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They were alone.
Now that Olivia was confronted by her captor, the man she had once loved, she wondered just what the hell she could say.
“Hello.”
She almost rolled her eyes at the stupid greeting.
He tilted his head in acknowledgement.
“Zamir,” she hated that her voice trembled. “I want to go.”
“To go where?” He responded quietly.
“I want to go home.”
“Where is home?”
Her face paled. “Anywhere but here. Vegas. I don’t know.” She played with her fingers. “I can’t be here.”
Zamir walked towards her with a steady purposefulness. “What will it take, Olivia?”
She didn’t understand. “What will what take?”
His kiss surprised her. Out of nowhere, his lips were on hers, and his hands were at her hips, digging into her flesh, holding her tight against his body. “What will it take to get you to agree to stay here with me?” He murmured, stroking her sides and teasing her with his touch.
“Nothing.” She shook her head. Tears ached in her eyes. “Nothing would induce me to stay.” She sucked in a deep, shaking breath. “And I know you aren’t capable of keeping me here against my wishes.”
His laugh was a short sound of derision. “You are speaking to the man who kidnapped you. And still you see the best in me?”
She lifted her hands, intending to push him away, but they got distracted by his warmth. “What do you want from me?”
“You know that,” he responded with a hint of desperate frustration in his words. “I want you here, in my bed. I want you to come to me of your own accord, and make love to me like you used to. I want you to smile at me like you used to. I want you to talk to me with that laughter you always have in your voice.”
“You want me to be your mistress,” she surmised glumly.
“I want you to be my everything, as you always have been,” he corrected, lifting his hands to cup her face on either side. “I want you to drink tea with me and talk for hours. I want you to remember that you love me, and to agree to stay here with me for the rest of your life.”
“What?” She froze, her heart barely beating. “But why?”
“I have wondered at this,” he said, appearing to shift subjects seamlessly. “I have wondered about this ache I have right here.” He lifted a hand to his chest. “I have wondered about this anger I have towards everyone, and this impatience I have for my duties. What do you think has caused me to feel like this?”
Olivia felt a sob bubbling in her chest. “Please don’t say it.”
“Don’t say what?”
She shook her head angrily. “Don’t say that you love me.”
His smile was mocking. “You doubt my feelings?”
She made a gargled sound of disbelief and pushed away from him now. “You’re damned right I do,” she said, after taking a moment to get her breath back. “It’s easy to pay lip service to something like love, but it’s a lot harder to show it.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning?” She balled her hands into fists by her side. “Meaning the ends don’t justify the means. You think you love me? You kidnapped me. That’s not love. It’s sick. You’ve had me here for two days and I haven’t seen or heard from you. Why? If you loved me, you would never have left me here to wonder and to worry …”
She was becoming hysterical. He put his hands on her shoulders and whispered comforting words in his own language. “I shouldn’t have left you,” he said softly, when she had quietened down. “Only I was so ashamed of the mess I’d made, I didn’t know … I couldn’t see how to fix it.”
“So you did nothing?” She
