Page 68 of Gabriel

I offered a smile that didn’t reach my eyes. “Good thing. I’d hate to have to kill you before we even reach our destination.”

His grin shifted—less charm, more teeth. “How you wound me, Amara! I thought you were joining me for a date with movies, music, and food, not threats.”

A sigh left my lips. “Always a charmer.”

“Only when it comes to you.” His voice dropped, low and rough.

I rolled my eyes. “You’re still trying to flirt your way out of every situation, I see.”

“Hey,” he said, stretching as much as the cuffs would allow. “I take what small pleasures I can around you.”

I stepped farther into the room, closing the space warily.

“You forget, those things don’t really work on me.” I set the tray down on the bedside table with a small clatter. “Besides, nothing can disguise the ruthless and calculating man underneath it all. Not even your hot, muscular body.”

He didn’t move, not even a blink, but the muscle in his jaw flexed once, betraying the tension he tried to mask. The stubble there was darker now, giving him a worn-in edge he hadn’t had when we first met.

“Gosh,preciosa, I don’t know if I can take so many compliments at once.”

“Somehow I feel you’d fish for even more if you could,” I scoffed. “You feed off them, Santos.”

He didn’t answer, and beneath the silence, something simmered. It was a tether too frayed to name but too thick to break.

“I’d feed off your moans and your body too, but you’re not offering that, are you?” he retorted. “Why don’t we make a deal? My body for yours. Your information for mine.”

I snorted. “Let’s get one thing straight. I’m never making that trade, and you’ll have to pry information from my cold, dead body.”

He chuckled, then murmured, “At least tell me, why kidnap me? Where are we headed?”

Instead of answering, I reached into my pocket, pulled out the key, and walked over to his side.

“Don’t do anything stupid,” I warned, sliding the key toward the cuffs. “You know I won’t hesitate.”

“Oh, I know,” he purred, looking between me and the bedframe he was tied to. “You’re as dangerous as you are beautiful, but I’ve given you no cause to defend yourself or hurt me since you kidnapped me. Have I?”

I ran a finger along the metal, letting it hover over the cold steel before unlocking it, then leaned away as they clicked open. “No, you haven’t.”

“You can trust me, you know. I’d never hurt you,” he murmured slowly, taking a deep breath into his lungs. “Just tellme what you and your siblings have gotten yourself into and I’ll do everything in my power to help you.”

I narrowed my eyes. “All three of us?”

A flicker of tension passed through him. He masked it immediately, but not before I saw it in the faintest tightening of his shoulders.

“You’re my primary concern,” he finally said, leaning forward. “You’ve been the highlight of my days long before you kidnapped me.”

It was my turn to tense. “Don’t try flattery to get your way, Santos, or I’ll cuff you again.”

The corners of his lips tilted up. “If that’s what you want. Hell, I’d even let you spoon-feed me.”

“I’m not spoon-feeding you.”

“Afraid I’ll bite?”

“I know you will,” I muttered.

He flexed his wrists and rubbed at the red marks there, his eyes never leaving mine. Heat crawled up my spine. I shifted my weight and rested a hand on the butt of my gun, grounding myself in the comfort of cold steel.

“Eat,” I said, sharper than I meant. “I don’t have time to babysit you all day.”