Page 49 of By Sin To Atone

He sighs. “I’m not heartless.” He sets the laptop and the Ziplock down on the table beside the door and takes a small key out of his pocket. “Look up.”

I do. He steps closer, close enough that I can smell his aftershave. He bends down, and I try not think about how I smell hints of leather in his aftershave or feel anything like that ridiculous shudder as his fingertips brush the skin at my throat while he unlocks the delicate but strong chain.

He straightens, eyes locked on me as he slowly pulls it up out of my dress, taking his time as he gathers it up in the palm of one big hand.

“Just keep in mind I did that for you without asking anything in return,” he says, pocketing chain and key.

“You’re so generous.”

He raises an eyebrow, and I think he’s amused. But no, that can’t be right. Is a man like him ever amused?

I blink away and turn to step out into the sunshine where an SUV is parked on the circular drive. He passes me to unlock the door and opens the passenger side, but before I step in, he wraps a hand around the back of my neck, stopping me.

Does he feel that subtle spark of electricity? Does my skin burn his like his does mine? What is it about this man that has me feeling these strange, unfamiliar feelings? I should hate him. At the very least be afraid of him, and in some ways, I am, but there’s something else too. Him offering his protection in exchange for information and my sexual submission, I don’t know, I should rebel at least against that last part, but that’s not what I want to do. I want it. I want all of it.

And out of all of that, I’m stuck on one word: protection.

To be protected. To feel protected.

I haven’t felt protected in a long, long time. I’ve felt hunted.

And out of anyone I have ever known, even my own mother who did the best she could, I feel like if anyone can protect me, if anyone can keep me safe, it’s Zeke.

I try to make my face blank as I look up at him. He can’t know what I’m thinking. He’ll just use it against me. Mock me.

He’s got to be a foot taller than me and, as if to make sure I get the message, he gives my neck a squeeze to show me he’s also much stronger than me. I didn’t need the reminder.

“Why did you tell me that?” he asks.

“Why did I tell you what?”

“About your father.”

I squint up into the sunshine, shrug a shoulder. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know why you told me, or you didn’t know you wanted that?”

Perceptive, this man. I need to be careful. “Don’t know,” I lie.

“You do. Just to be clear, nothing has changed between us. What I told you last night, it stands. What I’m doing now I’m doing for your sister. Considering what happened to her. You do anything stupid today, and I’ll punish you. And it won’t be a simple spanking. Clear?”

“And you’ll enjoy every moment of my punishment, I’m sure.”

One corner of his mouth curves upward into a grin. “On second thought, do something stupid.”

I roll my eyes and tug free of him to climb into the car.

16

Ezekiel

The heat of her skin scorches my hand. I don’t miss her shudder at my touch. I don’t miss how she licks her lips when she looks up at me, even if she’s unaware of it herself. I still very clearly remember how her body reacted to me last night.

What she said at the end of the night I still have to unpack.

She climbs into the passenger seat of the SUV. I set the laptop in the backseat then lean over her to strap her in. Her breath catches for the second time in just a few minutes and her nipples tighten, pressing against the fabric of her dress.

Last night, after I sent her to bed, I remained in the study until the fire died down and drank Carlton Bishop’s whiskey. I then went upstairs to her room. Maybe I slept in that chair for a few minutes now and again. Maybe it was jet lag. But I watched her. I don’t know why exactly. It’s a creepy move, I know, but I had to.

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