Page 40 of Daddies Dark Desires (Forbidden Fantasies)
I roll my eyes and stomp into my bathroom, filling up my travel bag and cosmetics bag, and stalk back to my suitcase. “This is ridiculous. Why can’t you tell me where you’re taking me.”
Trent pivots from the wall, arms folded across his chest. “The reason I won’t tell you—the reason we’re forcing you out of your house—is because of those files you uncovered. The password hunting. The unsanctioned digging.”
He doesn’t raise his voice, doesn’t invade my space, but the disappointment laces his voice and slumps my shoulders forward.
“Maybe if you were still looking into my father’s death. If you found anything, I wouldn’t have to dig. And wouldn’t you know it? I found something you didn’t. So it sounds like your pride took a hit on this one, but I’m not sorry for investigating.”
The only response I get out of him is the narrowing of his eyes. “You sure as hell found something, Harper. A trap set up for you. Because someone knew you couldn’t very well leave it alone.”
“And apparently, I can’t be left alone either.”
“No. You can’t. You broke protocol. You put yourself at risk. That means you don’t get to decide where you sleep tonight.”
By god, why does he have to be so dark and broody. Tough and stern. But soft and caring?
It’s a few solid minutes of prolonged eye contact before I move around my bed to my nightstand.
My bag is almost packed, and I’m trying to slow it down. Take as much time as I can now that my anger has lowered to a soft simmer. “Nobody wants anything to do with me. It’s just an excuse to boss me around outside of the office.”
The deflection. The sass. It doesn’t work because the moment I stuff some more personal items in my bag, Trent is there again. He grabs my jaw. Not hard, just enough to make me look at him.
I swear the energy in his dark brown eyes might set me on fire.
“I don’t need an excuse to boss you around, Harper. I’m here to take care of you whether you like it or not. So finish packing that bag. Pack five. I don’t care.” His thumb draws down the side of my face, which hitches my breath and parts my lips.
I swear that makes him lean in closer. If I lifted myself another inch, would he take the invitation.
My gaze drops to his mouth. What would his kiss be like? Dark and demanding like the rest of him?
“You’re already in danger. I’m not leaving you here to get snatched while I’m watching on a screen. I want you where I can touch you.”
Anticipation zings through me. I want his hands on me, for the hand at my jaw to lower to my throat, to squeeze just enough to show me his strength and control. To show how dominant I know he can be.
Even if he’s being soft with me right now.
Is he following the direction my thoughts are going?
He clears his throat softly before he corrects himself. “Where I can keep you safe.”
I should be disappointed by that, but I’m not.
Trent drops the grip, brushing my hair behind my ear.
He offers me just a little of a smile. Dangerous. Knowing.
16
OLIVER
Imake sure I’m home by the time Trent arrives with Harper. She’s sullen but still sassy. Some of the fight went out of her when Trent cornered her. Touched her.
The desire that flared in her eyes, that swayed through her posture built a desperate warmth in my center. And watching her in person gives me a different kind of thrill.
I catch her scent, soft with an undercurrent of silky coconut and the saltiness of her skin from the end of the day.
She turns her head sharply to glare up at Trent, her jaw clenching and the cords of her throat tightening. He’s crowding her, blocking her path to the front door like she’s going to bolt.
Harper is past bolting, even if her body language remains hostile. It’s her means of maintaining a semblance of control.
