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*****
"See that corner over there? Works perfect for me. You can just pull over and let me out and I'll be on my way." Rayn offered the suggestion, praying her captor would take heed.
But, no such luck for her. Thane just continued to drive, rewriting every traffic law known to mankind as he went, all the while ignoring her request. Except...that was definitely the unmistakable sound of acceleration right in front of said corner. Guess she now knew what he thought of the idea.
And that was fine with her. Thane apparently had a grievance against that particular intersection; just meant she would have to try again with another. And if the next still didn't suit his fancy, she would try yet again with a different one and gladly continue on so forth if that's how he really wanted to play at it.
Thane would find her to be a more than willing participant in any game of his because she was going to make damn certain victory was hers. Columbus had thousands of intersections and she
would
be getting out of his vehicle on one of them.
Staring out the glass of the rear passenger window, Rayn watched with disinterest as the rising sun set the sky ablaze with a colorful palette of vibrant oranges and blazing reds. Normally she would enjoy such a lovely view, but today was shaping up to be anything but normal. Besides, she was too confused to take pleasure in something so mundane in comparison to the man she was currently taking the possible ride of a life with.
Her lips were still raw, swollen, from Thane's vehement kiss after he'd declared her his. But now
that
Thane,
fiery
Thane, was gone, leaving unbalanced Thane in his place.
It was this second of disorienting incidences of about-face which fueled her bemusement. One minute he'd been a passionate, steamy, demanding lothario...the next just plain scary as hell.
"This corner right here works just as good." More with the damn acceleration.
This was the Thane from her nightmare, the Thane she'd had the misfortune of meeting two times too many now. This was the Thane from the club who'd threatened to hurt someone-
her
-if she didn't get away from him. Of course, in line with his alter ego's persona, this was also the Thane who'd bellowed at her to keep her hands to herself when she'd slipped out of the Navigator behind him to lay a hand on his arm. The force of his reaction stupefied her.
Gathering her wits quickly, and never one to be outdone, instead of the gentle rebuff she'd been prepared to dish, Rayn had bellowed twice as loud she wasn't going any damn where with him. His prompt response had been, "You don't have a fucking choice, princess."
Rayn would've told him in very explicit, colorful detail what part of her body he could kiss with his foul mouth, but after facing her to glare fire lit daggers, he'd lifted his hand to roughly drag it through his hair and the words caught on her tongue. Then dissolved.
Jesus
, he was beautiful. All refined sumptuousness with his clean shaven jaw, fresh black long sleeve button down shirt intimately molded to each and every muscle of his chest and sporting black slacks perfectly tailored to accentuate his tapered waist and powerful build.
His dark locks were loose, the soft, luxurious curtain pushed back off his forehead. And for the second time, Rayn imagined threading her fingers through the waves; imagined having the inkiness draped across her chest, hundreds of ends tickling her nipples into hard nubs.
Imagined the contrast of midnight against coffee as he knelt between her open legs, his mouth fastened securely to her clit and his eyes fixated upon hers as he pleasured her.
Rayn's fantasy kicked into high gear as she noticed his action also caused his shirt to ride up. Greedily, her eyes had trailed down his face to the fine fabric which covered his chest to finally stop at his waist...where she got a good ass peek at what was shoved into his waistband.
While she was certain there was something in those designer slacks she would have liked to have a very personal meeting with under drastically different circumstances, his weapon-
that weapon-
wasn't what she'd been thinking of. His gun was big, deadly. The same one used on Dominic though to what end she still didn't completely know.
And, at that very moment, Rayn hadn't been able to help but wonder if the glimpse hadn't been intentional. An unspoken threat.
If push came to shove, she wasn't positively convinced Thane wouldn't shoot her too, so Rayn had squashed her misplaced desire and shut her mouth. Although he was staring right at her, she'd absurdly hoped he wouldn't notice as she'd begun to slowly edge away. Or, at the very least, not say anything.
But cooperation definitely wasn't his strong suit. Affixing her with a disconcerting stare more jade than its earlier emerald, he'd softly ordered, "Get in the truck. I'm not going to ask twice."
Compliantly, she had done exactly as commanded. Confident Thane was manic depressive, Rayn possessed no interest in testing his patience levels any further for fear of discovering first hand whether or not he was on medication.
If he wasn't...he could very easily kill and dispose of her during one of his delusional highs, then convince himself it had all been a hallucination when he hit his next low.
"What about that parking lot over there?" The huge Navigator sailed by, not slowing an ounce. "Or that one. Or even this one right here. Or-"
"Jesus Christ," he finally breathed, the words low and hard. They were the first verbal signs he'd shown her requests weren't falling on deaf ears. The vehicle halted abruptly in the middle of the street as he hit the brakes.
Dare she believe...
"You really wanna get away from me that bad?"
"If I say yes, are you going to let me go?"
"Of course." He nodded his head in accession, his cold emeralds meeting her gaze in the rearview. "Seems the gentlemanly thing to do."
And he was about as much of a gentleman as she was the Queen of England