Page 5 of Obsession

Danger,my mind warns me. The man probably has enough room right here on this property to bury my body, and no one would ever even know.

Yeah, my mind went there, but after reading what I have about him, I can’t help it.

His voice is a low rumble that borders on a drawl, challenging me.

“Then why are you here, Miss Price?”

The better question is, why does the way he says my name, drawing each syllable out like it’s an act of foreplay, make liquid heat pool at my core? My skin shouldn’t feel this tight. My breath shouldn’t be this ragged.

“I looked you up when I got home. It started because I wanted more information about the man who hit my car, and what I found out about him led me straight to you.”

Is that a glimmer of amusement in his eyes? No… it leaves so quickly, I wonder if I imagined it.

I clear my throat. I have his attention, so it’s time I stop circling around him. It’s time I go in for the kill. “And you’re the man who could help me.”

As he turns more fully to me, I watch the way his muscles bunch with tension. He raises his brows, a physical admission that I’ve interested him. When he crosses his arms over his chest, I realize he has muscles in places I didn’t know even had them.

“Could I?” A low, lazy drawl.

This could be my only chance. I say it all in one breath, unblinking as I speak to him.

“I need your help to find the people I’m after.”

God, I could’ve done better than that. They make it look so easy in the movies.

He cocks his head to the side, all traces of humor gone from his face. “And who are you after, Miss Price?”

I lower my voice as I stay my course. I’ve never been in the military, but something about his presence makes me speak to him as if I were. “That’s a conversation for a much more private audience, sir.” Though we’re alone here, we both know anyone could walk in on us at any moment.

I want to bite the little nail of my pinkie on my left hand or tug a lock of my hair and fiddle my worry away, but I force myself to stand still and wait.

Several beats pass before he responds. Outside the window, his gardener walks by with a trowel and a rake. Far in the distance,the tide goes out behind him. I can almost hear the waves lapping at the shore.

“Let’s take a walk.” My heart flutters in anticipation. I’m a drowning woman, and he’s thrown me a length of rope.

This is what I wanted, privacy with him, but a little warning voice in the back of my head tells me I should tell him no. I should talk him into speaking with me in his office or someplace neutral.

I came here for a reason, and I don’t take no for an answer.

I go against my every instinct and follow him.

CHAPTER TWO

Violet

It isn’tuntil we walk into the kitchen that I notice there are a lot more people here than I initially thought. Somehow, it helps me draw in a breath. They’re just quiet, their presence and work seamless in the background. Two more of his staff are in the garden, and only paces away from them, four strong men dressed in military attire look like they’re doing… drills? It’s hard to tell from here, but it’s clear they’re training.

The guard at the door inclines his head at us as we pass, and Cain holds his palm up when he begins to follow us. Either he has guards outside as well, or he trusts that I’m not here to ambush him.

Maybe he shouldn’t be so trusting.

The side door leading to the garage opens, and a portly, middle-aged Latina woman with pretty brown eyes and short brown hair enters, her arms heavily laden with brown grocery bags. Cain pauses, his hand on the door to exit, when he sees her coming in.

“You know better than to carry those in yourself,” he scolds, clucking his tongue at her as he walks over to her. “Alma, why didn’t you call me?” Reaching her, he plucks the bags out of her hands before sliding them onto the countertop.

She smiles at him. “Eh, thought you’d be busy, and it’s good for me to still do things sometimes,señor,” she says.

“And you’re no good to me laid up in bed because you threw your back out again,” he mutters, rebuking her. I nearly cringe at the sharp edge in his tone, but she only winks at me.

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