AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He gave a long-suffering smile. “Your boobs don’t interest me,” he said flatly.
“Liar. You wouldn’t have called them glorious.”
“Well, I figured since you put out so much money on enhancing them that I ought to be properly appreciative. They’d look great on anyone.”
I contented myself with a snort of disgust, turning my back on him as I headed toward the crowded entrance.
I’d lost track of the days, and I suddenly realized it was Saturday night, time for everyone to kick up their heels. The bar was jammed with people, the dance floor crowded with gyrating couples, but somehow Ian managed to secure us a table, a beer for him and a bottle of soda for me before turning and talking to seemingly everyone there, everyone except me. It didn’t improve my mood to see that he was universally liked and respected. In return, I danced with anyone who asked me, moving on the dance floor with sinuous grace, knowing he was watching me. I never caught his eye, but every time I glanced in his direction, he was looking at me as I moved.
I was feeling beautiful, sexual, powerful, and I was besieged with so many partners I barely paid attention to them. This was what it was like to be Bella—to be the center of attention, to be glorious, to be wanted, wanted by every man in the place except the one man I wanted. I whirled from partner to partner, finally sitting one out at the table.
I reached for his bottle of beer but he moved it out of my way. “No alcohol, remember,” he said.
“I’m fine,” I said airily. “I haven’t had a headache all day.”
“I don’t want to end up carrying you out of here,” he growled.
“That’s all right. If you don’t want to, I’ll find someone who does.” Nailed it, I thought. That was exactly what Bella would say.
Flashing him a brilliant, triumphant smile, I left the table, only to find myself in the arms of a stranger, and I danced into the crowd.
I glanced up at the man. He was very handsome, and I should flaunt him, but there was something about him that made me uneasy. I tried to loosen his hold but got nowhere, and I cast a worried glance toward Ian, who was deep in conversation with a pretty girl. Of course he was.
“You are so beautiful,” the man said in my ear. I ignored it, as I’d ignored all the other blandishments. He’d pulled me tight against his body, and he smelled like fish and garlic. “I don’t know which I want to fuck more, your pussy or your ass.”
I jerked, trying to pull away at his crude words, but his grip was iron-hard, as his voice went on in my ear, telling me the things he was going to do to me. I tried to stop dancing, but he moved me, dragging me over the crowded floor, and no one noticed my struggles, my distress. And then came the coup de grâce.
“We’ve done it all before, Bella, and you’ve gone down on my prick like a hoover. I’m going to make you do it all again, with me, with my men, before I kill you.”
Chapter Thirteen
I let out a cry, and without thinking, I rammed my knee upward, anything to break the man’s grip. I didn’t hit him directly, but it was enough that his hold loosened, and I tore myself out of his arms, only to be immediately enfolded in another pair, pressed against another hard body, and I started to struggle.
“Calm down,” Ian said in a rough voice. “It’s just me.”
I sagged against him in relief as unexpected tears filled my eyes, and his arms were safe around me. I was shaking, I couldn’t help it. It wasn’t simply the filthy words of the man, it was the cold, implacable evil in his voice, so at odds with his angelically handsome face.
“I want to go home,” I whispered against his chest.
“We will,” he said, his low voice vibrating in his chest, beneath my ear. “But first, you need to tell me what that man said.”
I shivered, and his arms tightened, and I felt some of my panic begin to slip away. “Just ...horrible things. Sexual things.”
I waited for him to tell me it was my fault, for throwing myself at everyone, for wearing the wrong clothes, for enjoying myself too much, but he said nothing, just holding me against him as my fear and disgust began to fade.
“Is he still here?” Ian said.
I didn’t want to lift my head from the safety of Ian’s chest, but after a moment I did so, looking at the dancers surrounding me. I pressed my cheek against him once again. “I don’t know. I don’t think so.”
“I’ll take you home.” He started to release me, but I held on, not wanting to let go.
“Give me a minute,” I said, and if he hadn’t dropped his head down, close to mine, he wouldn’t have heard me. He smelled wonderful, of warm skin and olive trees and the nearby ocean, and I wanted to drink him in. I no longer cared who I was, who knew it. All I wanted to be was a woman wrapped safely in Ian’s arms, safe from unnamable threats.
The man hadn’t gone. I couldn’t see him anywhere as Ian bundled me out of the taberna, but I could feel his eyes on me, cold and merciless. I took a quick look back as we left, and I saw him then, staring at me with cold, implacable hatred in his eyes, and if felt like a body blow.
“What?” Ian said, close enough to feel my reaction. “Do you see him?”
“No.” I didn’t want Ian to get anywhere near him. Ian was a lot taller, and probably stronger, but the evil was so palpable in that man that even Ian might be contaminated. Besides, I didn’t need Ian to fight my battles. I had to remember he wasn’t on my side.
