Free Prisoned: A Dark Twisted Erotic Standalone by Marni Mann Page B

plan. I just need to feel out that guy a little more and find his weakness. I’ll also memorize the times he drops off our food. Don’t worry; I’ll get us out of here.”
    But I did worry. “I trust you.” I needed to get my mind off of it before it made me even crazier. “What would you be doing right now if you weren’t in here?”
    He looked up at the window. There wasn’t any sunlight coming through. The only light was the overhead bulb that buzzed and sometimes flickered. “I’d probably still be working.”
    “Me, too.”
    “In the shop or behind the scenes?”
    I’d told him about my job when we had first gotten to the bar. It wasn’t like he had researched me the same way I had Googled him…unless he had been acting and really did know.
    “Behind the scenes,” I said. “My employees work in the shop and handle the walk-ins and the retail side of the business. I manage the large orders and anything custom. I don’t use stock images. I draw everything.”
    “You enjoy it.” He said it like he already knew the answer, which was ironic because it was one I really needed to think about.
    Art was all I’d ever wanted to do, and college had taught me how to make my craft more mainstream than having just a struggling paint-and-canvas career. Business was the part I didn’t enjoy as much, especially having my brother as my business partner. He took away all the fun, and he sucked out all the passion.
    “Yes,” I finally answered. “I love the creative part.”
    “Have you had any business deals go wrong?”
    “A few.” I searched his eyes. “Why?”
    “I was thinking that could be the reason we’re in here.”
    As much as I wanted to believe that, I couldn’t. It didn’t make any sense. Arguments over pricing and wrong colors wouldn’t land me in a prison cell.
    “Then, why are we in here together?” I asked.
    His eyes narrowed. “Maybe it’s something we did as kids.”
    Garin was dominant; he always had been. He was someone who wouldn’t give up control in any situation unless he was locked in a cell with a captor who had two guns on his hips. His edges were hard, and his stare didn’t waver even slightly. Someone like that had enemies. Big enough ones who would have put us in here.
    I still didn’t believe it.
    I looked straight ahead, unable to hide the guilt from my face. “I’m sure there are endless reasons for why we could be in here.”
    He would hate me once he found out it was because of me.
    I would hate me.
    I already did.
    “I’m going to get you out of here,” he said. “I told you not to worry, so don’t.”
    “How do you know that?”
    “I’ve been in enough situations to know.”
    “But what if—”
    He was so fast that I barely felt myself move. I only felt the landing, which had me straddling his lap, his arms fully wrapped around me.
    “Wow,” I gasped.
    I couldn’t move my gaze from his. I was frozen. There was so much intensity between us.
    “You were starting to panic again. I needed to stop you.”
    What a strange thing it was to be looking at his face again, a face I’d known since I was a child. But, now, it had hard lines and small imperfections, the evidence of age on both of us.
    The eyes that stared back weren’t childlike. They were the eyes of a man.
    A hungry man.
    “You did,” I finally said.
    He glanced down, and I felt my skin flush, my nipples slowly hardening and poking through the thin fabric. He noticed and gradually looked up at my face. His erection was pressing into my ass, my mouth opening from the size of it.
    “If you need a minute, take it,” he said. “Now.”
    “I…”
    His gaze was so strong; it felt like it was stroking me the same way his fingers were. Fingers that shouldn’t have been touching me because I didn’t deserve it. Fingers that should have been locked far away from me because I had been such a coward.
    Before I could process my next thought, he was moving me once more. This time, he placed me on