Page 43 of His Captor

“You have no idea. Being grounded for a month was the least of it.”

A few minutes later, the trolley traveled closer to the beach.

“This is the area where I’m looking for a house,” Mace said.

“Really?” I brightened, a germ of hope that maybe I could live in the house tickling my insides. “This right here is an okay beach, but if you want more privacy, you should check out the north beaches.”

The tour continued on like that. I had more colorful stories than I’d thought I did for the sights of my home. We rode the trolley back around to Barrington’s waterfront, then got off and walked on the beach for a while. Barrington’s beach wasn’t like where Ari and Samson lived in the Caribbean. It was too far north. But that meant Mace and I could have some amazing lobster rolls for lunch.

After lunch, we spent a little more time on the beach, then headed back into the heart of the city to see some of the cultural sites. I was far more interested in those when looking at them through Mace’s eyes.

Mace was enthusiastic about Barrington, which made me happy. I felt so much positivity from him and so much hope.

But I also noticed him checking his phone with a frown multiple times. I could feel waves of concern and frustration coming from him, too. That wasn’t any sort of bond. Anyone could have felt it. For an alpha, Mace did a terrible job of keeping his emotions hidden.

“Is everything alright?” I finally asked him as we walked slowly back to our building in the early evening, after supper at a Thai place just a block away. “Something seems to be bothering you.”

Mace hummed, like he wasn’t sure he should burden me with his cares. “I’ve just got a lot on my plate. Starting a new business, trying to get government contracts.” He paused before adding, “Dealing with an ex business partner who is trying to sue mefor breech of contract and to claim he owns the research and developments I made while we were in business together.”

My eyes went wide as Mace held the door for me and as we walked across the lobby. “That is a lot. And now you’ve got a pregnant omega to worry about, too.”

“Yeah, but I don’t have to worry about you, remember?” he said, surprisingly teasingly, as we crossed the lobby to the elevator. “You’re an independent omega who doesn’t need help.”

I laughed. I probably deserved that.

We got into the elevator, Mace pressed the button for the penthouse, and the doors shut, but I didn’t press the button for my floor.

“Can I see the penthouse?” I asked, a little sheepish, a little flirty. I did want to see what the penthouse looked like, but I also kinda wanted to see if maybe Mace had a pregnancy fetish after all. We’d had a great day of getting to know each other for real, after all.

“Sure,” Mace said with a sly grin that said he had guessed my motivations.

I stopped myself from giggling like an idiot, told my interested cock to slow down and chill out, and smiled back at Mace.

Neither of us said anything as the elevator raced all the way up to the top of the building, but we did inch closer together. We couldn’t stop looking at each other. I wondered if Mace was remembering our weekend fantasy the way I was.

I let my hand drop from where I’d been holding my belly. Mace reached subtly for it, the back of his fingers brushing the back of mine. My heart sped up.

Then we reached the top floor, the elevator doors flew open, and Mace took my hand to lead me into the short hallway. There were only three doors on the top floor for the three penthouseapartments. Mace walked straight to the middle one and pulled out his key card.

I was going to get laid. I wassogoing to get laid. And it would be fantastic in every way.

That’s what I thought until Mace pushed open his apartment door into a scene of chaos.

“What the?—”

I didn’t get any farther than that. The entire main room of the penthouse looked like a tornado had blown through. Furniture was overturned and cushions had been cut into and the stuffing scattered. Papers were everywhere. Some of the larger electrical appliances, like the TV, had been smashed and ripped open.

In short, someone had broken into Mace’s apartment, and they’d obviously been looking for something.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Mason

Colin. There was no doubt in my mind for even a second who was behind this. It could only be Colin, probably with the help of his buddies from Victory Holdings.

“Whoa,” Hayden spoke beside me, gazing around at the wreck of my apartment in awe. “I mean, just…whoa.”

Whoa was an understatement. I took a few steps farther into the room only to have broken glass crunch under my feet. I’d paid a company to decorate the apartment before I got there, and one of the large, framed prints they’d put up on the wall had been yanked down and its glass broken. The rest of it leaned against the edge of the torn-up sofa a few feet away, like someone had checked to see whether anything was hidden somewhere in the frame.

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