Fear in Her Eyes (Fire & Vice Book 5) Read online

  Addison counted the seconds in her brain. On three, the hand slipped down from her nose, but still covered her lips. She sucked in air until her head stopped swimming. Every instinct in her body wanted to fight the person holding her, but she forced herself to lay still under his hold.

  "Good girl," came the whispered voice next to her ear. "I'm going to lift you now and set you on your feet. Do nothing except stand still. If you move, I will hurt you. If you scream, I’ll kill your friend."

  It frightened her that he didn't ask her if she understood, he didn't ask her to nod or anything. He meant every word he said. She was lifted over the back of the couch as though she weighed nothing. She fought back the instinct to struggle against her attacker, only reaching out to grip the arm that held her waist. It was so much thicker than hers, definitely a man’s.

  Her feet touched the ground and her long skirt swished down to cover her legs. She shivered in cold and fear. Her bare feet curled against the wood floor. She wore the same white sleeveless tank top she’d put on that morning. He shifted his hand off her mouth and wrapped his arm around her neck. She sucked in air through her lips and brought her hand up to grip his arm. It was like steel wrapped around her vulnerable neck.

  He leaned down and placed his lips against the skin behind her ear, she felt the slightly rougher hair of a beard and shivered. Daniel! She gasped when she recognized the man that held her. She should have realized, his subtle scent filled her now that she wasn't as terrified for her life.

  "Where are your shoes and jacket, Addison?" he asked.

  Her voice shook as she whispered back, "By the door."

  He pulled her over to the door and helped her pull on her jacket and then her ballet flats. Still shaking, she reached for the door. His hand landed on top of hers, stopping her. She stiffened, waiting.

  "Do I need to kill him, Addison?"

  She gasped, "What?"

  "Did you fuck him?"

  She whirled around. Daniel was standing so close she bumped into his chest. "What kind of question is that?" she asked furiously.

  "I'm paid to be observant, Addison. I know you've gone to bed with this guy before, so don't play games with me right now. Did you fuck him tonight, after I made it clear you’re mine?"

  Addison wanted to yell at him, to tell him where he could take his attitude, but again, she knew she was dealing with a different type of person altogether. More of a wild animal, actually. Not one that she understood. Daniel was in security for a reason. She suspected there was a lot about him that she didn't know and wouldn't understand. Until she could get herself the hell out of his psycho sphere of notice she needed to play the game his way.

  Wrapping her arms around herself Addison shook her head. "As you can see, I was sleeping on the couch, by myself. I didn't touch him."

  Daniel didn't say anything. He took her arm and led her down the stairs, through the crowded bar and into his waiting truck. The drive back to King Tower was made in silence. Addison expected to park in the garage, but was surprised when the vehicle bumped onto something and started ascending. She gasped and jumped in her seat, reaching out automatically to hold onto the dashboard.

  Daniel didn't bother to explain, though she suspected they were going to another, more private parking lot high above the ground floor. The elevator came to a smooth stop and Daniel drove off of it, parking the truck. He exited the vehicle and came around to Addison's side before she could extricate herself from the seat belt. Sometimes blindness was annoying. It made her slower than other people and caused her escorts to have to wait on her. Not that she cared about Daniel having to wait for her. She just didn't want him touching her unnecessarily. His touch was far too disturbing.

  Ignoring her silent condemnation, he took hold of her arm and pulled her unceremoniously from the car. She listened carefully to their footfalls as they walked, taking in the muffled sound of the steps against concrete in a windowless room. She thought she was correct, they were in some kind of parking lot. Probably Tyson King's personal garage. She heard the jingle of keys against a metal box and then Daniel led her to a door. After a pause the door opened and he escorted her through.

  For the first time in a long time, the person she was with didn't warn her of stairs and Addison stepped off of them without knowing they were there. With a cry of fear she stumbled and would have tumbled down if he hadn’t been holding her tightly by the arm. The momentum of her body falling forward swung her around into him. He grabbed her other arm and held her tightly in front of his body so were facing each other.

  Anger flared hotly within her, brightening her cheeks. She tilted her face down, hiding her eyes from him. "You did that on purpose!" she snapped. "You could've told me we entered the stairwell."

  He didn't bother denying her words. If he were anyone else she probably would’ve shrugged the incident off as carelessness on their part. But not Daniel Mercer. He would be far too observant, too aware of his surroundings at all times, to forget that Addison was blind. He wanted her at a disadvantage. He wanted her off balance and reliant on him.

  "Let go of me." She shoved at his chest in disgust. To her surprise he released her. She stumbled back and leaned against the railing as far from him as she could get. "I want to go home."

  "No," he said, taking her arm in a hard grip and descending. She was forced to turn quickly on the concrete step and follow him or get pulled behind and possibly trip.

  "Wait a minute," she snapped furiously, annoyance finally overcoming her fear of him, "you can't just say no to me. I want to go home right now!"

  She smacked her open palm against his back when he refused to listen or stop. Her physical action finally got his attention. He stopped abruptly on the landing, turned, grabbed her by the waist and pushed her into a doorway. She was trapped between the closed door and his hard body.

  "No hitting, Addison," he said quietly, his face so close to hers she could feel his breath against her cheek. Shivering, she tried to turn away from him and only ended up against his arm.

  He reacted so quickly, so lethally fast. Yet his eerie calm was equally frightening. For the first time in her life Addison desperately wished she could see what other people saw, then maybe she could get a sense of what she was dealing with in a man like Daniel Mercer. Her instincts were usually impeccable. She had no problem reading men, wrapping them around her fingers and leaving them behind when the time was right. She didn't need the eyes of the sighted to see what men were all about.

  But Daniel was different.

  He touched something next to her body and the door behind her opened. He slipped an arm around her waist to prevent her from falling backward. The air in the room they entered was noticeably more chill. Addison wrapped her arms around herself and stepped hesitantly forward.

  "Is this where you live?" she asked in a small voice, not really expecting him to answer. She didn't know him well, but she was beginning to realize Daniel didn't care much for simple niceties… like conversation. He spoke when it pleased him and he said only what was necessary. She was somewhat surprised when he did answer her.

  "This is King's security floor. Thirteen floors above yours. Weapons are in one locked and coded cage and surveillance is in another. Gym to the left and my place is in the back."

  Addison said the only thing that came to mind in that moment, "You live on the security floor? With cages?"

  He ignored her.

  She totally wasn't surprised though. He seemed like he lived and breathed security for Tyson King. Except when he was stalking her. Addison stopped walking abruptly. Daniel didn’t. Her arm still firmly in his grasp, she was yanked forward into his back. She covered her mouth, face turned to the floor, her mind spinning. What if he was her stalker? He was damn sure intense enough.

  She frowned. Yes he was intense. And strange. And deadly violent.

  But he didn't seem like a letter writing, phone calling weirdo. Daniel Mercer was way more up front than that. He was a man of action, not
words. She discarded the thought as soon as she had it. Yeah, Daniel was an issue for sure. But he was a whole separate issue than the super fan that had been stalking her for the past six months.

  Just perfect. Now she had multiple issues going on in her life at the moment.

  Daniel led Addison into his apartment and closed the door behind them, locking it. The floor was concrete, not carpeted like hers, so she guessed it wasn't a normal condo like the others in the building. He let go of her arm and moved into the room. She tried to follow but realized she didn't know the layout of the room. Again she sensed it was a deliberate power play on his part.

  "Why have you brought me here?" she demanded.

  He didn't answer at first, then his voice came from a few feet away. "I'm done keeping my distance."

  "That doesn't make sense. I just met you this morning. I don't even know you,” she said warily, backing away from him. She bumped into a chair and was forced to grab the back of it for balance. She could feel that he enjoyed having her off balance and in his space.

  "I'm chief of King's security," he said.

  "I know that," she snapped with an annoyed huff. "What else? Who are you? Where are you from?"

  "You don't need to know anything else.”

  She frowned. "I don't even know why you dragged me here. Normal people interested in a relationship want to get to know each other."

  "Not interested in a relationship,” he said bluntly.

  She flinched and then demanded, "Then why am I here?"

  "Because I want you, Addison. Wanted you for a while."

  She frowned as he stepped closer to her and jumped back, but a desk halted her. He was in front of her and the desk was at her back. He was so close his body heat warmed her, but he didn't touch her. His subtle smell wrapped around her, touching her in ways she wasn’t sure she was ready for.

  "I know you, Addison Sterling."

  She licked her suddenly dry lips and whispered, "Like what?"

  "You prefer the subway over cabs. You love jazz music even though you play in an orchestra. I know that you wore a retainer until you were fifteen and that your favourite ice cream is Neapolitan. You give your spare change to the guy at the corner each morning before work. And when you don’t have change, you break a bill. You drop your eyes when you think someone’s looking in your direction so they won't be uncomfortable. You used to hate being called Addie, because your mother used to call you that, so you insisted all of your friends call you Addie until you could bear to hear the name again. Should I keep going?"

  During his speech she had brought a hand up to cover her quivering lips. A gasp of dismay escaped now. "How...?" was all she could manage to choke out.

  His voice was closer now, above her, like a swooping bird of prey. "I've wanted you for a while. Wasn't going to touch you though. We're from different worlds. Planned on leaving you alone."

  "What changed?" she whispered.

  "I touched you," he said simply. "Saved your life. In some cultures that would mean your life belongs to me."

  Her chin came up. "Not in mine!" she snapped. "While I'm grateful for my life, I refuse to trade sex for it."

  She tried to edge past him, but he blocked her path, forcing her to stand helpless in the cage of his arms. She shoved at him and when he proved immovable, she cried out, "You're a bully, Daniel Mercer. I don't deserve this!"

  He leaned over her, nuzzling his lips against the small shell of her ear and whispered, "Maybe not. But I saved your life and it belongs to me now. And I can promise you this…”

  "What?" she asked, her voice coming out in a gasping whimper.

  "When I have you tied up, after I’ve whipped your gorgeous ass until it’s bright red and you’re screaming for release, you will look at me before I let you come. No more hiding those eyes from me Addison.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  He touched her jaw and then dropped his hand to her neck, wrapping his fingers around her throat, holding her still. He pressed his forehead against her temple. She tried to tilt her head away, but he held her still. She brought her hands up to push him away, but he was immovable.

  "What... what are you doing?" she asked shakily.

  She could barely speak after his declaration. It terrified her, but made her feel hot and uncertain at the same time. She wasn’t into the things he described. But… her body reacted nonetheless.

  He didn't answer at first, his nose and lips making a path from her hair to her ear and further toward her cheekbone. She gasped at the intimacy. Shivers spread across her skin where his lips and beard caressed her. The feel of his skin was so gentle in comparison to the steel threat of his fingertips against her throat. She was confused and slowly falling prey to his seduction. She tried harder to shove him away, but he captured her hand in a hard grip and pulled her arm around, resting it on the desk behind her back.

  "I'm going to kiss you, Addison," he said, his mouth hovering over hers.

  "No!" she gasped.

  She thought he would ignore her wishes. He was the type of man to just take what he wanted, to wreak chaos and walk away when he was finished. She braced herself for the devastation of his kiss, but none came. She let her breath out slowly, relieved.

  He wasn't done yet. "I can see arousal in your face and body. I can smell your arousal woman. I know you're afraid of me, and that fear makes me want you even more than I did before."

  She opened her mouth to tell him no, but only a whimper emerged. He gave her time - not time to form a denial, but time to let the fear of reality set in. The knowledge that nothing she could say or do was going to change his course of action. Then he swooped, like a bird of prey. Shadows blocked what little light her vision was capable of picking up as his lips found hers and took them in a fierce first kiss that challenged her to deny him.

  As his lips took hers a strange thought occurred to her. He had an accent. She had assumed Daniel was as American as she was, but he had a very slight accent, so slight other people probably wouldn’t even notice unless they knew him well. Her ears were attuned to picking out differences in speech patterns, but she had been too afraid of him to notice earlier. She stood under him stiffly allowing her brain to wander and ponder the possibility that he had been born and raised in another country.

  Perhaps it was the intensity of the kiss or the man himself that caused Addison’s brain to disassociate, but he noticed almost immediately. He pulled back with a growl, one hand twisting in her hair and pulling the delicate strands.

  “Stop it,” he snapped, shaking her by the hair, his breath fanning across her cheek.

  Her lips were moist with his saliva and felt slightly swollen from his forceful kiss. Her body leaned heavily against the desk and would have fallen if he hadn’t been holding her up. She didn’t know where to put her free hand, she didn’t want to touch him. He was right. She felt the intense attraction he spoke of. She was aroused by him, but she was also terrified. He had her trapped in his apartment. She didn’t know him. He could be some psychotic kidnapper or something. Every instinct in her body was pinging with danger signals and they were all aimed at the man holding on to her.

  As if reading her mind, he said, “Relax, Addison, I’m not going to hurt you.”

  Her voice came out in a shaky rush when she replied, “I suspect your idea of hurt and mine are different.”

  He chuckled softly. The sound was off and a little surprising, as though he never used it. The fingers in her hair and holding her wrist behind her back flexed against her flesh as though eager to test that theory. “You’re probably right.”

  “Please,” she whispered, her breath coming out in a loud rush to her ears. “I want to leave now. This is too much, Daniel. You’re too… too overpowering. I don’t think this is a good idea.”

  “No,” he replied immediately. “I want you to stay.”

  “You can’t just keep me here,” she gasped.

  As soon as the words were out of her mouth she realized they would m
ean nothing to a man like Daniel Mercer. He might choose to inhabit a civilized world for now, but down to her bones she knew he didn’t come from one. The rules he played by were different than the ones she understood.

  The hand that gripped her hair relaxed and sifted through the soft strands as though testing their resilience. His fingers slid through the hair at the back of her head, gently massaging her, the action strangely at odds with his aggressive behaviour. Though he wasn’t hurting her, she knew she wouldn’t be able to break out of his hold until he was ready to let her go.

  “Why can’t I leave?” she asked. A shiver of cold and fear shook her body. He kept his apartment uncomfortably chilly.

  “Saved your life,” he said simply. His husky voice came from the side as he reached past her.

  He released her wrist and brought his hands up to wrap her loosened jacket tighter around her body. The stiff denim didn’t help much. She brought her aching wrist around from her back and crossed her arms in front of her chest, tucking her chin into the cradle her arms made. He stood so close to her she felt his breath fan across the top of her head and the heat from his arms surround her. She suspected he wasn’t a hugely large man like Tyson King, but quite leanly muscled, giving him the impression of bulk. Addison had thus far managed to avoid touching him as much as possible. Now she found she was somewhat curious.

  “Come to bed.”

  Addison nearly jumped out of her skin at the simply spoken, matter-of-fact words. “No!” she said in a panic and tried to lunge past him. Tears started in her eyes when he grabbed hold of her arm and swung her around as easily as he might a child. She slapped at him, but he held her hands so she couldn’t land a single blow.

  “Please, oh god, please no!” she gasped as she fought a losing battle. The darkness behind her eyelids swirled with flashing lights alarmingly as he swung her up in his arms.

  He subdued her so easily she began to despair that she was about to be one of the easiest rape victims in history. Her tears turned into ragged gasping sobs as he caught both of her wrists in one hand and dropped her onto a high mattress. She twisted and turned, but he held her legs down with one of his.