Sweet Temptation

He curled his hand around her shirt and yanked her to him. He held the gun to her cheek with his other hand, and his breath blew hot over her face as he seethed.

“Don’t push me, Angelina. I’m already pissed at you. You’ve fucked with me for over a year, teasing, making promises you had no intention of keeping. You’re mine now. I’ve run out of patience.”

She gaped at him. The crazy asshole honestly believed she’d somehow led him on some merry chase. He’d made her life hell, forced her to leave Miami and spend many exhausting hours running. He’d drugged her, terrorized her friends and now he’d hurt Micah and kidnapped her.

She wanted to knock the ever-loving shit out of him, but she forced herself to calm. She didn’t have the advantage ... yet. No matter what it took, she had to play it smart and wait for her chance.

“I’m sorry.”

It nearly choked her to say the words and actually sound sincere. But they seemed to have the effect she was going for. He loosened his hold on her and pushed her away.

He circled the room, lighting candles. It was obvious he’d spent time here and arranged everything just so. Was this his attempt at seduction? Nausea rose in her throat. How could she endure him touching her?

He returned to her a moment later, a box in his hand. He shoved it at her, and to her astonishment it was a home pregnancy test.

“What is this for?”

“Get in the bathroom and take it. Now. I have to know. I want to know what I’m dealing with. If you’re coming to me with someone else’s baby.”

“Chad, this is ridiculous. I use birth control.”

It was the wrong thing to say. His face darkened into a savage mask at her reminder that she’d had sex with another man.

“I won’t have it. I won’t have Hudson’s bastard. Your babies will be mine. Just like you’re mine. Now get into the bathroom.”

She stumbled when he pushed her forward. God, this was crazy. More crazy was the worry of what would happen if she was indeed pregnant. Frantically she searched her memory for her last period. She couldn’t think. How long had she been here? Had she taken all her pills? Had she missed any? Would Chad go over the edge if she was pregnant?

He stood in the doorway and lit two candles on the small counter. Coupled with the thin stream of sunshine from the hallway, the light was enough for her to see.

“Are you going to watch?” she demanded. “Don’t I deserve some privacy?”

“Don’t talk to me about what you deserve,” he hissed. “Take the damn test. I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

Refusing to let him see her humiliation, she fumbled with her jeans and tried her best to shield what body parts she could. He yanked the box from the counter and tore it open. He thrust the stick at her, and she took it, praying she could pee on command.

After several long moments, she managed enough to comply with the test instructions. When she set the test on the counter so she could clean up and get her pants back up, he took it, curling his hand around the plastic tube.

“It takes five minutes,” she mumbled.

“Get back in the other room,” he ordered.

She went ahead of him, back into the living room. Despite the warmth of the late afternoon, a chill whispered over her skin. She was scared. More scared than she’d ever been in her life. How did you reason with someone who had clearly lost whatever grip on reality he once had?

“Why didn’t you just tell me?” she asked.

It felt clichéd, the whole thing of trying to get her captor to talk, but her mind had shut down, and she needed time to figure a way out of this mess.

“Tell you what?” he snapped.

“Your feelings. That you wanted me. You never said a word. I trusted you, Chad. I went to you for help when I started getting all those creepy notes. I thought you cared, but it was you all along.”

He seemed put off by her bluntness, as if she made a very valid point and he was at a loss as to how to respond.

Then his eyes narrowed and rage boiled off him in waves.

“I went to David.”

“What? Chad, he’s been dead for three years.”

“Before. I went to him before. A long time before. When you were sixteen. I told him I wanted you. I asked for his blessing. He told me if I ever came near you he’d kill me with his bare hands.”

His hands shook, and she watched nervously as his fingers tightened around the gun in response.

“He had the nerve to act like I was some piece of shit not good enough for you. He freaked. Completely lost his cool.”

“I was sixteen,” she said gently. “Of course he freaked. What would you do if some guy so much older started paying attention to your sixteen-year-old sister?”

“He said never,” Chad snarled. “I’ve always loved you. Always. I waited. Waited until you were twenty. I did the right thing. Instead of going to you, trying to sneak around him, I approached him like a man. Told him my intentions. Told him I wanted you.”

Angelina caught her breath. He was well and truly obsessed. He saw himself as the victim. To him he had done nothing wrong.