“We have multiple offices,” he said and let his hands fall to her face, where his thumbs ran lightly over the line of her jaw.
“Okay, so we’re at your job. How did we get here? I mean I thought I saw...something. But I don’t know, maybe I’m still delirious from the fever I had when I was sick. I thought I was over that flu the day at the pawn shop, when I saw...something,” she said and shook her head remembering that was also the day she’d seen that woman she’d thought was a ventriloquist. If she thought she’d seen something today, what if the ventriloquist was really a gh... No! She didn’t believe in those things. This world belongs to humans. Her father’s words replayed in her mind even as doubts continued to spread.
“What did you think you saw?” His voice was serious and stiff like stone.
Ravyn did ease away from him then, because her thoughts were crisscrossing. When she’d left Happy’s shop the other day and had been walking to the antiques shop, there’d been so many people on the street. People she’d almost bumped into because they’d been walking directly in her path as if they hadn’t seen her coming. But that was silly because she’d seen them as plain as day. Actually, she’d almost bumped into one of them and the other...she had bumped into but she hadn’t felt any contact.
No. She was shaking her head as she walked closer to the windows. It couldn’t be. She didn’t believe in otherworldly beings and she certainly didn’t believe in ghosts.
“What do you think you saw, Ravyn?”
It didn’t sound as if he’d moved from that spot where he stood near the door, but his words were enunciated in her mind. What do you think you saw? As if she couldn’t possibly have seen a ghost or a...a...what did she think it was?
That big ass thing out there in the yard had been carrying her, or at least that’s what she’d thought. Now, she wasn’t so sure. Maybe she was hungry, sometimes she got lightheaded when she skipped meals. But lack of calories had never made her delusional before.
“How did we get here, Steele? Did you drive?” She whirled around as another thought hit her. “More importantly, did you drug me?”
He visibly flinched, his brow furrowing as he shook his head. “What?”
“Did you drug me? Is that why I’m having trouble remembering how we got here when I know I came to your hotel room? That’s the address that was on the piece of paper and it was downtown, not here in this place. So either you drugged me and brought me here, or something else weird is going on. Either way, I want an explanation.” Because her staunchest reason for not wanting any entanglements with men was their innate need to control every damn thing, including her. She and Steele weren’t in any type of relationship and even if they were, the one thing she wouldn’t stand for was him trying to control her.
“I would never drug you or anyone else. I came in here to ask you to have dinner with me. It’s already being set up in my suite. As for how we got here, yes, I brought you here and no, I didn’t ask you first, but I should have. For that I apologize.”
She watched him carefully, looking for any sign that he was lying, but she couldn’t find one. That didn’t mean he was telling her everything, and that made all the thoughts floating around in her mind just as crazy as she’d thought they were.
“Nobody showed up at your place trying to hurt me or take the dagger?” She pressed him because her neck was still sore from when someone tried to choke the life out of her. No way that was fake.
“Yeah, that did happen. That’s why I had to hurry and bring you here. I wanted to keep you safe.” He came closer and touched her cheek lightly again.
Why did that feel so damn good?
“I only want you to be safe, Ravyn. And I’ll do whatever I have to do to ensure that happens.”
She touched his wrist. “I feel safe with you.”
Now, that may have been the weirdest thing she’d ever said to a guy, or anyone else on this earth. And she had no clue why she’d said it, because it wasn’t true. But no, she knew that it was. Hadn’t she slept in his arms last night? All night, which was something she’d never done before.
“I’m sorry you were locked in here and that you’ve been losing your mind trying to get out. I know you don’t like to be in situations you can’t control.”
He was definitely right about that.
Ravyn took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“Ever since I got this dagger,” she started to say and then stopped.
“I’ll take it now,” he said. “I know things happened fast but we were just wrapping up our transaction. You know the money is in your account, so I’ll take the dagger and then we can—”
“We can what?”
Was this the part where he fed her a nice meal and then sent her on her way? Was she going to be upset if it was? Because that’s all this was supposed to be—a transaction. There wasn’t any reason for her to wonder about there being anything else. Was there?
“We can have dinner and try to relax,” he said.
“I’d like a tour,” she said as the thought popped into her mind. “After dinner, can we
