Free Deepest Kiss (Stark Trilogy #3.10/Stark Ever After #6) by J. Kenner Page A

I’m not profoundly sad.
    “I’m sorry, Nikki,” Dallas says. “I know it’s not fun to be stuck in the middle of something like this.”
    “Thanks,” I say. “You’re right, but at the same time, I guess I’m lucky you were around. Otherwise, we’d never know.”
    “I’m glad I was, too,” he says, then tells Damien he’ll speak to him in the morning before he climbs out of the limo.
    “It’s going to be okay,” Damien says once we’re back on the road.
    I nod as I lean back in my seat. I don’t want to think about Frank, and so I focus on Dallas instead. “What’s the device you guys mentioned?”
    “I’ll tell you after I see a prototype. Let’s just say that it’s pretty damn innovative. There’s definitely more to Dallas than he lets on.”
    “I believe that,” I say, thinking about the man and all his contradictions. “But what? And why?”
    Damien shakes his head as he scoots closer to me. “That’s something I haven’t figured out yet.”
    “But you’re trying.”
    “Definitely.” He tucks my hair behind my ear, then runs his hand down the collar of my dress. “But you know me. I like a puzzle. Like right now,” he says.
    “Now?”
    “Absolutely. Right now, I’m focusing on the most efficient way to undress you…”

Chapter 6
    Damien’s fingertip once again teases the hem of my dress, tracing the edge of the material across my skin. I close my eyes, wanting the sensation to sweep me away. To erase all my worries and fears.
    But it’s just not working.
    I
like
Frank. Genuinely like him. And I don’t understand why he’s been following me. More specifically, why he followed me, but then didn’t tell me once we officially met.
    Maybe he was just shy? Embarrassed?
    Or maybe I’m being blinded by the pleasure of meeting a new friend. After all, it’s not as though I can’t be played. God knows Sofia played me like a finely tuned instrument. But Frank? Is that what he’s doing?
    I press my hand over Damien’s, halting his finger that is still teasing my hem. “He has some master plan, doesn’t he? And I’m right in the middle of it, and once again I just don’t see it.”
    Damien’s face is a study in sympathy. “Oh, sweetheart. You don’t know that. For that matter neither do I.”
    I lift a brow. “So now you think he’s just a nice guy who wants me to build an app for him? You think he’s so shy and unassuming he didn’t want to talk to me on the island?”
    “I think we don’t know what the story is,” Damien says reasonably.
    “You’re coddling me—you can’t protect me from everything.”
    “Maybe not, but I can damn well try.”
    At that, I have to laugh. It lightens my edgy mood, and I know that Damien realizes as much when he takes my hand. “I told you, we’re going to look into him. In the meantime, all I want is for you not to worry. At least not until we know there’s something to worry about.”
    “But there is. We can worry about why he said nothing about watching me.”
    Damien holds my gaze, his expression stern. “Until we know what he wants and if he’s dangerous, you let me do the worrying. Okay?”
    I sigh. “It’s not a question of
let,
Damien. My mind is conjuring all sorts of scenarios.”
    “Fair enough,” he says as he loosens the knot on his tie. “Until we know, will you let me take your mind off it?”
    “I—well, yeah. Sure.” I’m actually confused, but when he slides off the seat and moves to kneel between my legs, I know I shouldn’t be.
    “Hands up,” he orders, and when I comply he loops the neck portion of his tie around my wrists and then closes it like a slipknot, binding my wrists together. Then he ties the loose end against one of the handholds above us, effectively rendering my hands useless and making me sit up straight.
    I lift a brow. “Happy, Mr. Stark?”
    “Getting there,” he says. Then he leans around me so that his arm brushes my breast as he grabs something off the bar. It’s not