Fear in Her Eyes (Fire & Vice Book 5)

by Nikita Slater

  Frustration welled up in her. Daniel Mercer definitely wasn’t the type of man to care about the comfort of others, which most definitely included pretending to have basic social graces. He wouldn’t be an easy man to be around. Lucky for her, she didn’t have to spend time with him after today. In fact, she didn’t have to spend time with him beyond showing him to the door.

  “Okay, well thanks again for saving my life down there,” she said, reaching out for the wall so she could walk past him without actually touching him when she passed him in the hall. ”I’m sure you have a lot to do and I’d like to get some rest, so if you’ll just…”

  As Addison tried to glide past him toward the front door, he turned swiftly and took her by the shoulders. He shoved her lightly backwards, trapping her between the wall and his equally hard body. Her hands came up to push against him, but he was completely unmovable. She fisted her hands in his shirt. The fabric was a standard cotton T-shirt. Too light for the weather, she thought, but his skin was hot underneath. Maybe he didn’t feel the coolness of the southern winter breeze.

  Absurd, Addie! she thought to herself. The head of Tyson King’s security has you pinned against a wall after you’ve both just survived a potential massacre and you’re trying to decide if he might catch a cold if he doesn’t put on a sweater.

  “What are you doing?” she gasped.

  He ignored her. Instead, he dropped his head until it was level with hers and boldly rubbed his chin against her cheek. Addison gasped again, strained back against the unyielding wall and tilted her head back as far as it would go. He followed her, tracing his nose along her jaw, under her ear and into her hairline. He seemed to be breathing her in, like a bloodhound memorizing her scent. His jaw was bearded. The trimmed hair rasped along her soft skin, marking her. Somehow his facial hair made the act feel even more… intimate.

  Heart hammering, Addison took several panicked breaths that had the effect of drawing his scent in as well. It was extremely light, barely there, yet definitely masculine too. Perhaps a mixture of unscented soap and natural scent. She froze. Like the hint of something she had detected in the elevator.

  He brought his hand up, startling Addison. She jerked back and hit her head against the wall. He made an annoyed sound and put his hand on her face, forcing it forward so she could no longer strain away from him. He used his thumb to trace her lips. Then her chin, cheekbones and finally trace lightly into the orbits around her eyes. Frightened, she didn’t think to resist him or look away as she would usually have done.

  It was an odd move. He touched her the way a blind person might touch another when attempting to visualize their face. Unnerved, she released her grip on his T-shirt and reached up to grab his hand so she could force it away from her face. He took her smaller hand in his, laced his fingers through hers and forced her hand over her head against the wall.

  “What are you doing?” Addison cried out again, her voice higher than normal.

  He responded by bringing his face so close to hers that his lips brushed against her cheek. She jumped and held herself tensely still as his mouth drifted toward hers. His lips hovered over hers, his even breaths mingled with her panicked gasps.

  “I tried to stay away from you.”

  His deep voice was so low she wouldn't have heard it if he hadn’t been standing so close to her. He shifted his body until it was flush against hers. She gasped and her head spun. He was so much harder than her, every muscle sculpted to lethal precision. There was no way she could get out of his hold until he was ready to release her. He could do whatever he wanted.

  She whimpered.

  “I wasn’t going to touch you, Addison Sterling,” he breathed against her, pressing his hips into hers, letting her know exactly how much he wanted to touch her.

  “How… how did you know where I live?” she asked.

  He ignored her. It was a stupid question anyway. He was Tyson King’s head of security. He probably knew everything about everyone in the building. Risk assessment was his job. But she didn’t pose a risk. What did he want with her? She didn’t realize she asked the question out loud until he actually answered her, much to her horror.

  “I want everything, Addison,” he said, squeezing her against the wall so hard she was forced to relax her body under his or be crushed. “I want you every way I can have you. I want you underneath me, begging for mercy. I want to eat you, fuck you, make you scream and hurt you. I was going to leave you alone, but now its too late.”

  She cried out and would have begun struggling in earnest except his radio crackled and a voice demanded his immediate attention. He swiftly stepped away from her. Addison would have collapsed to the carpet if he hadn’t retained his hold on her. She slumped between his hand and the wall, taking in deep lungfuls of air and wondering exactly how she was going to get herself out of this situation.

  She wondered if Karma worked this quickly. Just that morning she’d been thinking about taking a lover. Nice one, Karma, not exactly what she’d had in mind. She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she didn’t pay attention to Daniel’s radio conversation and leapt back against the wall when he turned back to her.

  “I have to leave,” he said gruffly. She felt him move and heard the sound of him running a hand through the smoothness of his hair. Indecision? He didn’t want to leave.

  Addison said the only thing she could think of. “Good.”

  He ignored her. “Don’t leave, I’ll be back as soon as I can get this wrapped up. We need to talk.”

  Like hell! She crossed her arms in front of her body protectively as he stepped away from her toward the door of her apartment. “I mean it Addison, be here when I get back. We need to talk about what happens next.”

  “Just go away,” she mumbled.

  He left without another word. She knew he would be back.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Addison didn’t think twice. She didn’t even bother trying to find her walking cane, which she was pretty certain was the item he’d gathered up and brought with him to the apartment when he’d unceremoniously herded her into the elevator. She scooped up her fallen purse and the moment she believed he was clear of the hallway she flew out of the building.

  She didn’t lock her door either. She had no doubt he had could find his way in and the panic in her heart and mind told her she needed to put as much distance as she could between herself and the brutal head of Tyson King’s security. With her purse looped over her arm, she didn’t bother counting steps to the stairwell she almost never took, instead feeling her way down the familiar hall and shoving doors until she found one that easily opened under her fingertips.

  Addison’s breaths came out in panicked gasps as she flew down the concrete steps, her ballet flats lightly slapping each step as she went. She kept both of her hands on the metal railings for balance, but stumbled on each landing anyway as she had no idea how many steps to expect. She couldn’t seem to calm herself enough to stop and count them properly either. She kept losing count and either missing steps or jarring her legs when there were no more steps where she expected some to exist.

  She told herself to simply calm down and count. After all, she was safe. She laughed out loud, a little hysterically, when she realized she had probably stupidly put herself in more danger by fleeing. But she couldn’t seem to stop her full tilt descent into the bowels of the building. She just desperately hoped she wasn’t about to launch herself into the arms of a man with a machine gun.

  A serious stitch in her side caused her to finally slow down and take stock of her surroundings. She had no clue what floor she was on. Her mad dash must have carried her down several floors. She should be getting close to the ground floor, but she didn’t want to come out into the mess that used to the the impeccable lobby. There was a good chance she might run into Daniel Mercer in the lobby. How could she avoid that possibility?

  “The garage,” she muttered to herself.

  She would have to go to the very bottom, un
til there were no more stairs, and try to find her way out of this maze down there. She hoped it would lead her into the garage, which would lead her out onto the street. And hopefully not into the arms of a bad guy or an angry head of King security. Or hit by a car. She wasn’t sure at the moment which option would be worse.

  Clutching her side and gasping in lungfuls of ventilated air, Addison forced herself to take calm, measured steps the rest of the way down to the bottom of the building. She took slow breaths, in and out, and came up with a plan. She had to take care of herself, more than an average person. She couldn’t just go running out into the street and hope everything would be okay.

  Eerie silence greeted her when she reached the last step. Her shoes barely made a sound when they hit the bottom. Only her gasp sounded too loud in her ears. She clutched her denim jacket against her throat and, holding her purse tightly, groped her way along the wall until she felt a door. Praying desperately that it wasn’t attached to any kind of alarm, she shoved against it. It gave way under her weight and released her into the dank, oily smelling garage beneath the King Tower condos.

  Addison sighed in relief. She turned her face in every direction and decided she could vaguely make out a light source in one of the directions. Lightly running her fingers along the concrete wall, she followed it toward the light. Terrified that she would be stopped, she walked faster as the light grew stronger until she stepped out into the full light of the morning.

  It seemed shocking that it would still be Sunday morning after the terrible events that had occurred. Taking a deep breath and squaring her shoulders, Addison took several purposeful steps away from the building and into the arms of a man. She jumped back with a scream and clutched her purse tightly, bringing a hand up in front of her for protection.

  Almost immediately a calm, male voice said, reassuringly, “I’m sorry ma’am, I didn’t see you there. I was just keeping the sidewalk clear. I didn’t know anyone got past me.”

  The breath rushed from her lungs when she realized he was neither Daniel Mercer nor a depraved gunman. He was most likely a police officer. She pasted on her best ‘damsel in distress smile’ and dropped her eyes, which had a tendency to make sighted people uncomfortable.

  “No need to apologize. I came out through the garage,” she said. “I’m visually impaired, which is why I ran into you. I should be the one apologizing.”

  She felt the moment his professional disposition melted at her helplessness. The fragility she felt at the moment wasn’t entirely fake, but she found it helped get her out of certain situations if people thought she was less capable of taking care of herself than she actually was. She hoped he didn’t notice her lack of cane or dog. It was pretty unusual for a blind person to walk completely unaided.

  “I take it you have no idea what took place in the lobby of your building this morning?” he asked gently, his voice clearly doubting that she would know a thing.

  Addison was very glad she wouldn’t be expected to meet his eyes. She frowned a little. “No, sir,” she said. “Did something happen that I should know about?”

  She injected just enough worry into her voice that he stepped closer, drawn to protect her. He patted her shoulder gently and said, “An isolated incident. It’s over now, nothing for you to be worried about. Can I help you get somewhere? You shouldn’t be walking around by yourself. Isn’t that dangerous?”

  Addison had to bite her tongue to hold in the instant retort. She wanted to snap that the only dangerous thing she’d done recently is inhabit the same building as a shady billionaire and his uncivilized security chief. She’d never been shot at in her many years of wandering around in the metro downtown area. Instead she gave him her best shy smile and waved her hand around helplessly.

  “I had a cab coming to pick me up, but I’m sure with the commotion around here it must’ve been scared off,” she said worriedly, biting her lip and hoping there had been enough commotion to corroborate her story. “I don’t know what I’ll do now.”

  He rubbed her arm soothingly. “Don’t worry about a thing ma’am, I’ll find one for you.”

  She smiled brightly and gave his arm a grateful squeeze before he could step to the edge of the sidewalk and wave a cab down for her. “Oh, you’re so kind! Thank you so much, officer…”

  “Jonathon Finely,” he supplied quickly.

  Within minutes Officer Finley had her comfortably seated in the backseat of a taxi and speeding away from King tower. Addison relaxed against her seat with a sigh. She’d made two narrow escapes that morning!

  CHAPTER SIX

  Daniel should have warned her.

  If she ran, he would hunt.

  He turned from her empty apartment, closed and locked the door behind him. She had several hours head start on him, assuming she left the moment his back was turned. He strode toward the elevator, but stopped before he reached it, turning instead into the stairwell. She wouldn’t have taken the elevator down to the lobby, knowing her familiar route was blocked to her.

  Entering the stairwell, he stopped. Every fibre of his being told him she had been there. He could almost smell her delicate flowery scent imprinting in the air, calling to him.

  He was tempted to follow her steps down, tracing each footfall with his heavier ones. His brain worked swiftly through each of her steps, having come to know her well enough over the past months to understand how her clever mind would have worked once she forced herself to calm down. It was part of the reason she was more than a passing attraction for him. Her weakness combined with her strength and perseverance made her the perfect prey for his twisted mind.

  Instead he forced himself to take the concrete steps up into the farthest reaches of the tower, climbing two at a time with militaristic precision. His apartment was on the 25th floor, right beneath King’s parking garage. The entire 25th floor was technically storage for the security equipment and training for the security unit, but Daniel preferred it to a traditional living space. The rest of the security team shared the 24th floor or lived off property. King and his woman used the top two floors of the penthouse.

  Daniel reached the 25th floor in minutes, his heart rate completely normal despite the gruelling climb. He punched in the code, releasing the door to his sanctuary. He strode toward the surveillance section, swiped his security card and entered another code, releasing the door to the locked cage. He sat down at the terminal and brought up the camera system.

  It was easy for Daniel to track the woman once she left the building. King's influence opened the entire city to his fingertips. He watched through the building’s surveillance system as she subtly and deliberately seduced a young police officer into finding her a ride. As the vehicle rounded the corner, Daniel brought up the city's surveillance system, entered the passcode and timestamp and tracked the vehicle to its destination. It pulled up outside of a bar on the outskirts of downtown toward the river district, entering into the trendier business area. Daniel watched as Addison stepped out of the cab, resting her hand on the cab driver’s arm as she paid her fare, and walked inside.

  Daniel carefully catalogued each infraction. He had staked his claim. She clearly hadn't taken him seriously, but she would.

  He reached for his leather coat and swiftly exited the security room.

  ***

  Addison curled tighter onto her side and tried harder to generate more heat on the tiny couch Chris had let her borrow. His snores from the bed filled the room. It was her own fault for not accepting his invitation for joining him on the bed. She'd known it wasn't an innocent invitation and if it had been another night, perhaps she might have accepted. They had been lovers before, off and on over the years. Something didn't feel right about jumping into bed with Chris tonight though. Which is how she found herself on a lumpy, cold couch listening to his snores in the small hours of the morning, wishing she had just paid for a hotel room.

  Addison shifted and tried to roll over in the limited space. Daniel's voice filled her mind, the
way he'd insisted she stay in her apartment. She wanted to be annoyed with his high-handedness, but something inside her insisted he was a different sort of man than any other she'd known. He expected obedience.

  She had done the right thing in leaving. If he went back to her apartment to find her, he would find it empty and maybe take the hint and leave her alone. Addison had many friends, but few she would trust enough to spend the night with. She had to be completely trusting of a person in order to allow her mind to shut down in their presence. Chris was one of the few. Probably because she'd had sex with him before and fallen asleep in his presence. He owned the bar below the tiny apartment. He played trumpet in a jazz band and she would occasionally join them for a set.

  When she showed up in the bar, clearly shaken from the days events he'd immediately had his bartender take over and, giving Addison his arm, led her to a table where he poured them each a drink. She explained to him about the shooting in her lobby and then about Daniel, leaving nothing out. Chris quietly took her feelings into consideration, as he always did, and offered her a safe place for the night.

  Addison had gratefully accepted and laughingly insisted on taking the couch. She had told him he could return to his bar if he wanted, but he’d insisted on staying with her in case she woke up and needed anything. That had been an hour ago and Addison had yet to fall asleep. She wished life could be easier and she could just fall in love with someone like Chris. She giggled a little. He would probably be horrified by the the idea, he liked to think of himself as a player.

  Addison was in the process of rolling over again when an arm reached under her head from the back of the couch and covered her nose and and mouth in a crushing grip. Another arm reached over her hips and yanked her hard into the back of the couch. She tried to struggle but the incredibly tight hold combined with lack of air made it impossible. A whimper of fear was all she could manage.

  "I'll move my hand off your nose in three seconds," a voice whispered close to her ear, "struggle and I'll cover your nose again."