Free Marco's Redemption by Lynda Chance Page A

spun around to face him, her hand landing on her throat.
     
    "Don't argue with me. I've got a goddamn hangover and I want aspirin, now! " His voice was a thundering snarl, filled with menacing threat.
     
    She stood in shock at his tone, and felt her face drain of all color. Her eyes filled with tears of hurt and repressed anger and she turned back to the drawer to get him what he demanded. She found a bottle of aspirin and popped the lid open with mounting rage.
     
    She stood three feet away from him, and turned back to face him, uncontrollable tears that managed to piss her off even more, making wet paths down her cheeks. She watched him as he looked at her over his coffee cup, no doubt taking in the tears. A black frown came down heavily over his features, as if everything were her fault.
     
    It was too much for her to take.
     
    She threw the open bottle at him with a sweep of her hand and white pills spilled all over the island and all over him. "There's your aspirin, asshole."
     
    Turning away from him and the mess she'd just made, she exited the room without delay, not nearly brave enough to hang around and see how he reacted.
     
    His answering snarl of fury as his chair grated across the floor followed her from the room. Cold, dark panic slammed through her and she knew he was about to chase her across the penthouse.
     
    She didn't stop to think. She just ran. She ran down the hall toward her bedroom, ran inside and slammed the door and locked it as quickly as she could.
     
    He began banging on her door immediately. The vibration of what sounded like his fist hitting the wood above her head where she leaned sent her skittering back and away from the door in silent disbelief. Her heart raced and she froze, staring at the door, rooted to the spot.
     
    "Open the door!" he yelled.
     
    She remained mute and her feet stayed in place while with one hand, she reached out to the poster of the bed to steady herself.
     
    "Open the goddamn door, Natalie."
     
    She licked her lips and took a deep breath, preparing her voice to be strong. "No way."
     
    "You've got thirty seconds to think about it. I'm going to go take the fucking aspirin and come back with the key to this door. Trust me when I tell you things will be better for you if you unlock it yourself."
     
    Natalie heard him move away from the door and her mind raced while very real horror began to set in. What the hell had she done? What the hell should she do now?
     
    She wasn't unlocking the door, she knew that much. But whatever she did, she needed to decide in the next few seconds.
     
    She needed to be calm. She needed to be in control and unafraid, or at least appear to be. After all--a wild animal was more prone to attack if it scented fear. She moved to sit in the middle of the bed and picked up the magazine she'd been planning to read later, as if she didn't have a care in the world. And suddenly it hit her that the last place she wanted to be cornered was on the bed. Or even in a bedroom.
     
    She flew to the door and unlocked it, preparing to leave the room for the relative safety of the living room.
     
    Marco stood in the entrance of her bedroom, and the forward motion of her body propelled her torso within inches of clashing with his. She came to a skidding halt. Had he been standing there the whole time? Both fear and anger dominated her emotions. "You tricked me. You don't have a key." She began to push past him.
     
    "Asshole? You called me asshole?" he hissed, as a vein on the side of his neck twitched, hostility seething from his body as he blocked her attempt to move past him.
     
    Chapter Five
     
    A chill hung in the air at his words and Natalie's features hardened in response, both from his anger and from the fear trickling through her veins that she was determined to control. "You lied to me. There's no key."
     
    She moved to brush past him again and he continued to block her retreat with his body. "I have a key." His voice was