Page 20 of Addiction

“Here we are.” He gestured to a lavish-looking skyscraper to his left seconds before he pulled off the main road and into an underground parking lot.

It took a moment for her eyes to adjust from the glaring light of the street to the darkness of the new environment, and as she blinked around, he brought the car to a halt and lowered the window.

“Good morning.” Tucker leaned out where the glass had been. “It’s Sam, isn’t it?”

A younger guy in an oversized suit rose from his stool in what looked like a security hut and greeted them. “Mr. Bowman?” He stared past Tucker to Ella’s bewildered expression. “I haven’t seen you for a few weeks.”

“That’s right.” Tucker’s tone was clipped but polite. “Have there been any problems in my absence?”

“No, sir.” Sam’s response was immediate. “Everything should be just as you left it. Hannah has been in to clean and stock up your cupboards.”

“Perfect.” Tucker nodded. “Thanks, Sam. Have a great day.”

He waited for Sam to walk back to his place before he ordered the window to rise.

“You have a security guard?” Ella didn’t know why she was surprised. Men like Tucker always paid other men to protect their assets. It was only her father who’d bucked the trend by giving his daughter away as a surety for his debt. She sighed again at the demoralizing thought.

“I have a team of security guys,” Tucker corrected. “It’s necessary when I’m not around.”

“I understand, sir.” She smiled as their eyes met. “I had cleaners, gardeners, and maids back at home, too. This just all seems so different from the life you lead at the cabin.”

“It is,” he concurred as the security barrier rose before them, and he pulled the car into the back of the lot. “That’s the point.”

“Do you own this entire building?” She was astonished at how quiet the parking lot was, although she accepted it wasn’t the largest space.

“I do.” Putting on the parking brake, he turned to her. “I run a few businesses out of here, but employees park in another lot. These cars are all mine.”

“Right.” She suppressed the urge to laugh as she eyed the Ferrari parked alongside them. Of course, they are.

Seeing Tucker back in his natural habitat of fast cars and high-rise buildings made a lot more sense than the rustic outdoors type she’d met in the woods. This was a man she could more easily relate to, and while she’d never run a business, she knew plenty of successful entrepreneurs and many more millionaires. His lifestyle didn’t seem so different from the one she’d known growing up.

“Something you want to say, little girl?”

Her heart sped up at his knowing tone, but still, she couldn’t resist her grin. “No, sir.”

The dynamic between them was another thing that had shifted. Back at the cabin, he’d seemed rugged and unpredictable, but she couldn’t imagine this version of Tucker stripping her and stringing her up from the rafters of the parking lot. Glancing out of the window, she realized her pulse was racing at the thought alone. Maybe he would still treat her that way… but if the threat was real, why wasn’t she running for the nearest exit?

“Hmmm.” He sounded unimpressed as he unfastened his safety belt and opened the car door. “Wait there. I’m coming to get you.”

He closed his door, casting the interior into abrupt darkness as he paced around the back of the vehicle. She waited as he opened the trunk and presumably retrieved the backpack he’d trudged through the forest. She hoped he was planning to leave the evil gun in the car, though. A moment later, her door opened above her in that unique way that Lamborghini’s tended to.

“Madam.” Offering her his palm, he arched a brow as she climbed out of the seat. The look on his face was scintillating, those deep blue eyes threatening to drown her as her boots hit the concrete below. After all the hours trudging through the woods without socks and having to ignore her sore feet, she realized she hardly noticed the discomfort at all now.

“Thank you, sir.”

If she wasn’t mistaken, there was something else different about him as they stood, hand-in-hand, in the shadows of the parking lot. The Tucker she’d met had seemed at home in the wilderness. He’d chopped wood and hunted small animals with apparent ease, however much the thought perturbed her. But despite his attire, this Tucker seemed equally at ease back in the corporate world of whatever empire he headed. The change in him was seamless.

“Come with me.” He tugged her toward him as he threw the bag on his shoulder and walked away, forcing her smaller paces to increase as she attempted to keep up.

“Will we live here?”

She peered around the dark space, unsure how she felt about the new residence. It had to be better than the cabin. Anything was better than living in a hut in the middle of nowhere that didn’t even have a bathroom.

“For now.” He paused in front of gray metal doors, reaching to press the button on the panel before them.

“Ident confirm.” A high-pitched metallic voice came from the silver panel, and Ella watched in shock as the door to the panel swung open to reveal further controls. Stepping toward it, Tucker spoke into the box as he pressed his index finger onto what looked like a fingerprint sensor.

“Bowman, Tucker.” He waited for his print to be confirmed before removing his finger and stepping closer to her.

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