Page 58 of Obsession

Cologne? Her gaze darted around the cabin. Why would he bring cologne to a place like this?

“Okay.” She was grateful for his honesty, at least. Tucker might have been a cruel sociopath and her father even worse, but a part of her longed to understand how they’d both come to be in her life. “Thanks, sir.”

“Of course.” The arm around her body tightened. “I’m glad you like the scent. Are you cold?” His head rose to survey the fire, which was still ablaze at the other end of the space.

“I think you ditched my blanket on the floor.” Tugging her lower lip with her teeth, she motioned to where the blue cover had been discarded.

“If you want it, you’ve got it.” His arm vanished, his hand signaling for her to move, and fleetingly, she realized she was free.

Free from his grasp, from his binds, and if she remembered correctly, from the lock that normally secured his front door. She couldn’t recall Tucker replacing it when he’d carried her back from the grass outside.

That meant freedom was only a few paces away.

Her attention landed squarely on the exit, and for a few prolonged seconds, she simply watched it. Her heart galloped as she contemplated making yet another escape, but for the first time since he’d hauled her back to his bleak little cabin, she realized she didn’t want to.

Ella had discovered an element of repletion and understanding in the arms of the man who’d agreed to take her as a surety. And even though she longed for the liberty of her old life, for her friends and cosmetics, a deep, unspoken facet of her needed to know if there was more to their connection than only banter, conflict, and climaxes. Tucker had taken on a pseudo-father-figure role in her life, and despite how crazy it sounded, she felt as if she’d finally found a man she could count on.

Some father-figure. Her throat dried. This is not how fathers and daughters interact.

“Planning on running, little girl?” His voice was spiked with sarcasm. “Again?”

“No, sir.” Her shoulders sagged as she acknowledged it was the truth. “I’m staying.” She did want to stay, to find out if the softer side of the man who presented as such a monster could truly ignite her beyond the bedroom.

Secretly, she also wanted to know more about her father and how Alexander had played into the woman she’d become. Her mum adamantly refused to talk about him, and Tucker was the only other person she’d met who had known him. If she wanted to understand her paternal genes, Tucker was her best shot at the discovery.

“I’m pleased to hear it.” She heard the smile on his face, although she never lifted her gaze to see the gesture.

A satiated silence fell over them where she forgot her search for the blanket, and he didn’t continue to question her. For once, there was peace in merely being in his presence. Ella had never known sensuality like it.

The wave of contentment swelled as he leaned down to kiss the crown of her head. Evidently, her so-called captor felt the instinctive harmony as well, and head heavy with the weight of her pleasure, she allowed her eyelids to flutter closed.

Breathing in the serene energy, she didn’t dwell on what would happen when their bubble burst, preferring to just be present in their sweet, simmering connection.

It was almost perfect, like a dream she never wanted to wake from, until her eyes were forced open by the shrill ringing of an electronic device from the other side of the cabin.

Shit!

Her pulse quickened as her brain registered the noise, and her gaze searched the darkening space for evidence of its source.

“Wait here.” He straightened behind her, climbing over her body with unexpected dexterity as he charged toward the counter.

“Sir?” She stretched for the blue blanket and clutched it to her chest, suddenly conscious of how cold the air had become.

“A phone.” He hissed, his hands moving piles of paperwork and tools around the workspace as he searched for the device.

“But?” Her head started to ache. “I didn’t think you had a phone?”

She strained to remember if he’d explicitly told her that, but it was certainly the implication he’d made, and she hadn’t seen sight or heard the sound of a phone since she’d been there. Goodness only knew, she’d have tried to use one if she had.

“I don’t,” he confirmed, as lowering to his haunches, he searched beneath the counter. “Not here.”

“Oh.” Curling into a ball, she tried to ignore the knotting anxiety as it rumbled in her tummy. If he didn’t have a phone, and hers had never made it to the cabin, then how was one ringing?

He’d just seized upon the clanging device as the answer smacked her in the face.

Alexander.

Her father had left a phone in the sleeping bag she’d been bound in. The ringing device had to be his.

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