Page 65 of Bastard

“Do you honestly believe there’s the slightest chance in hell I’d bring you on a high-risk assignment?”

“What?” I gasp. “You insisted I take down a man twice my weight.”

He shrugs, and my annoyance grows.

“Then why?”

He stares off into the darkness.

I glance around before discretely kicking him in the shin. “I don’t understand you.”

That draws his attention. He narrows eyes on me. “You don’t need to. Just do what I say. Let’s go.”

He tries to lead me away, but I dig in.

“Emilia,” he commands, reminding me of the role I’m playing, even if it is a small, bit part. “Now.”

Grinding my teeth together, I obey. Guests cast curious stares are our way, noticing my obvious displeasure as we cross the ballroom.Tengo razón de estar enojada. But I don’t share the reason I’m angry with him.

How he ruined my life in Loreto.

How he disrupted my new life in Malawi.

And most of all, how he’s backinmy life—yet the reasonwhyis unclear.

21

The tension between us is so thick you could cut it with a knife. The crazy thing is, he has one strapped to his calf. When I kicked him in the shin ten minutes ago, I heard it rattle against my heel.

Discussion isn’t an option, especially not when we reach the hallway outside the bedroom. Hayden’s moving fast, forcing me to hurry along with him. But as we approach Barrington’s room, he stops, and without warning, pushes me up against the wall.

I gasp, a sound quickly muted by his lips covering mine.

He kisses me like a man starved for my mouth. Hungry and aggressive. Irresistible. And, despite my frustration, I kiss him back.

It’s raw. It’s intense. I feel every bit straight down to my toes.

He spins me around, but I refuse to let go, pushing him into the wall and pressing against him with a power I didn’t know I possess.

He lifts me up.

I wrap my legs around his hips.

He breaks away to say, “I’m going to fuck you right here and right now. Better grab hold of something, Emilia, then hang on tight.”

My entire body goes rigid.

Emilia.

This. Is. An. Act.

For him. Not me.

He bounced me in his arms, tumbling me forward and into him. “Don’t look like that,” he growls in my ear. “The camera is above us. Rip it from the wall.”

I swallow hard, then with him lifting me higher, reach up and grab hold of the plastic base connecting the camera to the wall. “Someone might see,” I say in a loud voice.

“I’ll kill anyone who interrupts.”