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I sensed him, another jolt of current rushing through me forcing me up from the depths of the darkness that kept me spinning out of control. I struggled to open my eyes, uncertain of anything any longer. Every muscle ached, every part of my body sore. What had happened? When I managed to lift my eyelids, the light painful, I did what I could to try to focus.
Blinking several times, I was finally able to see something. I lifted my gaze up by a few inches, now fighting myriad emotions rushing through me.
He was there, the man I’d tried desperately hard to ignore, to push out of my life. The one I’d called to as I drifted off into the shadows of hell. The man who’d captured my heart so long before. Now he sat stoically in a huge leather chair, his rugged hands clasped together. While his heated gaze remained on me, he sat unblinking and the only way I could tell he was alive was by the rise and fall of his massive chest.
He was shirtless, wearing jeans, which surprised me. With one leg crossed over the other, I could see that his feet were bare. I wanted to say the man looked more relaxed than I’d ever seen him, but I knew better. He was nothing more than a caged lion waiting to lunge, capturing his prey. The shift from his previous demeanor disturbed me.
Enough so I issued a single moan. There was no denying the lust in his eyes, his nostrils flaring as soon as I made the muted sound. Everything about the way he was watching me kept me over-sensitized, as if we were locked in a moment of time. I tried to remember what had occurred, the images I’d had before now fleeting, yet a feeling of being in danger continued tickling the back of my mind.
As the sunlight poured in the room, I finally realized I wasn’t in my home or in the lighthouse bedroom. Even the hard break of the waves was different than I was used to. His silence was deafening, the lump in my throat increasing with every tense second. I allowed my gaze to drift from his sculpted body around the room, the beautiful setting nothing like I’d seen before.
The bed I was in was gorgeous, ornately carved, exotic wood posts leading to a fabric canopy, the swoop of light material flowing in the breeze. An oversized dresser was positioned several feet away from the end of the bed, a stunning carved mirror placed inches over the surface. The room itself was large, the cream-colored walls giving way to three-piece crown molding in the same dark wood, the artwork vibrant colors splashed in oversized pieces of canvas.
The room befitted a merciless man like Diego.
My mind remained fuzzy, unable to process why I was here.
“What happened?” I croaked out, the rasp in my voice matching the dryness of my mouth.
“They came after you.” There was a darkness in his voice I hadn’t heard before, a strange sense of foreboding. It was as if he’d shut down his emotions, becoming indifferent to what had happened.
A fleeting series of visions washed through me.
Danger.
Someone in my house.
“The Death Squad.”
“Yes.” He leaned forward, steepling his hands, resting his chin on his outstretched fingers. The sexy stubble on his jaw I’d found so sexy was heavier, as if days had passed.
“How long… have I been here?”
“Over two days.”
Two days?
“Where am I?”
“At my home in San Diego.”
I tried to process what he’d just told me. “How did I get here?”
His expression finally changed, his features softening if only for a split second. “There are inventions called airplanes. I happen to own a jet.”
I licked my dry lips, uncertain how I felt about being dragged from my home. “My things. Briefcase. My phone. I… I need them. The case. The evidence. The…” I realized I was almost completely naked under the sheet except for panties. I shifted my legs under the covers, feeling completely vulnerable. I had no sense the world around me any longer, or any concept of who I could trust. Everything was wrong, the world tilted off its axis.
He finally moved to his feet, taking a single long stride until he was standing over me. I noticed his fists were clenched, anger keeping his breathing ragged. I knew his moods more than I cared to admit, the rage inside him taking a powerful hold. “I brought some of your things. I’ll buy more. Whatever you need.”
I wanted to tell him I had a life that I needed to get back to but the uncertainty of what had occurred and what I was facing shifted a moment of reality into my mind. He’d saved my life from a monster.
Then he’d killed the bastard.
I’d heard the shots, at least four of them. Just like what had occurred all those years ago. The moment was surreal, the ache deep inside keeping me immobile.
The warmth inside the room, the slice of humidity that I wasn’t used to had created a sheen to his bronzed skin, the slight glow accentuating the darkness of his eyes. The lack of light in them was sadly an indication that I’d lost him to the demon I’d sensed he’d been fighting since finding me.
Very slowly he dropped to his knees, allowing his heated eyes to drift back and forth. If he took comfort in protecting me, it was invisible, the darkness capturing his soul leaving him concentrating on one thing.
