yourself.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she regretted them. Didn’t she just witness an entire event to prove his compassion? To show what he was willing to do for the orphanage to ensure that no kid was in his position?
“I would ask you to apologize for that, but I think it would be best if we just dropped the whole matter,” he said softly. Natalia felt nothing but guilt as she stared out the window. It was almost absurd. Here she was, a prisoner, and she was guilty for the things she said about her captor.
She could practically feel him seething. When they finally got home, he got out of the car without waiting for the driver and marched back to the house. Natalia slowly followed him. When she entered the mansion, he was nowhere to be found.
“What did you do?”
She turned and found Ana with her arms crossed and glaring at her. “Can I just go to bed or are there more instructions for me?” she asked tiredly.
“Come on,” Ana said tightly. Natalia followed the woman up the stairs and was almost relieved to find the suite empty. “There are no instructions except that if you require more dinner, I’ll to make you a tray. He’s very upset.”
“I don’t need any dinner,” Natalia muttered. “I just need to get some sleep.” She felt the weight of the whole evening bearing down on her. Ana must have seen something in her face because she dropped her arms.
“You know that most of his women just do whatever he wants. They’re enamored by his money and status or they’re just plain terrified of him. I knew you two would clash, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so upset before. Whatever you did, just don’t do it again.”
“I don’t know what I did. I just tried to talk to him about something that I found out, and he snapped. And that just brought out the monster in me,” Natalia said as she began to yank her dress off. “And I am not one of his women. I’m just here to pay off a fucking debt, and apparently that includes emotional manipulation.” She was practically in tears before she finally got the dress off. Ana hurried to help her, but Natalia waved her away. She didn’t want the woman’s help right now. She just wanted to be alone.
“Your cat let me pet him today,” Ana said quietly. “I think we’re making progress.”
“He’s a sweet cat,” Natalia said tiredly. “He’s just a little prickly in the beginning.”
“He’s not the only one,” Ana said tightly and left the room. Alone, Natalia trudged into the bathroom. Apart from the large oval bathtub was a large walk-in shower around the corner. It was completely tiled with two horizontal showerheads on both sides and a drop down rain shower overhead. There were two tiled benches on either side.
When the steam began to rise from the shower head on the left, she pulled the silver knob to activate the rain shower. As she stood under it, she scrubbed her face clean. Although she wanted nothing more than to wash away the events of the evening, she was consumed with seeing the replay of the party in her mind.
It wasn’t until a hand touched her that she realized she wasn’t alone. She gasped and tried to whirl around, but she was anchored in place. “Don’t move,” a husky voice said in her ear as a body pressed against her back. She knew it was Alek, and even though she was furious with him, she couldn’t stop her body from reacting. His heavy erection pressed up against her, and she wanted desperately to turn around and drink him in.
She also desperately wanted to run.
“Alek,” she said in a shaky voice.
“No talking,” he said harshly. She swallowed hard, but she obeyed. What did she have to say to him anyway? That she was sorry? That she was angry with him? That she wanted him to go, or that she wanted him to stay?
Slowly, his hands moved from her hips up her sides. Natalia resisted the urge to reach up and circle her arm around his neck, but she couldn’t keep her eyes from