Page 20 of Deadly Rival

My instincts scream it, and my body vibrates with the need to move, but I fight it. I fight it with everything I have, because if I run, this is real. If I run, then he’s not a foolish man messing with the wrong woman. If I run, he’s my captor and I’m his prisoner.

Run.

No. This is all bravado on his part. He won’t touch me. He won’t dare. He won’t—

“Drop it.”

Danger. Danger. Danger.

You’re a Calder. Act like it.

I draw myself up as high as I can and will my trembling hand to move. The damn muffin weighs a thousand pounds, but I force it to my lips.

“Last chance.”

My stomach contracts, and if I had any food in me, I’d probably throw it up, but I open my mouth to take a bite.

Sebastian’s hand flies out, knocking the muffin from my grasp. Before I can react, he surges forward, and my feet leave the floor as he grips me around the waist and lifts me up, pressed against his hard chest. Shock paralyzes me for a second, and then I scream, flailing and kicking. It does no good.

There’s a scraping noise, then he thumps me down onto a chair. His weight bears down on me, holding me in place. His rough breaths are loud in my ear as he grabs my wrist and drags my hand down to my side. What…

Something hard clicks around my wrist. I stop fighting long enough to stare. Handcuffs. He’s locked my wrist into a cuff attached to the back of the chair.

No.

When the panic hits, it hits with all the pent-up force of the last twenty-four hours. The locked bedroom door, the outfit, the dirty remarks. I could just about believe they were part of a game, some ploy to soften me up before he made his demands. But this? No. Something about that metal cuff around my wrist lets loose the terror I should have been feeling all along.

I throw my other hand up, though I’m not sure what I’m trying to achieve. Punch him? Fend him off? It doesn't matter, because he catches it easily, then locks it into the matching cuff on the other side. I yank at them so hard the metal digs into my skin, but it’s no use.

“Help!” My shrill voice hurts my ears, and the force of the scream rips my throat, but I don’t care. “Help! Someone help! Please!”

I lash out with my legs, and one of them connects with Sebastian’s shin. He steps back with a grunt, then drops to the side, grabbing my flailing ankle. I know what’s coming, but I stillscream when he clips a cuff around the ankle, too. In another moment, both my feet are secured.

I’m trapped.

“Help! He—”

His hand clamps over my mouth. I mumble into it, but he just waits patiently until I fall silent. He shifts his body so he’s kneeling in front of me, hand still pressed to my lips. One look at his face has my body shaking as he examines me.

There’s something wild about him. His perfect hair is tousled, and his jacket sits askew, but he doesn’t seem to have noticed. His wide, dark pupils push the vivid blue to a thin ring. And his lips—God, they’re parted in a way that makes me think he’s going to bite.

The air between us charges as his gaze slips lower where, I realize, my top has been yanked down in the struggle. My breasts jut out, shoved up by the stupid bra, and he draws in a long breath as he runs a finger along the top.

It’s a quick touch, just a single moment of contact, but it burns. It burns because he did it. He touched me.

With a warning look, he pulls his hand away from my mouth. I lick my lips out of reflex, and there’s a lingering taste of salt. I can yell again but don’t. He hasn’t explained one single thing, but his actions have said more than words could.

This isn’t a business deal. He’s not softening me up for negotiations. I’m his captive, this is all real, and I need to be very, very careful.

His throat works, and his chest rises with an unsteady breath. He looks at the hand he used to touch my breast, then back to my face. Slowly, he tugs his jacket straight and smooths his hair back into place.

Then he smiles. “Now that little tantrum is out of the way, let’s try and have a civilized conversation.”

Nine

Sebastian

My body shakes withthe effort of holding myself together, and I drop my hands to make sure Ophelia doesn’t see. My heart is a battering ram, trying to escape my ribs. So much energy courses through my veins right now that I can’t begin to quantify it, so I just concentrate on the controlled facade I need to present.

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