Laila didn’t understand.
Slowly, she went still.
“Yes,” he praised, his voice lower and silkier than ever, as he locked his hands around her waist. “That’s a good girl.”
His words should have seemed patronizing, like someone crooning to a child, yet they soothed her. Some still-panicked part of her brain screamed that he was lulling her into cooperating before he forced her to the mattress and used her for his pleasure. But the thought had barely taken root when he lifted her around the corner of the bed, a foot away, then released her.
Laila gaped. That was it?
He met her gaze unblinkingly—a silent yes.
Maybe he wasn’t awful. Maybe he wouldn’t attack her.
Maybe…but she waited for her heart rate to return to normal. It didn’t.
Why? She didn’t want him to touch her again…but now that he wasn’t, she was oddly aware of him.
Trees was the first to break their stare, turning his attention to the cuff around the drawer handle. He had giant hands, but they were both gentle and adept as he fitted the key in the padlock and unbuckled the cuff. When he turned, she was still watching him.
“Something you want to say, Laila?”
If you terrify me, why am I so curious?
She stifled the foolish thought. She was simply confused, not thinking straight. Of course she didn’t want him coaxing her with that voice. Didn’t want his hands on her. Didn’t want him anywhere near her.
Yet some subversive part of her wondered why he felt different.
“Nothing,” she muttered, then disappeared into the bathroom.
As she locked the flimsy door, she realized her hands were shaking. Her palms were sweating. Her heart was still racing.
After using the toilet, she washed her hands and looked at her reflection in the mirror above the basin. Her eyes looked wide, almost startled. Her cheeks were flushed. Her breaths still trembled in her chest. Why did Trees rattle her so much when he hadn’t harmed her in any way?
After she emerged from the bathroom, she went straight for Jorge’s diaper bag and retrieved the shorts she’d left there after her shower last night. Trees stood at the front of the vehicle, with his back to her, and rummaged through a plastic sack in his hands.
Below his thick neck, every part of him bulged and swelled when he moved—arms, shoulders, and back. Muscles even bracketed his strong spine as his shape narrowed from top to bottom in a V.
The longer she stared, the more her breath turned choppy. She swallowed a flutter in her belly she didn’t understand.
As if he sensed her stare, he turned, his gaze sweeping her at once, making her feel almost naked. “Need something?”
His voice…she heard a note in it that she didn’t know how to interpret. It invited her closer.
Laila couldn’t explain how he was drawing her in or why she was tempted to accept. Because she wanted to study him? To figure him out? But that made no sense. She would never be interested in any man.
“What are you looking for?” she finally asked.
He pulled out some metal part on cardboard backing, wrapped in plastic, along with a small tool set. He tore into both, grabbing what he needed, then set the plastic bag on the table. “This stuff.”
Items in hand, Trees faced the door and raised his arms. She found herself staring again at the ridges and ripples of his body.
Suddenly, he stopped, sighed, and faced her. “Just so there’s no misunderstanding, I’m installing a lock on the door.”
She frowned. “Does it not already have one?”
“Since you don’t want me to use the leather cuffs on you again, this isn’t to keep others out but to keep you in.”
That filled her with panic. Even if he hadn’t taken advantage of her this morning, he still intended to imprison her. “No.”
“I can’t have you running again, so I want to be crystal clear. I’m only trying to prevent you from fleeing and putting yourself in danger while my back is turned. I’m not locking you in because I intend to force myself on you.”
So he claimed. Even if he meant that, he was still subjugating her and subverting her free will. “You will not cuff me to the car door or the nightstand again?”
“Nope.”
“You promise you will not use the cuffs on me at all,” she demanded, then nearly laughed at herself. He might be a less criminal man than Victor, but that didn’t make his word worth more.
“I promise. I won’t…unless you ask me to.”
She scoffed. “I will never do that.”
“I believe you.” Regret crossed his face. “And that’s a pity.”
Laila frowned as she stumbled into her shorts, still staring at his broad back as he held up the part to the door with one hand, then sorted through the tools, now spread out across the table, with the other. There was no sense in asking him to explain, and she shouldn’t care, but… “What do you mean?”
He turned to her with a sigh. “You know the cuffs are for sexual play. I can guess how Victor used them on you, but I would never do that.”
“Then why have them at all?”
“I only engage in play that’s consensual. If any woman says no, that means no. Hard stop.”
Laila eyed him. “You want me to believe that, if any woman refused you, that you would leave her untouched?”
“Yes.”
“Without violence?”
“Of course.” He sounded as if that was obvious.
“Without anger?”
“I wouldn’t be angry. Frustrated, maybe. But—”
“You would not force her?”
“Never.”
He believed that—at least in his own mind. Laila wasn’t convinced. “Then why restrain a woman to your bed at all?”
His eyes flared with heat again. “Some like it.”
“Impossible.” Surely he lied.
“Oh, they do.”
And so did he. His face and the engorging of his erection again said so.
Why would a woman want to be manacled to a man’s bed and held down while he did…whatever he pleased? “I do not believe you.”
The buzzing of his phone interrupted whatever he’d been about to say. He scowled and pulled it from his pocket. “Zy. Talk to me.”
There was a long pause, and she could hear another man’s muffled voice.
Trees nodded before the other man even finished speaking. “Roger that.” Then he flicked a glance her way. “I’ll let Laila know.” Another pause. “Fine. Yeah, I’ll check in later. Thanks.”
Then he hung up, and Laila was relieved to have a change of subject. “Do you have news about my family?”
He nodded. “They’ve arrived at their safe house after driving all night. Valeria and the boy are sleeping now. Your sister will call you later.”
“Where are they?”
“Someplace safe.”
Laila had heard that tripe before. Why wouldn’t he tell her where EM Security had hidden her family, unless they intended to keep her and Valeria apart so they could use the separation to control her? After all, Emilo had been a master at that.
As soon as her sister had rested, she would call and verify Trees’s claim—then make plans accordingly.