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“He’s just returned from an exciting deep-sea exploration in the Puerto Rico Trench, and he wants to meet with us. He has an entire collection of mineral deposits from the trench itself that he’s installed in the château. Can you believe that? He lives such an exciting life,” she added with a bounce of her painted-on eyebrows.
“He’s so exciting. I almost feel better about selling you to him!” I mocked to myself. To keep myself from saying something stupid that would enrage her and tip off Kael to what was really going on, I reached into my pocket and unwrapped a piece of bubblegum. “Lunch. Got it. What time?”
“We’re leaving at twelve sharp,” she said with a point of her finger. “And please wear something appropriate.” She gave me a squinty-eyed look. “Something that does your lovely assets justice. Yes?”
I actually felt the way Kael stiffened behind me. I resisted the urge to close my eyes in frustration. “Of course,” I agreed tightly.
“Lovely.” Alicia swept a look over to Kael, and then my stomach lurched at the way her eyelids fell to half-mast as she took in his body-hugging athleticwear. “A pleasure, as always, Kael. You’ll be joining us, I hope?”
“Naturally,” Kael said with easy confidence.
How is he so good at this? I thought with a stab of annoyance. Nothing phases him.
“Perfect. I’ll see you both soon,” she smiled.
I turned and ate the distance to the stairs with long-legged strides, my insides boiling with rage and curdling my thoughts to worry. Why couldn’t Jonathon have stayed at the bottom of the fucking trench, permanently? Kael followed close behind, and I could sense his unhappiness even before the door was unlocked, opened, and had shut behind us.
I didn’t stop to look at him. I didn’t give him the chance to read me, and I headed for the shower with purposeful momentum, chewing my gum and blowing out a bubble. Kael followed, silent and watching. That was worse. Much worse. I was making it worse by reacting this way—I needed to find my indifferent mask. I breathed in deeply, sweeping into my bedroom, but slowing my steps and smoothing my features. I chewed my gum and tried to look like an indolent cow.
“Ah, ah,” Kael chided, closing my door with a snap. “It’s too late for that. Don’t hide how you’re feeling from me, Mattie Thorne.”
“I’m irritated about going to lunch,” I replied crisply. I went toward the bathroom, my sneakers squeaking against buffed hardwood floors as I peeled my lightweight hoodie over my head.
Kael caught the shirt before I could get it off my arms, and with a tug, he twirled it around my wrists, maneuvered my body to the doorway, and wedged me between his hard body and the wood trim. He pinned my bound hands above my head. My stomach somersaulted just before I gasped and hinged an outraged glare up to him. Kael stretched my arms high enough that I had to lift onto my toes. “Let’s try this again.”
I gusted out a sound of indignation. “Excuse me.”
Kael leaned down, crowding me with his scent and his warmth. “Enough of the lies.” His other hand pressed into my lower back, flattening me against his unyielding body. “The truth. Now, Mattie.”
My heart tapped an anxious percussive tune against my ribs. “I—I can’t think with you doing this.”
“Good,” he replied heartlessly. “Less scheming, more answering. Who is Jonathon?”
“He’s a work colleague.” I swallowed, accidentally downing my gum, and my eyes moved from his lips to his whisper blue gaze.
“Wrong answer.” Kael stretched my arms until they hurt, and then he hauled me up against his body like I weighed nothing. It took the pressure off my arms, but the feel of his solid torso against mine, and the way he had me surrounded by his presence was doing weird, scrambling things to my brain.
“Oh hell,” I gusted out. “Kael, you’re hurting me.”
“No, I’m not. I’m intimidating you. And it’s working. The truth, Mattie,” he snapped.
“Fine,” I squeaked. “Fine, you fucking animal. Jonathon is someone my parents want me to… marry.”
Kael loosened his hold on my body, sliding me back onto my feet but keeping my hands secured above my head. He studied my face. “Is this a party they’re planning or a wedding?”
“Party,” I rushed to assure him. “They want me to marry him because it would look good, but I’m not interested in him.”
“This is the person Augustus is making a joint venture with?”
“Right.”
“The one who likes seeing happy families?” Kael asked incredulously.
Unease slithered through me. “I guess so. He’s weird.”
“He’s thirty-eight and unmarried,” Kael shot back dryly. “He doesn’t give a fuck about family images.”
“How do you know that? How do you even know who he is?”
