Page 23 of Captivated By Him

“When Piotr contacts me, we’ll have a chat about his men coming at you the way they did. It’s already done, Nicole. I’m in this.”

He’s right. Either way, he’s involved. He just killed one of the Kaczmareks’ hired thugs. There is no going back now.

“Still. It would be better if I just go.”

He drops his hands to his sides and marches out of the living room straight to my bedroom. I catch up to him as he flips on the lights and jerks my closet open.

I’m already half packed.

When he pushes the closet door closed enough to see me, a cold shiver runs down my spine.

“You were going to just take off again?”

“No. I wasn’t sure when I was going. I would tell you.” I planned to anyway, but if I had to ditch fast, there might have been time.

Silently, he grabs my suitcase and tosses it on the bed. While I stand there, my feet frozen stupidly to the floor, he grabs my clothes from the hangers and tosses them inside the bag.

“Stop!” I finally get my body to move and hurry forward. “I can do it. Just stop.” I grab his forearm as he drops more sweaters into the bag. I don’t have much, but everything’s crumpled up and taking up more space in the bag.

“Fill it. Now.” He points a finger at the bag. “We have to go.” He makes his way to the door.

“Fine. I’ll stay with you but just for a few nights. Just until you replace me at the club, and I figure out where I’m going.”

He raises his brow, like what I’ve said just blew his mind. “When we get home, you and I are going to have a talk about your little act of disobedience.”

It takes a second for his words to register, and he’s already at the bedroom door before my brain works again.

“What? You mean coming into my apartment?”

“I warned you, Nicole.”

It’s the last thing he says before he disappears down the hall. A few seconds later I hear quiet voices talking in the living room. The cleaners have arrived.

I stare at my half-filled suitcase.

I never should have come back to Chicago.

Chapter 7

Jakub

Nicole sits at my kitchen island with a fresh coffee in her hands, staring out the windows in the living room. I got lucky with this place; when I bought out the warehouse downstairs, I had the second and third floors remodeled into a condo. It’s quiet up here thanks to the soundproof flooring, so no matter what’s going on downstairs, I’m not disturbed.

Which is good for nights like this, when I have a girl who needs my undivided attention.

She brings her cup up to her lips and takes a small sip, her eyes casually scanning the area until she hits me. In a flash she readjusts her stare.

“You about done?” I ask, pushing off the load bearing post. I have an open floor concept down here, making the place look more warehouse than luxury. I like it; dark wood flooring, original brick walls, large windows overlooking the city. It’s comfortable.

But there’s nowhere to hide, so she can’t get away from me. Even if she wants to.

Nicole puts her cup down and flattens her hands on the counter.

“Jakub, you can’t do whatever it is you think you’re going to do to me.” She tightens her jaw. I can’t tell if she’s trying to intimidate me or just to hold her words back. I remember her being very vocal—about everything.

“Oh, I’m pretty sure I can do whatever I want, whenever I want, but how about you first tell me what you think I’m going to do to you?” My words bring a soft pink to her cheeks. She’s not easy to make blush, but I do remember what works with her. I only turned her ass over my knee once in the short time we were together, but just being reminded of it makes her face flame. I think she liked it a hell of a lot more than she allowed herself to believe.

“Look. I’m grateful you’ve let me stay here for a day or two, but we can’t do… well, what we did.”

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