Taken By Him (Obsessed With Him, Book Four) (2 page)

“No.”
 
I shook my head.
 
I didn’t
need his pity.
 
I didn’t need some
stupid job he’d just invented.
 
Paperwork!
 
What did he think
I was, some kind of accountant?

“Yes,” Cold said, undeterred by my
protests.
 
“You’ll stay with
me.
 
At my
apartment.
 
When you have
enough money saved, we’ll talk about you getting your own place.”

My eyes widened.
 
“We’ll
talk
about me getting my
own place?”

“Yes.”

“I’m not your prisoner.”

“Until I can make sure you’re safe, you are.”

“Why?” I asked.
 
“Why are you so determined to make
decisions for me?”

He crossed the room in two long strides.
 
He took my hands in his and turned my
wrists over, running his fingers over the bandages.
 
“Because I’ve never been so scared in my
life as when I saw you lying here on the floor.
 
And because for some strange, fucked up
reason, I can’t seem to stay away from you.
 
I have the need to protect you.”

Emotion flooded my chest, and I forced myself
not to look at him.
 
I knew if I
looked at him, I wouldn’t be able to say no.
 
And I had to say no.
 
I had to.
 
Because if I didn’t, I was afraid of
what would happen.

“Olivia,” he breathed.
 
“Olivia, look at me.”

I was powerless.
 
I raised my eyes from the floor, and he
reached out and smoothed my hair from my forehead.

He leaned his forehead against mine, and our
lips were just millimeters from touching again.

“Say yes,” he whispered, and I could hear the
desperation and want in his voice, how badly he wanted me to say yes to his
plan.

“Yes,” I said, before I had a chance to think
about it.

His lips tugged into a smile, just for half a
second before setting back into a strong line.

I closed my eyes, because I couldn’t take it
anymore, the two of us standing here so close, staring into each other’s
eyes.
 
It was intimate and
confusing.
 
How could I feel so
deeply bonded to Colt when I’d just met him?
 
Was this just lust, making me act
crazy?
 

I felt his eyelashes brush against my cheeks as
he closed his eyes too, and at that moment, someone in the club decided to turn
up the music and the pounding bass line began echoing through the room, pumped
in through the wireless speaker system.

The sound was jarring, but neither of us moved.

Kiss me,
I thought.
 
Please,
kiss me and finish what you started.

 
I
wanted his hands all over me, on my ass, my back,
my
breasts.
 
I wanted his mouth between
my legs, his fingers inside of me there, too.
 
I wanted to feel his hard cock push into
my mouth, wanted to know what it felt like to taste a man’s dick.

The rhythm of the music intensified, the tempo
like a beating heart.
 
I placed my
palm against Colt’s muscular chest, feeling his real heart beat, slow and
strong.

He did the same to me, and my breath caught in
my chest at the feel of his hand against my breast.
 

We were locked together, the music swirling
around us into a tornado.

Kiss me,
I screamed inside.
 
Kiss
me.

I tilted my head just the tiniest bit, until my
lips barely brushed his.
 
It wasn’t
a kiss – in fact, it was far from it.
 
I’d hardly even felt the soft pillows of
his lips against mine before he pulled back, almost as if he’d been burned.

“Olivia…” Colt started, taking my hand off his
chest and holding it in his.
 
but
I didn’t want to hear it.
 
I didn’t want to hear why he was wrong
for me, why we couldn’t do this, why it was a bad idea.
 
Because one of the things I’d learned
over the years was that when someone had all kind of justifications and excuses
for why they couldn’t do something, it was usually just window-dressing.
 
Because the thing was, it usually just
came down to one simple fact.
 
People did what they wanted to do.

Colt didn’t want me.

The urge to cut welled inside of me again.

God, you are fucked up, Olivia.
 
You’ve already destroyed your wrists,
and now you want to hurt yourself move?
 
Over what?
 
Some asshole
who
doesn’t even want you?
 
Haven’t you learned enough about
investing your emotions in people who could care less about you?

I couldn’t take it.

I couldn’t take hearing his excuses.
 
It hurt too much.

So even though it was petty and childish, I did
the only thing I could think to do to make sure I didn’t have to.

I lashed out.

“Is our deal still on?” I asked, pulling my
hand from his.

“What deal?”

“Declan,” I said.
 
“If I come and work for you as your
secretary, will you still help me find Declan?”

I was hoping my words would hurt him, was
hoping they’d get some kind of reaction out of him, even if just for a second.

A vein in his neck throbbed and his jaw set
into a hard line.

But then he shrugged, like Declan was an
afterthought he’d forgotten about, and not the only reason I’d even agreed to
this crazy plan in the first place.

“If you want.”

“I do.”

“Fine,” he said.
 

“How long will it take you to find him?” I
asked, annoyed and frustrated by the fact that he was acting like he didn’t
give a crap about me finding Declan, even though I’d told him Declan was the
man I was going to marry.
 

He stared at me a long moment, but this time
,
I didn’t close my eyes
.
 
I kept my gaze on his.
 
If he thought he was going to intimidate
me, he was wrong.
 
The song playing
through the club switched, moving from a pounding bass line to something
slower, softer, further serving to break the spell between us.

Colt turned away from me and began walking toward
the door.

“Colt!” I yelled.

He turned around.

“How long?”
 
I needed to know.
 
These feelings I had inside of me, this
pull I felt toward Colt even though I knew he was bad for me and could lead to nothing
but devastating heartbreak, made it crucial that this little arrangement had a
time limit.
 
I couldn’t risk being
around him for too long.
 

“I already found him,” Colt said, and then he
turned and walked out the door.

“What?”
I exclaimed.
 
I rushed
after him, chasing him down the hall.
 
“What do you mean, you already found him?” I demanded.

“Just like I said, Princess,” he said, and I
hated that he was calling me that, hated that he was back to acting cocky and
like he was way too cool to care about anything.

He continued walking until he was almost back
to the area that housed the main stage, then turned the corner.
 
We were in the dressing room now, the
room where I’d gotten ready earlier, where Jessa had helped me to put on my
make up just a few hours before she’d sent me back to that bachelor party.

“You found him?” I breathed.
 
“But how?”

 
“It
wasn’t hard,” he said.
 
“Anyone with
an
internet
connection could have done it.”

Trepidation skittered up my spine – I had
a feeling it was a lot more complicated than just having an
internet
connection.

But whatever.
 

Colt’s tactics weren’t important.
 
What was important was that he knew
where Declan was.

“So where is he?” I asked.

Colt shrugged.
 
“He’s here.
 
In the city.”

I let out the breath I was holding, almost
giddy with relief.
 
Declan was
here!
 
He was here, in the
city.
 
I could go and see him!

“What’s he doing?” I asked, the anticipation
flowing hot through my veins.
 
“I
mean
,
did you find out anything else about him?”
 

But before Colt could answer one of the dancers
came walking out of the tunnel that led from the main stage.
 
She was wearing a pink glitter G-string,
her skin tan and perfect.
 
Stuck on
the side of her stomach, right by her hipbone, was a delicate rhinestone heart.

“Colt,” she squealed.
 
She was topless, her perfectly
symmetrical tits bouncing as she wrapped her arms around Colt’s neck.
 
The two of them looked like they’d
stepped out of a magazine ad. “What’s new, baby?
 
I feel like we haven’t talked in
forever.”

 
“Not much.
 
What’s new with you, Ava?”

“Lots,” she purred, trailing one of her long
raspberry-colored nails down the front of Colt’s chest.

Mine.

The word flashed through my mind before I could
stop it.

“Well, we’ll have to catch up then,” Colt
said.
 
His eyes flicked down her
body, ogling her tits, her thighs, his hand wrapping around her waist and
spreading out over the small of her back.

“After party?” she giggled.

“Always.”

“See you then.”
 
She took off down the hall, her tight
ass bouncing as she went.

Colt turned back to me.
 
“You need to go back and wait in the
office,” he said.
 
“I’ll come and
get you at the end of the night.”

“Declan,” I reminded him.
 
“What’s he doing?
 
What’s he up to?”

Colt shrugged.
 
“Find out for yourself,” he said, and then
he turned and left me standing there in the hall.

**

I watched mindless TV on the flat screen in the
office until three am, when Colt finally reappeared.
 

“It’s about time,” I said, but he ignored
me.
 

His hair was mussed, there was a smudge of lipstick
on his cheek, and he smelled like perfume.
 
I could only imagine the things he’d been up to since I’d last seen him.

I watched as he grabbed his leather jacket off
the back of a chair.
 
“You ready?”
he asked me gruffly.

“I guess,” I said.

“You guess?
 
You’re either ready or you’re not.”

“I’m ready, but not if you’re going to act like
a dick the whole time.”

“Who’s acting like a dick?”

“You’re all broody and short.
 
It’s not that fun to be around.”

“I’m sorry, Princess,” Colt said, grinning in
that maddening way of his as I followed him out of the office and down the
hallway toward the back entrance of the club.
  
“I’ll make sure to change my
attitude in order to maximize your fun and make sure you have as much enjoyment
from my company as is humanly possible.”

When we got outside, I gulped the fresh air
into my lungs, thankful to be out of the club.
 
Something about that place felt cloying,
the vibe full of darkness that lurked below the surface, just waiting to boil over
and burn everything it touched.

“What can I do to make this night fun for you?”
Colt asked.
 
“Bowling?
 
Mini golf?”

“Stop being a smart ass,” I said.
 
“It’s unbecoming.”

“Yes, Princess,” he said as he opened the car
door for me.
 
I slid into the
passenger side and buckled my seatbelt.

A second later, he was next to me, the scent of
leather and perfume hanging on him like a cloud.

“How as the after party?” I asked as he started
the car.

“Great,” he said.