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“Wait, isn’t that a spa?” Mina asked, bewildered.
“Like I said, you’ll enjoy yourself. I’m told Anton is very good at what he does.”
The line went dead before she could reply. She stared at the phone, wondering if she should call him back, but it felt inappropriate. This whole thing was inappropriate.
She spent the next three hours trying to convince herself that she wasn’t going to show up, but it rang false even in her own mind. Besides, she worried if she didn’t show up that Lindsay would think she was talking to the police or something. She had no doubt his earlier threat had implied her untimely death—not that he’d keep her prisoner somewhere.
She tried, unsuccessfully to not think about Lindsay Smith keeping her prisoner somewhere. Because for all the wrong it was, the idea made her stomach flutter.
Five minutes until four, Mina stared up atDome. The building looked like a giant soap bubble, with the front looking as if it had been dipped in bronze. The doors were a shiny reflective glass.
Mina stared at her reflection as she approached the building. She looked so mousy standing there all insecure in jeans and a t-shirt. Should she have dressed more sexy? Maybe she should have dressed like she did to see the therapist. Anton wouldn’t be impressed with this look. And maybe that was the point. She could still tactfully extricate herself from all of this if the answer was “No.” She’d have to find another therapist. After this she wasn’t sure she could look Lindsay in the face again—particularly not when she’d practically begged him to dominate her.
A silver bell overhead jingled as she opened the heavy door. She tried not to appear self-conscious and out of place as she approached the reception desk. “I have an appointment with Anton?” It should have been a statement, but out of Mina’s mouth it became a question.
The blonde behind the counter smiled brightly as she scanned their appointment system. “Four o’clock. Right on time, Ms. Calloway. Just have a seat, and Anton will be right with you.”
The blonde pressed a button on the desk phone and said, “Your four o’clock is here.”
Mina sat on a sofa next to a large palm plant. Minutes later, a door opened and out stepped one of the most attractive men Mina had ever laid eyes on. She’d thought Lindsay was something, but this guy… The idea of obeying him for the afternoon was beginning to sound appealing—as long as he didn’t hurt her.
Anton was much younger than Lindsay, by a decade at least. He had longish wavy dark hair that fell over chiseled cheekbones. He looked like he lived at the gym, which made it a great mystery how he’d found time in his schedule to be here today at all.
“Mina Calloway, yes?” he said. His accent sounded Russian, maybe Ukrainian. She could never tell the difference between the dialects. The accent made him seem even more dangerous, but he was so attractive that it would be nearly impossible to see him and run in the other direction.
“Y-yes.” Her feet, without her awareness or direction, somehow moved her from the sofa to Anton’s side.
“Janette, this is my last appointment for the day. You can pack your things and go home now,” he said, his wolfish gaze not leaving Mina.
“Y-yes, sir,” the blonde said from the reception area.
At least Mina wasn’t the only one here who couldn’t manage to speak without her voice wavering. There was some small comfort in that.
Anton took her hand in his and kissed the back of it. His fingers were long, strong.
“W-what is it exactly that you do here?” she asked.
He laughed. “You are adorable. I like you.”
He took her to a massage room with candles, a burbling fountain, and eastern ambient music. On one wall, a screen showed images from the spa as a soothing voice explained the spa’s philosophies and services.
The screen went black, and the deadbolt clicked. When she turned, Anton blocked the door. Okay that wasn’t ominous or anything.
Her mental sarcasm stopped short as she gripped the side of the massage table and doubled over, her breath coming hard and fast as the panic swamped her. This wasn’t a good time for this.
Lindsay said he wouldn’t hurt you.The voice of reason tried to push through her anxiety, but it didn’t matter what the doctor promised. It didn’t even matter if he was sincere or truly believed she’d be safe. Right now, it was just her and a complete stranger locked in this little room—probably alone in the building now. He could do any fucked-up thing he wanted, and there was nothing Mina could do to stop him.
Strong arms gripped her and pulled her to stand. “I’ve got you,” he said.
Why this should be comforting, she didn’t know, but she did feel comforted all the same by the apparent concern in his voice.
“Come with me.” He led her through a second door to a small attached apartment.
“D-do you live here?” Mina asked, trying to keep things light, trying to forget she was locked in with this guy.
“No, but it’s a long drive to my home, and I’ve been known to sleep here on occasion. I ownDome.”
He took a bottle of wine and glasses out of a cabinet in the kitchenette. “Here,” he said, when he’d poured the wine. “Drink. It will settle you.”
