Page 59 of Stolen Temptation

He turns back when he realizes I’m not behind him. “This way.”

“What are we doing here?”

His fathomless hazel eyes burn into mine in the darkness, making my heart slam against my ribs. “Just like I said. We’re going to patch you up.”

I eye him with suspicion. “And I believe you, just like that?” Leo and Matteo never helped patch me up. Not even when they inflicted the damage.

Irritation flares in his honeyed gaze. He inhales sharply, but releases the breath slowly, like he’s calming himself down. “Despite how things may appear…” he articulates carefully, “I’m not your enemy, Kiara.”

His words have that honest ring to them, but I still don’t trust this man.

How can I?

Rory doesn’t wait for my reply. Instead, he disappears around a corner in the lobby I didn’t notice earlier.

Wow. Was that only this morning?

“Are you coming, or do I need to toss you over my shoulder and carry you?”

I hustle after him.

“Are we the only ones here?” Even though we aren’t touching, his body heat warms my skin. The man’s a walkingbonfire. With him in your bed, you’d never need an electric blanket.

My lower belly clenches at that visual of him, naked and radiating all that heat.

Stop it.

I banish the image from my head and focus on our surroundings. The narrow corridor curves around to the right, and a short downward staircase appears.

We’re already underground. How deep does this place go? Rory descends first, but before I do, I glare at the back of his head. “Answer my question.”

Rory fixes me with a hard look from the bottom of the stairs. “We’re the only ones here.”

“Where is everyone else?”

“Off-duty,” he grumbles. “Satisfied?”

Dammit. Even his grumble is sexy.

Our gazes lock, and the electricity crackling between us staggers me for a moment.

He breaks the eye contact first. I gulp down air and silently plead with my rampaging hormones to take a time-out. The cold, absolute silence that surrounds us leads me to believe that Rory’s telling the truth about us being alone.

That doesn’t mean I can trust him completely. Oddly, though, I do trust him not to hurt me physically to get his way. The fury on his face when I cringed away from him earlier convinced me of that.

Staring into his melty hazel eyes feels dangerous, so I tromp down the rest of the stairs and walk ahead. “Where to now?”

“My office.” Rory’s reply comes from a distance. Behind me, he’s standing in front of a wall with the faintest outline of a door cut into it. When he presses his palm to the wall, a digital keypad appears. Once he punches in a secret passcode, a hidden doorway opens.

“It’s through here.” This time, Rory waits for me to walk back to him like an idiot before crossing the threshold into the darkness.

Anxiety pings through me.Is this really an elaborate ruse to drag me down to the dungeon and torture me for trying to escape?

But once Rory’s inside and the lights come on, I immediately relax.

Rory’s office is…unexpectedly nice.

Light hardwood floors. A painting on one wall. A pristine desk and computer, as though he hasn’t been here in years.