Page 53 of Oh No, My Kidnapper Is Hot!

“Go. Away.” Stryker growls. I use my hands on his chest to push, trying to create enough distance to exit this awful, terrible, no-good situation.

“Can’t do that, boss! It’s my pool time,” Archie responds cheerfully, rolling onto his back and dipping the top half of his head underwater. “It’s on the schedule!”

Stryker removes his hand from my hair to swipe at Archie, who laughs and rolls out of range.

“It’s not your time yet. It’s barely five o’clock.”

Archie cackles. “It’s six!”

My eyes widen.

“It is not.” I whisper.

“Sure is!” He stops laughing, but his smile is roughly the size of the sun.

I… can’t handle this. I push harder on Stryker’s chest. He doesn’t let me go, but he does pull us away from the wall.

“Let me down,” I say, and if it sounds like I’m begging, well, that’s because I am. He shakes his head and moves us to the stairs, his free arm holding me tightly against his.

“You’re welcome to stay!” Archie calls after us. “We can play mermaids!”

Stryker ignores him. I’m too busy dying of mortification to respond either.

“Okay, fine, we can play sharks and minnows,” Archie concedes. “I’ll have to go back home to get my shark fin though. I only have my mermaid tail with me. I wasn’t expecting guests.”

“Neither was I,” Stryker grumbles. He sets me down by the lockers, positioning himself between me and Archie. Reaching to the side, he opens my locker and pulls out a large, fluffy green towel, wrapping it around me. He grabs a second one out for himself. His has the cutest pink and green hearts on it. I look down at mine. It’s soft and big and emerald green. It does not have a single adorable little heart on it.

“Oh, for the love of…” he trails off and steps in front of me, blocking Archie’s view again as he switches our towels. Not that it matters much. Archie has produced a snorkel from somewhere and is now swimming around with his head submerged, massive orange flippers propelling him through the water.

Stryker gathers my clothes and ushers me into a bathroom, giving me strict orders to get dressed “immediately” before closing the door behind me. I’m left alone with only my clothes and my thoughts – or rather, my single, overwhelming thought.

Oh sh–

Chapter Eighteen

I don’t know what came over me. One minute, I was a sane, rational being, and the next, I was making out with a madman in a pool. I shiver as the full weight of my embarrassment washes over me.

He hypnotized me with his hot guy aura, and I fell right into his trap.

I told him to kiss me. I looked in his stupid, perfect eyes and Itold him to kiss me.Worst of all,I enjoyed it.

My shame knows no limits.

Staring dazedly into the mirror, I wonder what the chances are that this whole experience has been a very long, very strange, and very vivid dream. I contemplate this for several minutes, lost in the hope that I might wake up from this nightmare soon.

The bathroom door swings open.

“Millie.”

I scream, jump, and bang my hip on the sink counter.

Stryker sighs.

My scream morphs into a squeak as he strides into the bathroom, the door swinging shut behind him. He’s now clad in his tiny athletic shorts instead of his tiny swim shorts, covering approximately one extra inch of skin. His tattoos stare at me, daring me to swoon.

I pivot, unsure where I’m going to go but knowing it will beaway.

“Oh, no you don’t.” Stryker’s arms go around me, tugging me backward into his body, and his lips hit my ear.

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