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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
After my shower, I changed into a pair of tie-dyed shorts and long-sleeve shirt that fell off one shoulder. I tried reading. That didn’t work. I flipped through the channels on the TV. Nothing held my attention. I even listened to music. My thoughts still strayed.
Ever since I left the theater, Lincoln’s words kept echoing in my head.
Think real hard. Dig deep enough. You don’t know what he’s capable of.
I let my thoughts drift back to the first time I’d met Caspian Donahue. I was a little girl pretending to be a bride, and he was a bossy tyrant who dragged me away from my happy place. Then there was the time at Crestview Lake when he’d pulled me from the water. And the time before that at that same lake when he’d dragged me out of my cabin in the middle of the night. I didn’t know why he pulled me out of bed or made me sleep in his cabin afterward. He never told me. All I remembered was how dark and ominous the water looked later when I’d gone back to my own bed. Other than that, I had nothing, but I wasn’t sure why.Because it was just a dream.A sudden chill washed over me, covering my skin in goosebumps.Dreams didn’t give people goosebumps.I may have forgotten the memory. I may not remember if what I saw was real or not, but I would never forget the feeling that something was wrong that night.
I walked onto the balcony outside my bedroom and prayed the fresh air would clear my head. A cool breeze that only the night could bring swept my hair across my face. I pulled it back and tucked it behind my ear, then leaned against the white wood railing. Looking out over the waves didn’t give me the familiar comfort it usually did, and the sky seemed darker than normal. Maybe it was because there were no stars out yet. Even the moon was shadowed by clouds. Maybe a storm was brewing in the distance. Or maybe my thoughts only made it feel darker than it actually was.
I stared out into the nothing, watching the waves lap at the shore. It felt as if I were somewhere else, as if I wasn’t standing on the balcony of a beach house waiting for the fulfillment of a promise I was almost sure he wouldn’t keep. Instead, it felt like I was out there, in the middle of the darkness, adrift at sea.
My breath caught in my chest the moment the door slid open.
He came.
“I wondered how long it would take you to show up.”
Caspian’s smooth voice wrapped around me. “I made a promise.”
“So, you did.” I continued staring out over the water but felt his gaze on my back, all over my skin. I felt himeverywhere.
“You left the front door unlocked.” It felt as though he were chastising me, but his voice was hypnotic and seductive rather than cold and callous. He was behind me now. His solid chest pressed against my back. Searing warmth radiated from his body to mine.
I leaned back into him, seeking out the comfort the waves failed to bring. “I knew you were coming.”
I hoped he was coming.
He moved my hair to the side. His breath tickled my neck, heating my skin. “You need to be careful.”
“I’m not the naïve sixteen-year-old girl standing in your room begging you to kiss her after you carried her away from a party. I know how the world works. I don’t need protection.”
“No. You’re the twenty-one-year-old woman standing outside her room about to beg me to fuck her.” He dug his fingers into my hips and spun me around, crashing me into the wall of muscle that was his chest. “You don’t have a fucking clue how the world works, and youdoneed protection.”
Visceral need bloomed inside me at the thought of begging him for anything, much less to fuck me.
I looked up into his eyes. “From you, maybe.”
He grinned and circled his arms around my waist. “Considering I was five seconds away from fucking you on a public stage before your brother walked in, I would agree.”
I loved his smile. It made him appear almost boyish. Human.
“That doesn’t change the fact that you’re the daughter of a United States senator aiming for presidency, which makes you a target for people far more dangerous than me. Promise me you’ll be smarter than this,” he added, as if he knew things I didn’t.
Add that to the list of questions.
“Speaking of promises...” I let my hand glide down the front of his white T-shirt.
He reached up to grab my wrist. “Promise me.”
“Fine. Yes. I promise I’ll lock the door from now on.” I yanked my arm away from him. “Happy?”
“Very.” He took my hand and brought my wrist to his mouth.
“Now, it’s your turn. You promised me answers.”
Caspian laced our fingers together. “You sure you want them?”
