Page 45 of Addiction

Am I fucking insane?

He wanted to keep Ella to himself. That was why he’d brought her there to his ivory tower. The last thing he wanted to do was share her, but even in the lust-fueled fog they’d created together, he knew their isolated intimacy couldn’t last forever.

If there was a real future for them, then he had to think bigger than that. He had to be smarter.

“Meet her?” Bewilderment flashed in her magnificent eyes. “Where, sir? Here?”

“No, not here.” Tucker’s thoughts were having to keep up with his mouth. “Somewhere else. Somewhere neutral.”

“Just me and her, or…” Her voice trailed away, but her inference was obvious. She wanted to know if he’d attend as well.

“I’ll give you some time together,” he promised. “But I’ll be close by.”

I can’t risk losing my collateral.

The lie echoed in his head, attempting to conceal the tangible truth. He couldn’t risk losing the woman he was falling in love with. Not even to her own mother.

“Where, sir?” Her voice had an urgency about it as she moved to straddle him. “Where shall I say we meet?”

“Don’t worry.” He contemplated admonishing her for straddling him without his assent, but he had no reason to complain as she sat astride his thighs. “We’ll work out all the details before you make the call. You can give your mum the time and the place, and I promise you’ll be there.”

***

Ella

The anxiety swilling in her stomach threatened to push the soup back for a second appearance as she stood, staring at the phone.

Calm down. She closed her eyes as she held onto the thought. This is what I want. Why am I so nervous?

She only had to glance to her right for a reminder of the answer. Tucker Bowman. The older, brooding man who’d managed to so effectively capture her had permitted her to use the phone he’d produced from a drawer and charged, but even though she was desperate to hear her mum’s voice, the thought of him lingering during the call and listening to every word was inherently perturbing.

Not that she had anything to hide. Ella hadn’t been lying before. She couldn’t disclose her location to Susie because she didn’t know it, but she had hoped for some privacy when she spoke to her for the first time since the complicated ordeal had started.

Hovering over the black screen, her finger trembled.

“Is everything okay, little girl?”

She didn’t lift her gaze to meet his, but she sensed the weight of his stare on her skin.

“I’m okay,” she started. “I’m just trying to decide what to say, sir.”

“Do you want me to leave you to it?” He rose from the sofa, his height still awing in her peripheral vision. “I want to get my bag from the hall.”

“If you don’t mind, sir.” She risked a glance in his direction, noticing his lips curl.

“I don’t mind, little girl.”

How was he so absurdly good-looking? Weren’t men of his age supposed to be balding and out of shape? Tucker seemed able to buck just about every norm she could recall.

“I want you to have what you need, but remember, I’ll only be outside if you need me.”

I’ll only be outside, I’ll only be outside…

His words rang in her ears like a caution.

Don’t do anything silly, Ella. I’ll only be outside…

She heaved in a shaky breath as he strode out of the lounge and left her in relative peace. Pressing the digits of her mother’s number into the device, her toes curled into the rug as the dialing tone radiated through her head. Time lengthened in that strange way it seemed able to as she waited for her mother to answer.

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