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Jericho takes me to the dressing room. It's only once we’re inside that I realize where we are.
“Get your clothes on. You're going home now.” His voice sounds as out of place in this room as it does in my life, but those commanding words spark the energy back into my awareness.
I yank my hand out of his, stopping just before we reach my locker.
He turns to face me, his face as stern as it was back in the auction hall.
“Why are you here?” I cry. I’m glad I’ve found my voice, even though the tremor rippling through my words shows how upset and embarrassed I am. “Why the hell did you bid on me?”
His brows snap together, and he stares at me as if I’ve gone crazy. “Are you kidding me? What the hell kind of question is that?”
“Give me an answer. Why are you here, Jericho?”
“I’m saving your ass, so instead of asking me bullshit, you should be grateful you didn't end up with some old geezer who was one step away from putting you in his playboy mansion.”
I’m so wound up, I don't even bother to acknowledge that he caught the Hugh Hefner vibe from that guy, too.
“I don't want to be grateful to you. You promised me you'd leave me alone.”
“I lied. But you obviously lied, too. This is not taking care of a few bills.” He motions to the room with his hands. “What kind of trouble are you in, River? Clearly, you must be in some kind of shit. What is it?”
“I'm not in any trouble.”Not anymore. This situation is the aftermath, but I won’t tell him that.
He smirks, giving me an incredulous glare. “That’s a bold-faced lie.”
My temper flares, and I don’t care that I seem foolish again. I don’t want to be grateful to him for saving me because I’m in a desperate situation. The traces of pride that I have left make me feel more ashamed of myself that he had to help me.
“Look, I don’t have to tell you shit. You can’t just waltz into my life and make demands. I’m not one of your lackeys or admiring fans who fall at your feet.” The words fall from my lips without filter. “I didn’t wantyourhelp.”
“Well, that’s too damn bad, because you got it.” He squares his shoulders, looking enraged at my defiance.
“Don’t you realize what you just did? It’s an auction. Jericho, you justboughtme.” The gravity hits me, and I feel worse, like my mind might implode on itself and the walls of strength I’ve spent building around my heart will collapse all around me into rubble and dust.
“Yes, that is what an auction is, so it looks like we’re stuck together for the next two days.”
The remark and the wild look dancing in his eyes cause my skin to heat and my lungs to tighten as if rope is wrapped around it.
“This is not a joke. You shouldn’t have come here.”
“And yet here I am,Mermaid.” A spark of something I can’t identify invades his eyes, and he gives me a wicked smile.
“Don’t you dare call me that. I don’t have to put up with—”
He stops my next words and my breath by catching my face and crushing his lips to mine.
He moved so fast I didn’t know what he was going to do until his mouth was sealed over my lips, robbing my mind of thought and reason.
Jericho pulls me closer and kisses the last shred of strength from my body. In his arms I feel light and vulnerable.
My knees turn to water and my insides liquify, melting against the burning kiss he brands on my lips.
The firmness of his kiss takes me back to the last time he kissed me. It’s been so long I don’t know how I haven’t forgotten what it feels like. When his tongue sweeps over mine, I taste him, and he takes advantage of the moment to taste me, too.
Then he draws back, breaking the kiss and snapping whatever spell he held over me.
My breathing comes hard, my heart beating faster and faster as I stare back at him with wide, wide eyes.
I’m surprised that he looks just as shocked as I am, but that unidentifiable look I previously saw returns to his eyes. I know what it is now. It’s malice.
