Page 51 of Kidnapped from the Paradise Resort

“Oh, you don’t have to pay for these—we bring them when they’re requested,” the second Kindred told her. He was the Light Twin of the pair, she thought—he had sandy brown hair and he was smiling. The Dark Twin had black hair and what looked like a permanent scowl on his chiseled features.

“But, I reallydidn’torder it or request it!” she protested.

“Take it up with management,” the Dark Twin growled. “We have to go—we’ve got ten more deliveries to get through today!”

He stalked out of her apartment and the Light Twin and followed, giving her an apologetic smile and a shrug as if to say,“Sorry—nothing we can do.”

Perplexed, Kara had examined the strange new chair. It was definitely built for a Kindred—it was big enough for one of the seven-foot-tall warriors but much too large for a human. It was painted black and had a strange kind of hinged seat. When the chair glided backward, the seat went down. But when it glided forward, the seat came up at an angle.

Kara couldn’t help thinking that whoever sat in the chair would have a strange kind of workout. Their hips and pelvis would be moving in response to the motion of the chair.

The other strange thing was the fact that while there were no arms on the chair, therewerefootrests on either side. But they were clearly not meant for whoever was sittinginthe chair—they were too high and also located on the sides instead of in front.

Also, they looked too small for a Kindred’s big feet. What in the world could they be for? She wouldn’t even have known they were footrests except for the fact that they were carved in the shape of two feet—so strange!

Kara tried sitting in the chair and gliding back and forth, but she didn’t find it very comfortable the way her hips were thrusting in and out. She was still wondering who to call to get it removed when the chime on the front door rang again.

“Well I hope it’s not another weird furniture delivery,” she muttered to herself. And then called, “Who is it?”

“Kara? It’s me. Will you see me?” The deep voice was familiar and she felt her heart flutter in her chest. It was J’orn!

Quickly, she took stock of her appearance. She’d slept in for most of the morning and then taken a long bath to soak away the aches and pains and try to soothe herself from the trauma of the day before.

To be honest, she’d been glad she was drugged—well, drugged with the wine anyway, not they’thosin. Whatever the wine had been laced with had made the whole experience of getting kidnapped and sold to the brothel fuzzy and distant. If it wasn’t for the ten finger-shaped bruises on her hips, she would have thought it was all just an extremely vivid dream.

But it wasn’t a dream—she and J’orn had actually had extremely rough sex and now he was at the door, waiting for her to answer, she reminded herself.

Looking down to make sure she looked presentable, she took in her outfit. It was a silky white nightgown trimmed in lace with a white robe over it. She wasn’t wearing a bra, but she had her float dots on, so her breasts were perky. Shedidhave on lacy white panties to match the rest of her outfit. Her hair was clean and she had on minimal makeup—just enough to feel confident and look decent. All right, she was as ready as she was going to get for this.

Taking a deep breath, she went to the door and opened it.

J’orn had started to turn away—maybe he thought she wasn’t going to answer. But when her front door slid open, he turned back, his face lighting with hope for a moment.

“Kara,” he rumbled, looking down at her. “How are you? I brought your things,” he added, nodding at the carry-all cube in one hand.

“Oh, thank you.” She nodded at him. “Er, do you want to come in?”

He hesitated.

“That depends…do youwantme to come in?”

Kara nodded. Just looking at him was doing crazy things to her pulse.

“Yes,” she said, because he was still hovering in the doorway, as though he was afraid to believe her. “Yes, I definitely want you to come in.”

“Okay.” He stepped inside her suite and the door slid shut behind him.

“Come on—have a seat on the couch,” Kara invited. “I’ll get us something to drink.”

She had to get away for a minute—her heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was shaking her whole body! This was the first time she’d seen him since she’d admitted her feelings for him—admitted that she was falling in love with him.

But wait—who had she admitted that to? She frowned as she poured some water into a couple of glasses. She’d had enough wine and mind-altering substances to last for several lifetimes, thank you very much, so water it was.

She couldn’t remember who she’d admitted her feelings to, other than herself, but they were definitely there. But of course, she still wasn’t sure how J’orn felt now. Their encounter in the brothel might have changed everything. He might not want her anymore, now that he’d had her. Or he might have lost respect for her—a lot of human guys were like that. The minute they got what they wanted, the woman they’d been pursuing was suddenly a “slut.”

Kara didn’tthinkJ’orn would feel like that—the Kindred were much more honorable than human men, after all. But she couldn’t be one hundred percent sure. The question was, how could she find out? She supposed she’d just have to wing it and hope for the best.

“Here you go,” she said, coming back into the living area and giving J’orn the glass of water. He was sitting on one end of the couch and she settled on the other end, beside him but with some space between them.

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