That much, at least, was true. At first, he hadn’t believed she had gone, and for the best part of an hour after, he expected her to wander back in, slide into her place, and finish the salad she’d barely touched, but that never happened. Sophie never came back.
Sophie moved on.
“And what did you learn, Jared?”
“That you deserved more than the contempt I’d shown you. That your consent meant something.”
She pressed her lips into a hard line, and he wondered if that was the right answer. The answer she wanted to hear. The answer that would convince her.
“So, you followed me?”
Jeez, was she ever going to let that go?
“I wanted to protect you.” He emphasized the penultimate word, imploring her with his insistent gaze. “I still do, and that means not abandoning you here on this godforsaken street.”
Sophie folded her arms across her chest. “And where will you take me?” she inquired, her lips pouting, “if I say yes.”
“Where do you want to go?” His lips curled at the petulant display she was putting on for him. “Home?”
“And I suppose you know where that is as well?”
“Yes.” There was little point in deception at this point. Sophie was smart enough to see through his duplicity. “I do.”
“Christ.” She pulled in a shaky breath, rubbing her forehead with her left hand. “How long have you been doing this—keeping track of me?”
Always Sophie. Jared conveyed the message with his eyes.
“For a while, but I never intended to harm you. Just watch over you. Like a silent guardian.”
Sophie snorted. “More like a twisted guardian,” she retorted.
“Perhaps.” Jared looked at his watch. It was approaching eleven o’clock, and the temperature was falling away around them. “How about this? I take you home, and you have your phone out and ready to call the police? If I make one wrong move, you make the call.”
He paused, waiting as she considered his suggestion. After a moment, she glanced over her shoulder at his car before her attention flitted back to him.
Sophie was tempted. He could see that much.
“What do you think, little girl?” He risked the use of the term again, relishing the flicker of her eyelids, though she fought to compose herself.
“I would appreciate a ride,” she murmured. “But that doesn’t mean I trust you.”
That was a start. And a start was all Jared needed.
“I understand,” he told her softly. “Get your phone out and ready.”
Her brows knitted at the instruction, and in that second, he could see the complaint. He was telling her what to do again, and Sophie didn’t like it, but his proposal made sense, and she really did need a ride home.
“Okay.” She sighed, opening her purse and producing her sleek phone from its confines. “I’m ready.”
Jared nodded, consciously playing it cool as he pulled his car keys from his pocket and unlocked his BMW, but it was easier said than done. Especially when he was this close to getting the woman he adored in his car. His heart pounded excitedly at the notion.
“After you.” He gestured toward the car, not wanting to do anything to frighten her at this juncture. “Please, make yourself comfortable.”
Sophie offered him a wry smile. “Are you sure you’re not going to drug me, Daddy?”
Fuck.
She’d said it. She’d called him Daddy again, and even though he knew she was mocking him, it didn’t matter. Hearing that word from Sophie’s lips was mesmerizing, and for a moment, the resonance took his breath away.
“I’m quite sure.” In the end, he forced the reply out, though his voice was raspy with his surging desire. “No more sedatives, Sophie.”
“You promise?” There was the sardonic tone again, the one he wanted to spank out of her.
Jared inhaled, lifting his hand toward his chest. “Cross my heart.”
“And hope to die?”
He smiled at her boldness. Sophie was definitely not the same woman he’d bound and fucked all those years ago. This Sophie was fierce, and he couldn’t wait to claim her.
To tame her.
“And hope to die.”
Chapter Four
Sophie
She was on autopilot as he opened the passenger door, and she slid inside Jared’s car. A small, distinct part of her brain screamed in protest, asking her what the hell she was doing, ceding to a man who had always used her in the basest ways possible, yet for some reason, she subdued that part, and as he climbed in beside her and turned on the engine, she knew why.
It was for all the times he hadn’t been an arsehole. For the times, he came to comfort her when she’d cried. For the times, he had held her and whispered soft words, even if he hadn’t meant them. In the end, Sophie had known she had to get away, but she still held those times close to her heart. In those times, the connection they’d shared had meant something. It wasn’t contrived. It was real, and when Jared was tender, she had almost believed he loved her.
He turned on the heat, blasting the temperature in the confines of the car up to the highest setting. “Are you cold?” He turned to her as he asked the question, large blue eyes drilling into her skin.
“I’m better now, thank you.” Daddy.
Oh crap. The reply was right there, just waiting to be delivered. Somehow, it was absurdly natural to refer to Jared that way, even though she’d never wanted it, and he had never earned it. Over the time he’d held her hostage, the noun had become as normal as taking her next breath. How long could she fight an urge like that for? How long before the term just slipped from her lips again?
“Good.” He smiled as though he’d read her mind, and instinctively, Sophie glanced out the window. Her gaze fell over Mike’s house as Jared pulled away, her belly tightening at the idea of what he might have done in there.
At what Jared had rescued her from.
“I take it I don’t need to tell you my address?”
Jared’s smile widened. “No,” he replied, indicating onto the main road. “But please, don’t hold it against me.”
Sophie laughed. The guy had stalked her for God knows how long, and now, he was seeking some sort of forgiveness?
Jared was crazy. But then, he always had been.
And she’d dreamed about him night after night. Her passion for the man had been so strong, perhaps she’d conjured him into existence with the power of her mind alone? Sophie had just agreed to get in his car and drive off with him. She inhaled. Who was the real crazy one?
She glanced toward him, scrutinizing his profile in the half-light.
“See anything you like?”
“Don’t.” Sophie shook her head. “Don’t, please.”
“What?” He laughed. “I’ve been nothing but a total gentleman this evening. Hell, I even rode in on my stallion and rescued you, Sophie.”
She couldn’t help but grin at his appraisal, but the levity didn’t help the burgeoning nervous energy in her belly. It was always like this around Jared. The butterflies fluttered their wings, and it began. Soon, if she wasn’t careful, that excited apprehension would begin to take her over.