Page 25 of Kissing Danger

Gritting my teeth, I tried to shake him by my grip on his jacket, but the man was infuriatingly solid and didn’t budge.

“I’m not an idiot, Nathan. I see the signs. When Agent Belden showed up at my old studio to question me about that model who was killed, she made a lot of insinuations about you.”

“I told you,” Nathan said as he placed a gentle yet firm hand on my wrists. “Agent Belden has a vendetta against me. She’ll accuse me of anything she can think of.”

I held firm to his jacket, though I stopped trying to shake him. It wasn’t accomplishing anything.

“That’s actually even more suspicious. Most people don’t have regular interactions with Interpol. And today, those officers were only interested in questioning you. Why? You weren’t even in the room when the poisoning happened.”

“I did buy the fabric,” Nathan tried to reason.

“That’s not enough. Those officers had already decided it was you from the moment they showed up. Was that due to Agent Belden’s vendetta as well?”

He barely reacted as I practically shouted at him, and was far too calm when he replied. “Probably. You’re right that they were ready to arrest me. I suspect Agent Belden probably put them up to it. Or maybe even blatantly lied to them. It wouldn’t be the first time.”

He wasn’t listening to me. His hazel eyes had hardened into a steel wall, completely shutting me out. I realized that he wasn’t going to tell me anything. He was barely even listening to me. We could talk all day, and he would keep spinning the conversation in unhelpful circles.

“You’re too calm. This whole time, you’ve been too calm. You weren’t even surprised by the sight of someone dying right in front of you. Normal people are upset by things like that, but it was just an ordinary thing to you.”

“Are you... blaming me for keeping my composure?”

Letting go of his jacket, I shoved as hard as I could against his chest. A small flame of pride lit within my heart when I managed to knock him off balance and he had to take a step back.

“No. I’m saying that all these things together are too suspicious. I’m no genius, but I’m also not stupid. There’s something going on, and you’re at the center of it. So, tell me who you are and what’s actually happening here.”

Still keeping a straight face, Nathan fixed the rumpled lapel of his jacket. “You don’t need to worry about anything. It’ll be handled, and I promise that you and your friend will be safe.”

He turned to leave, and that hard bitter thing in my stomach erupted. Fury bubbled up within me and erupted like a volcano, driving my hands and voice to act on their own.

“Listen to me, damn it.” I was shouting now, but it had no more effect on Nathan than if I’d whispered.

Trembling so badly that my teeth chattered, I shoved his shoulder. Then, when he finally turned back to look at me, I slapped him across the face hard enough for his head to snap to the side.

“Don’t dismiss me like I’m a child.”

He stood there with his head turned to the side for longer than necessary. His hands clenched into fists at his sides, but for several moments he didn’t move.

I probably should have left, or at least apologized, but I did neither. Instead, I waited in silence for his reaction, equal parts smug and angry.

When he finally did look at me, his expression was slightly surprised, like he couldn’t believe what had just happened. However, that surprise was quickly replaced with a dark predatory look, the likes of which I’d never seen before.

He stalked toward me, and I stumbled backward. My feet hit the edge of the couch and I fell, landing sprawled over the cushions.

Nathan didn’t give me a chance to find my feet again. He knelt over me, literally straddling my lap, and gripped the back of the couch so his larger body completely caged me in. With one hand, he gripped under my chin, fingers digging into each of my cheeks as he forced me to look up at him.

“For someone who claims he isn’t stupid, that was a very stupid thing to do.”

I really needed to learn how to censor myself, but without Kiki to act as my filter, I completely lacked impulse control.

“Is that a threat?” With him holding my face in such a tight grip, my cheeks were pushed forward like I was pouting, and my words were slurred. It wasn’t a very intimidating expression, but I scowled up at him anyway.

He was breathing heavily through his nose, and I noticed tremors in his hand as he struggled to maintain his usual composure.

“I’m not threatening you.” He leaned a little closer, so our foreheads almost touched, but it didn’t feel like an intimate gesture. “Now, listen to me. I did not kill that model at yourshow. I did not kill that designer today, and I did not hurt your friend.”

Even I was surprised by the smile that twisted my lips.

“You know, most people, when proclaiming their innocence, would just say that they haven’t killed anyone. But... that would be a lie, wouldn’t it. You have. Just not in these specific instances.”

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