“Sorry, I thought you wanted someone to tend to your wounds,” I say instead.
He groans slightly. “Here was me hoping that you might offer to kiss it better.”
The rebuttal dies in my throat when his eyes catch mine once more.
I’m suddenly aware of how close we are. Of how I could move my free hand up and touch his bare chest if I wanted to. Of how he could throw his arm over my shoulder and draw me in if he wanted to.
And I'd be utterly helpless to it, kneeling on the floor beside this man who has threatened to kill me multiple times.
I’d welcome his embrace, the feeling of his hard muscles beneath my fingers. I’d stop thinking altogether if he put his mouth on mine.
As if reading my mind, his eyes drop to my lips.
“Teo…”
But the tension is cut the second the lights begin to flash across his face. Red and blue.
Finally, the authorities have arrived to investigate the mess outside.
Teo closes his eyes for a beat. When he opens them again, there’s nothing of the lust that once shone there.
“You need to leave. Now.”
I stare at him in disbelief. “You’re letting me go?”
“The Guild will be here soon, and you can’t be here when they arrive. It will cause too many complications.”
“But, I thought you…this was…”
“Belle,” he snaps. “You have about a minute to escape out the back door. Wait by the fence until the gates open, and I’ll open the back passage for you.”
The confusion is enough for me to stay rooted to the spot.
“Keeping you here will start a war I’m in no shape to fight today,” he yells at me. “So, for God’s sake, leave before I stick a bullet between your eyes myself.”
A cool kind of certainty washes over me. “You won’t kill me.”
Click.
He calls my bluff.
The silencer is pressing into my forehead before I can make another sound.
I force myself to stay calm, although a part of me rages for being stupid enough not to check he was unarmed before I kneeled down.
“Go,” he demands.
The blue and red lights flash over his face, distorting his expression. He’s menacing, beautiful, dangerous, divine.
I want to call his bluff right back. I want to wait to see if I can prove my theory, but then someone begins to bang on the front door.
BANG, BANG, BANG.
“BOSS? OPEN UP.”
“Go.” He presses the gun harder into my forehead.
So I do. Scrambling away, I get to my feet and flee as fast as I can.
