She’s standing naked in the bathroom with the phone still to her ear. “I hope your wife walks in and sees how hard I make you. I hope she slaps you and takes all of your money before she leaves your cheating ass.”
“I don’t cheat.”
“So you aren’t really married, then?”
A beat passes.
She smiles like she won again before she steps into the tub. Her body disappears under the water’s surface while resting her head against the tub’s edge.
I exhale—her spell on me breaks as she slips under the water, her body no longer as visible to me.
“We are going to continue our little game. You tell me the truth, and I give you more time to live. You tell me a lie, and I give you less time. I don’t care if we are here or back on the island. The battle continues until I pull every last truth from you, or you run out of time.”
She smirks, her seductive eyes glancing up, looking right at me. “What makes you think I’ll answer you? I’m not your captive anymore.”
“Because I’ll start hurting and killing people you care about. And I’ll automatically take a month off your time every time you don’t answer me. Your time will run out very quickly if you don’t start talking.”
She closes her eyes and leans her head back on the back of the edge of the tub. “What do you want to know?”
I was expecting more of a fight. Apparently, I’ve knocked all the fight out of her, at least for tonight.
“Tell me the truth of how you and Waylon met.”
She keeps her eyes closed, which makes it hard for me to read her expression or emotion. When she does finally speak, the tone of her voice is my only clue as to whether or not she’s telling the truth. Doing this from a distance is going to be difficult.
“A blind date,” she finally says.
I narrow my eyes, trying to read her.
Her eyes softly open. “We are both lawyers. We run in the same circles. We have mutual friends. Waylon was looking to settle down, for someone serious to help him build a long-lasting political career where he could make a difference. I was looking for a partner with power to keep me safe from men like you.”
I laugh at her comment about Waylon being able to protect her. I don’t even think Liesel believes that. Even if Waylon could keep her safe, she wouldn’t want that. She wants to control her own safety.
“You really think Waylon can protect you?”
“He has power—that’s as much protection as I can expect from a man.”
At least that’s the truth.
“What did you do on your first date?”
Liesel adjusts herself in the tub, and I get a glimmer of cleavage as she lifts slightly out of the water. My cock throbs at the sight.
“The usual drinks at a bar and then dinner at a nice Italian restaurant.”
“Was it love at first sight?”
She laughs as she sinks back into the water. “He ordered my drink and meal for me. What do you think?”
“I think you castrated him right then and there.” I smile just imagining what Liesel would do if a man tried to control her like that. But then how did she end up married to the ass?
“I ordered the most expensive champagne on the menu, and then I threw it at him.”
“Not scotch?”
She scoffs. “Would I ever waste scotch?”
My smile grows to my eyes. I haven’t smiled this big in a long time. It almost feels like we are kids teasing each other again—almost.
“No, I don’t imagine you ever would.”
Liesel smiles so openly I can see every one of her white teeth. It makes me almost not want to ask her my next question, but I need to know.
“What happened next? How did you end up on a second date if the first date ended in such a disaster?”
Her smile immediately drops from her face, almost as if it was never there in the first place. She takes her time before she speaks, the movie of those events flashing before her eyes.
She’s trying to decide if she tells me the truth or if she tells me a lie.
“You lose two weeks from your life if you lie,” I warn.
“I was at a bar. A man sat down next to me and started up a conversation with me,” her voice is soft, and her bottom lip trembles as she speaks.
I hate this man, whoever he is instantly.
“The man seemed nice enough. He was a typical suit—nicely groomed, a banker with warm eyes. He was charming, and I was lonely and frustrated with my lack of a sex life, so we got a hotel room.”
Jesus, so many awful things happen to this woman. It’s like she’s a magnet for evil men.
“In the elevator on the way up, I started to get some bad vibes from him. I made a phone call and said I had to go…”
Her voice trails off as she looks down at her hands like she’s embarrassed.
“He was in the wrong, not you,” I say, trying to make her feel better before I realize that’s not my job.
The corner of her mouth lifts in gratitude for my words. “He forced me into the hotel room. Ripped my clothes. Tried to rape me.”
“Tried?” My heart stops.
“The call was to Waylon. He was the only person I could think of who might be close. He was an asshole, but I didn’t get the same vibes from Waylon as I did from Frank.”
“He rescued you?”
“Sort of. I was able to knee him in the balls and break free.”
I smile, knowing I was the one who taught her that move.
“Waylon was in the lobby by the time I made it down. He called the police. We went and got some greasy burger and fries from a dive next door. He made me laugh. He
