunk.

“You need to beat feet,” Justin murmurs. “I’ll stall them as long as I can but if the local LEO’s find out about the bot and word gets out, you can kiss that DOD contract goodbye.”

Connor nods, then slides behind the wheel. “Call me with an update as soon as you can. Ms. Sinclair needs medical attention.”

The engine turns over and Connor pulls out onto the dirt road. Each jounce is painful for my aching cranium. It might be the head injury, but I feel the need to blather out everything I learned. No more holding things back from Connor.

“He hired someone to set the car bomb. It was meant for you.”

“I know,” Connor says quietly. “Justin caught up with the guy who did the deed and he squealed about the crazy doctor. Didn’t have a name, just a profession. I was going to tell you last night but then you were drunk and things got out of hand. It wasn’t until you emailed me his name that I put it all together.”

“I’ll never drink again,” I vow. “It only fucks everything up.”

“Baily,” his tone is so raw, so full of pain. “I’m sorry. I never wanted to hurt you.”

“You didn’t.” After spending the afternoon with a real rapist, I know for a fact that Connor isn’t one. “It was a misunderstanding that went too far. You stopped. That tells me everything I need to know.”

“You shouldn’t trust me.”

“Not trusting you got me into this mess to begin with. I love you, Connor, so much it scares me.”

His jaw clenches and our journey progresses in silence.

Chapter Eight

“
I
know you’re avoiding me,” I say from the entrance to the secret passageway in Connor’s office. He’s standing before the fire, staring into the flames as though lost.

“You need to rest and recover from what happened.” His tone is absent, as if reciting a memorized speech.

“It’s been a week.” A lonely week of recovering in my cottage. I can’t seem to go into my bedroom without triggering a panic attack. Connor left security outside my cottage round the clock, making it impossible for me to show up here and have this showdown. “What I need is you.”

I move forward, try to wrap my arms around him, but his hands clamp onto my wrists. The rejection stings. “Connor?”

“I remember,” he says sullenly. “Everything.”

I tug my arms free and he allows it. “What?”

“My memories are all unlocked. The one thing I wanted more than anything.”

My heart rate speeds up. “Since when?”

His gaze meets mine, conflicting emotions battling in blue fire. “Since your abduction.”

“Will you tell me about it?” Since he won’t let me be where I want to—on his lap—I lower myself onto the chaise.

I hold my breath, afraid he’s going to say no. His knuckles are white where he grips the stone mantel. “What do you want to know?”

“Who took you?”

“My family.”

That can’t be right. “I don’t understand. Why would they do such a thing?”

“Money, of course. My grandfather cut my mother off when she married my father. He’d had some minor successes over the years, but he was a gambler and the money ran out. My grandfather had taken out hefty insurance policies on me, since I was his heir. So my parents arranged the kidnapping from here, while visiting friends.”

It’s a good thing I’m already sitting. “Oh, Connor.”

“It’s strange, I haven’t made contact with them for years. Even though I couldn’t remember, I still had this…aversion to seeing them.”

Betrayed by the very people who were supposed to shelter and protect him. It takes everything in me not to go to him, but I don’t want him to mistake my offering of comfort for pity. “So with your memories unlocked, does that mean Dom Connor is gone for good?”

He shakes his head. “I’m not sure. I haven’t experienced any missing time over the past few days. Disappointed?” His tone is mocking.

I stand up. “Don’t try to drive me away. It won’t work.”

“I’m selling the Rosemont.”

I blink. “Excuse me?”

“I bought the estate to unlock my memories. Now that I have them, there’s no need to remain here.”

“What you mean is you don’t want to remember what happened here. With my grandfather taking you and giving you to the ones who hurt you.”

A muscle jumps in his jaw. “And is that so wrong?”

“Of course it isn’t. I don’t blame you a bit, so long as you take me with you.”

He turns away. “That isn’t a good idea.”

“You don’t want me anymore?” I shouldn’t be surprised. It still defies belief that he wanted me in the first place.

He doesn’t answer.

I lift my chin. “Tell me the truth, Connor. Was I part of some revenge scheme to get back at Pops? Seduce the country bumpkin, build up her hopes, and then dash them when she falls in love with the billionaire playboy? Because if that’s all we were, tell me now.”

“You know better than that.” He stares out the window.

“Is it because of Pops then? Am I a reminder of him and what he did to you?” If that’s the case I can accept it, for his sake. “You said you forgave him but maybe it was a little premature. Maybe you can’t get over that. How could you ever get over that?”

He turns and grips my arms. “You want a reason? Because I know now what it’s like to love someone to the point of madness. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for you, Baily Sinclair. I don’t care if you’re the spawn of Satan himself because now you’re
mine
.”

His lips sear mine in a hungry kiss. Our tongues tangle and I groan, lost in the sensual taste of him. The wicked pleasure his mouth never fails to deliver. It’s been too long and I’ve missed him so much. He could devour me and I wouldn’t lift a finger to stop him.

He breaks away too soon and stalks back to the fireplace. “And I can’t have you.”

“Why not?” Still gasping, I lean against the windowsill. “What’s stopping you? I’m right here, I’m willing and I don’t see the problem.”

“The problem is I wanted to rape you.”

I thought we straightened this out already. True, I was suffering from blunt force trauma to the head, but I could have sworn we talked about this. “You didn’t though.”

“But I
wanted
to. I still want to.” His expression is anguish personified.

My lips part but I don’t know what to say. Whatever I go with had better be planned though, because I sense Connor is at the breaking point. I move back to the chaise and sit on its edge. “Talk to me. Tell me what you need.”

He stares at me as though I’ve turned green. “You should be running away. Especially after your abduction.”

“Ian Fletcher’s craziness has nothing to do with us.” Though the thought of being tied up helplessly again makes my stomach heave, I don’t dwell on it. “What is it that you want, Connor? I know I screwed everything up by leaving the way I did. It upset you.”

“I was devastated.” His tone is sincere, the confession heartfelt.

 “What do I need to do to show you I’m here for good? That I won’t leave you again?”

Apprehension and what looks like hope flicker over his face as he kneels down in front of me. “You don’t know what you’re offering. And I refuse to break you.”

I can barely swallow around the lump in my throat. “You won’t. I have faith in you. Now you need to trust me. Trust in us.”

I can see the instant the decision is made. His eyes remain steady on mine and he says, “I need to be in complete control. To do anything I want to you.”

“I don’t understand how that’s any different than what we’ve already done.”

“No safeword. No stopping until it’s over.”

I swallow hard. He means business. Without a safeword I’d be completely at his mercy. A flash of me tied helplessly to the bed with Ian Fletcher standing over me pushes to the front of my brain but I shove it away. “Can you tell me why this is important to you?”

I expect him to move away, to hide his face in some way, but that’s not my Connor. He looks me straight in the eye as he bares his soul. “They forced me to be their sex slave. The men who took me. They used me hard, would starve or beat me if I refused. I’m not sure when my mind fragmented, but I know why. The part of me that endured it, that was raped repeatedly, swore one day he’d kill them and he’d never let anyone have power over him again. It’s all that got him—that got
me
through.”

“Dom Connor.” My heart is breaking, cracking in half as surely as his psyche once did.

“Baily, you have too much power over me. I need to get it back somehow. I’ve been dreaming about holding you down. That’s why I was so afraid to let you sign that paper. He’d done it before, enacted a rape fantasy with another woman. He thought she didn’t know who he was, thought he could get it out of his system. In the end she threatened to file rape charges unless I paid her off.”

“God, Connor.” He was killing me with every word.

 “That night in the car, I thought you wanted the same thing. That you wanted me to chase you, to take the choice from you. It made me crazy to think you were denying us both.”

“I was drunk and clueless and your anger scared me to death.” But at the same time I was aroused. He’d stroked me to orgasm and if I hadn’t panicked I might have gotten off on everything.

Taking a deep breath, I touch his face. “If we do this, I need to know you aren’t angry with me, that you’re not trying to take something out on my body.”