Page 50 of Kidnapped Forced Mate

“Is that it?” he asks as he rises to his feet, staring at me in disbelief.

I can’t help but soften when I see the way his eyes sadden as if I’d just struck him with a sharp blade through his back. Whatever happened between us, I know he wants a chance to explain himself. As much as I despise him for lying to me, I feel too much for him not to give him that chance.

“You have to leave before Luca comes back. He can’t know…”

Stryder nods, finally dropping the firmness that pulls his face taut. It’s all it takes for me to soften completely.

“Meet me outside the ladies’ room,” I tell him quickly.

He nods again, disappearing just in time before Luca returns. I gulp as I reach for my wine, the ruby liquid dousing the flames of my fear as the Italian returns to his seat.

“Excuse me, Luca. I need to visit the ladies’ room.”

Luca nods as I get to my feet. “When you are back, we will leave.”

“I won’t be long, then,” I smile. A wave of relief washes over me as I composedly head to the bathrooms. Glancing over my shoulder, I ensure I’m out of Luca’s sight when a familiar hand grabs my wrist, and I’m pulled into a corridor beside the ladies’ room.

“Stryder!” I exclaim when I’m pressed up against a wall, my hands instinctively pressed on his firm chest. The corridor leads to a walk-in freezer, and the chances of us being found are unlikely.

My heart begins to pound in my chest when I meet his eyes, the darkened orbs penetrating my soul and leaving me breathless.

“What are you doing?” I whisper when he leans in.

“I don’t care what you have to say, Olivia. I’ve seen enough to understand why you wanted to come back.”

I open my mouth, wanting to bite back and retaliate against his bitter words, but my mind becomes an empty void in which all I can think of is what his lips would feel like on mine. I’d been fantasizing about him in every waking moment spent away from him, and now that he’s here, I can barely remember why I was angry in the first place, my back arching off the wall as I pushed my breasts against his chest. My parted lips become his sign to snatch a kiss from me, and I willingly comply, melting into his arms.

When our lips reunite in the perfect symphony of the harmony we once shared before, the kiss reignites all the feelings I’ve buried away. Deep down, I know Stryder isn’t as cruel as I thought he was, as cruel as I decided he was when he kept a secret from me. Right now, I only want to lose myself to this man entirely. But another man is waiting in the restaurant for me, and I need to prevent him from taking me the way I so willingly give myself to Stryder.

“Stryder…” I say his name despondently as I pull away from the kiss, needing to catch my breath and my senses.

He makes it an almost impossible feat when his strong hand slides up my thigh beneath my skirt, settling on the top of my panties.

“You have to stop,” I plead.

“Tell me why I should,” he husks as his cheek presses against mine. “Tell me why, and I’ll stop.”

“Because…” I gulp, knowing that I have to say something believable. Since he believes that the Italian man is my boyfriend, I decide to run with that lie. It’s the only way I can continue with my plans, even if it pains me. My reason for lying to Stryder only drives in the fact that he’d lied to me for my own good – even if it was a despicable thing to do.

“... I don’t want you, Stryder,” I say, applying force on his chest to push him away. “I’ve moved on.”

When the lie leaves my lips, he steps away abruptly and glowers down at me.

“I don’t believe you,” he whispers in disbelief, shaking his head.

I quickly step away, my heart pounding from having to lie to him and watch his face fall as if his heart is breaking. All I can do is hang onto the knowledge that I actually mean something to him. It’s all I need to go on with my life, knowing that the dragon shifter cared about me more than he was willing to admit before. If this is the closure I need, I embrace it with both arms while fighting to protect myself and the life I worked tirelessly to build.

‘Goodbye, Stryder,” I say with remorse filling my gut as I turn to leave. Those words are the ones I couldn’t say before. Now, armed with the closure I needed, knowing I wasn’t the only one who felt something more for the man, I was able to say goodbye. With that, I walked away and joined Luca in the restaurant again.

I now have an excuse not to proceed to the hotel, and it’s one that Luca accepts.

***

“Goodnight, signorina,” Luca bids me before turning around. I’d been able to keep him off me by claiming that I’d discovered I was on my period when I visited the ladies’ room at the restaurant in Vegas.

Of course, it wasn’t enough to prevent him from kissing me. Even now, as I lay in his bed, my tummy churns from the thought of having allowed him to kiss me. My only saving grace comes from shutting my eyelids tightly and imagining that Luca was Stryder. Even now, I can’t stand that I’m laying in Luca’s bed beside him, his mere presence stirring an unsettling feeling inside me. I lay staring at the ceiling, waiting for the perfect opportunity to snatch his cell phone the moment he falls asleep.

I’d distracted Luca enough to have him absentmindedly leave his possessions on the dresser. I always noticed how he kept his wallet and cell phone close, and tonight would have been no different if I hadn’t stepped forward and kissed him while he had those close possessions in his hand. He’d left them on the dresser table to perch his hands on my waist, and I’d given into the kiss only as a means to an end.

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