Twisted Games (Twisted, #2)(14)

My voice rose with each word until I was yelling. I’d never lost my cool with a client before, but Bridget had an uncanny ability to wring every emotion out of me, good and bad.

“It’s not like I wanted to get kidnapped.” Some of the fire returned to Bridget’s eyes. “The concert was perfectly safe, despite what you said. It was only after…” She took a deep breath. “They weren’t targeting me. They targeted Ava, and I happened to be with her. It could’ve happened at any time.”

The vein in my temple pulsed harder. “No. It couldn’t have happened anytime.” I stalked toward her, my mouth flattening with grim pleasure when I saw her eyes widen in fear. Good. She should fear me, because I was about to rain hell all over her naive little parade. “Do you want to know why?”

Bridget wisely chose not to answer. For every step I took forward, she took one back until her back pressed against the wall, her white-knuckled hands strangling her mug.

“Because I would’ve been there,” I hissed. “I don’t give a flying fuck whether you, Ava, or fucking Big Bird was the target. If I’d been there, I would’ve neutralized the asshole before he ever laid a hand on you.” It wasn’t arrogance; it was the truth. There was a reason I was Harper Security’s most in-demand agent, and it wasn’t my personality. “What did I tell you when we first met?”

Bridget didn’t respond.

“What. Did. I. Tell. You?” I planted my forearm on the wall above her head and my hand by the side of her face, effectively caging her in. We were so close I could smell her perfume—something subtle and intoxicating, like fresh flowers on a summer day—and see the dark ring around her pupils. I’d never seen eyes like that before, so deep and blue it was like staring straight into the depths of the ocean. They were the kind of eyes that lured you in and sucked you under before you knew what was happening.

The fact I noticed those stupid things in the middle of the worst day of my career only pissed me off more.

“Do what you say, when you say it.” A hint of defiance tempered her whisper.

“That’s right. You didn’t, and you almost died.” If I hadn’t gotten there when I had…My blood iced over. Alex had been there, but that crazy fucker was as liable to shoot Bridget as he was to save her. “Do you know what could’ve—” I stopped mid-sentence. I was yelling again. I clenched my jaw and forced myself to take a deep breath. “I know you think I’m overbearing and paranoid, but I don’t say ‘no’ because I want to torture you, princess. I want to protect you, and if you keep defying me at every turn, you’re gonna get yourself and those around you killed. Is that what you want?”

“No.” The defiance was still there, but I didn’t miss the suspicious sheen in Bridget’s eyes or the slight wobble in her chin.

Tough love worked, and she needed a big heap of it.

Still, I softened the harsh edge of my voice when I spoke next.

“You need to trust me. Stop fighting me on everything, and for fuck’s sake, don’t sneak behind my back. Talk to me first next time.”

“Every time I try to talk to you, we end up fighting and the conversation goes nowhere.” Bridget stared at me, daring me to say otherwise. I didn’t. I was used to doing things my way, and my way was usually right. “Trust is a two-way street. You placed a secret chip in my phone—”

“It’s a good thing I did, or you’d probably be dead right now,” I growled.

She pressed her lips together, and my gaze inadvertently dropped to her mouth. Lush, pink, and capable of more sass than one would expect from a prim and proper princess. Except there was nothing prim and proper about what lay beneath her surface…or about the thoughts running through my mind.

It was the worst possible time for me to be thinking about anything remotely related to sex. She’d gotten kidnapped less than forty-eight hours ago, for Christ’s sake. But adrenaline and arousal had always gone hand in hand for me, and if I were honest, there were very few instances when she didn’t turn me on. Even when I was pissed at her, I wanted her.

My cock thickened, and my hands clenched into fists once more. I’d guarded the most beautiful women on the planet—movie stars, supermodels, heiresses, many of whom had made it clear they were more than willing to submit to my orders both inside and outside the bedroom—but I’d never taken them up on their offers. Never been tempted to.

Figured the one woman who’d rather see me burn than touch me was the one I ended up lusting after.

“You said I need to trust you. How can I do that if you don’t trust me?” Bridget slipped into her negotiation voice, which I recognized from the countless public events I’d accompanied her to.

The voice irked me beyond belief. I’d much rather her snap at me than treat me like some damn stranger she needed to get off her back.

“I propose a compromise. Take out the chip, and I’ll do what you say, when you say it, as long as it’s security-related.” Bridget’s gaze burned into mine. “I promise.”

Un-freaking-believable. She was in the wrong here, and she was negotiating with me.

And I was thinking of saying yes.

“Why should I believe you?” My breath came out in a harsh exhale, and a small shiver rolled through her body. I could see her nipples clearly through the thin black silk of her dress. Hard and pebbled, begging for my touch. Maybe it was because of the chill—the one thick walls and double-glazed windows couldn’t quite keep out—but judging by Bridget’s flushed cheeks, I wasn’t the only one aware of the charged air between us.