Demand (Careless Whispers #2)(18)

“In other words, I really need to remember where that necklace is.”

“Not necessarily,” he says. “If the necklace was a decoy, as I suspect, then the important piece of the puzzle is what was on that note.”

“Which wasn’t in English, so my memory won’t help us. I’d have to find it, and/or the decoy, to be of any help.” I tilt my head to study him. “So I’m the key to what you’re trying to achieve. Why didn’t you just tell me this, Kayden?”

He leans forward, his hands settling intimately just behind my knees. “I fully intended to tell you, but I wasn’t ready yet.”

“What exactly would have made you ready?”

“Some way to prove to you that I wasn’t using you to gain the necklace. I selfishly wasn’t ready for that divide. Which backfired, and delivered us to that shower, with a gun between us.”

“It could have been worse,” I say with a halfhearted laugh. “I could have shot you.”

“Your distrust is the only bullet I care about dodging right now.” He sits up again, his hands settling back on his knees. “And that’s exactly why I need you to think about that alleyway.”

“I have been. I don’t remember it.”

“I’m not talking about what happened once you were there. I’m talking about what brought us both to that place.”

“Oh,” I say flatly, hating where this is going. “The necklace.”

“Yes. The necklace and—”

“Niccolo,” I supply, his name ice and fire, and not in good ways. “I am so confused right now. If he’s the man from my flashbacks, I wanted him dead. The last thing I would do is meet him to hand him a necklace that makes him more powerful.”

“Unless you didn’t know it was him.”

“Or he’s not the man from my flashbacks at all, and I’m more deeply involved with Niccolo than I think.” I swallow hard and stand, putting the chair between us. “Is this the real reason you didn’t tell me about this?” I demand, my fingers closing around the wooden back. “Do you think I’m part of that man’s entourage? Were you trying to prove that before you revealed everything else?”

I blink, and he’s beside me. “Don’t create nightmares that don’t exist. You were running from Niccolo’s men when I found you.”

“I can think of no good reason why I was there to meet him, Kayden. Not one.”

“Then let me help you with three. Blackmail, survival, and revenge.”

“You think he was blackmailing me?”

“Blackmail is what he does. He threatens people, those they love, or the general public, to get what he wants. And if he doesn’t, he kills them.” His lips thin. “I’ve long believed that he killed Elizabeth and Kevin.”

“I thought you had no idea who killed them?”

“I have reason to believe Kevin had contact with Niccolo frequently, leading up to the murders. Does that mean he did it? No. Do I believe he did it? Yes. The point is, he will do whatever’s necessary to get what he wants.”

“And he wants the necklace.”

“Or you.” His fingers gently tangle in my hair, lifting my mouth to his. “And he can’t have you.” He lowers his mouth to kiss me, but I firmly press my hand on his chest.

“No. Stop. You can’t kiss me. We can’t do this.”

“Oh, I assure you we can,” he says, leaning in again.

“No. No, Kayden.” I push back and his hands catch my waist before I can escape. “Don’t you see?” I demand. “I am now irrefutably connected to the man who killed the people you loved most in this world. And we don’t know why. We don’t know my motivation, or his leverage over me. You don’t know and I’m in your bed and your home.”

“Our bed. Our home, now.”

“I want it to be, but we have to be realistic. We don’t know who I really am. We need to talk to Nathan. Could I wake up one day and be changed? A different person? I don’t think I can; I feel like this is me. I do. I feel like this is me.”

“Easy, sweetheart. I did talk to Nathan, long before I found out about your connection to the necklace.”

“And—”

“And it’s time to go to bed.” He scoops me up and starts walking.

“Damn it, Kayden, I want to talk about this!”

“I talk better naked, and so do you.”

“We don’t talk better naked.”

“We do a lot of things better naked.”

“I’m trying to protect you.”

“Protect me naked,” he says.

“This isn’t funny,” I object.

“I don’t remember laughing.”

“We have to talk about this.”

“We will.” He enters the bedroom and kicks the door shut. “Eventually.”

I open my mouth to argue, but he sets me down beside the bed and starts undressing me. And I don’t know how I go from being desperate to talk this out, to being desperate to be naked with him, but it happens. Suddenly, I’m tugging on his clothes and he’s tugging on mine, and I end up on my back, his thick erection between my thighs, the delicious weight of him on top of me.