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“Not going to ’fess up to the fact you wanted to make sure I was good and asleep so you could sneak out and run away again? Not going to look me in the eye and tell me that what we did in this bed earlier didn’t mean a goddamn thing to you?”
If she told him it had, he wouldn’t believe her now. Instead, she swallowed, curled her knees up to her chest, then wrapped her arms around them. “Sometimes, Victor or Hector would get too rough with me. I learned that when I gave them orgasms with my mouth, they would calm and go to sleep. I did not expect you to want more.”
“Than your obligatory blow job?” Trees reared back. “No matter what I’ve said or done over the past few days, you’re still determined to cast me in the role of villain.”
What did he want from her? Everyone in Emilo’s compound who had ever claimed he intended to help her had merely wanted pleasure. Once they had tumbled her a few times, they had been far less motivated to improve her situation or help her escape—and that’s if Hector and Victor didn’t find out someone had poached their “property.” When they had, her “helper” hadn’t lived long.
“I do not understand you,” she said softly.
“It’s fucking simple, Laila. I was hired to protect you until we could find another safe house closer to the team. You’ve done your best to defy and undermine me at every turn. And trick me. Can’t forget that…”
She had responded to Trees with uncertainty and mistrust. But what else did she have to compare him to except criminals and rapists?
“Why did you have sex with me?” She turned the question on him. “You are angry with me for seducing you, but you could have said no. You did not because you wanted…what? Gratification? Easy pussy? The power of mounting and penetrating a woman smaller and weaker?”
Trees huffed out a bitter laugh. “No, I’m an idiot because I just wanted you. When I was inside you, I told you that I wanted you the moment I laid eyes on you. That wasn’t a lie. I’m not interested in easy lays or cheap thrills. If I wanted a booty call, I could pick up the phone and have multiple choices. But I don’t because I’m over sex that has zero meaning. And I’m the schmuck for hoping that what we did tonight meant anything to you except the means to an end.”
A wave of shame overcame her. Usually, she didn’t bother with guilt. It had no place in survival. When every breath, every morsel of food, and every bit of clothing was dependent on catering to monsters’ whims, she had done her best to reserve all emotions for her family.
But Trees had slipped under her defenses. “I am sorry. It seems you are not like Victor, Hector, and their ilk.”
And she meant that. More than once, she had apologized to one of Emilo’s men without meaning it. How did she make Trees believe her now? His hand was inches from her. Perhaps if she reached for it, wrapped her fingers in his, and squeezed… But too much anger poured off of him. She doubted he would welcome her touch.
Laila kept her hands to herself.
“You’re damned right I’m not.” He knelt in front of her. “You can’t fake orgasms like that.”
Women did that? “I did not.”
“You felt something with me,” he growled.
She had. Something she didn’t understand. Something that terrified her. Every other man lorded the power of violence and pain over her body. But Trees…he had the power of pleasure. He knew how to make her body melt, to make her thoughts float away like smoke, and how to make her entire being surrender to a blinding ecstasy she’d never thought possible. He had more power over her body than she did, and that terrified her.
Not for anything would she admit that.
“No reply, huh?” he challenged, then shook his head. “You know what? It doesn’t matter. You’re supposed to be a job, and I was wrong to take you up on your oral offer. For the rest of the trip, it will be strictly professional. And by tomorrow night, we’ll be in Louisiana, and I’ll do my best to make sure you’re someone else’s problem.”
He turned away, slamming the bathroom door when it blocked his path, and rummaged through his duffel. Moments later, he turned back to her, padded cuffs in hand. “Give me your wrists.”
She shrank back.
“I told you what would happen if you ran from me again.”
He had, and she had believed him. But she hadn’t had a choice. “Please…”
Laila hated the whine in her voice, the fear racing through her veins. It made her feel weak to beg for his mercy. After everything tonight, she didn’t expect him to have any.
