Fascination

But he had already made up his mind, for better or worse. He looked closely at her. “How do you know I won’t just turn you in anyway when this is all said and done? I could use you to find Locke, sleep with you and bring you back here. You could go to jail anyway.”

He reached out and touched her chin, though it wasn’t a tender gesture as much as a taunting one as he tipped her face up toward his. Her eyes remained steady on his.

“You’re not that kind of man.”

“You have no idea what kind of man I am. How much do you really know about me? Nothing. But I know everything about you, don’t I?” His voice sounded harsh even to his own ears.

She smiled a little at that, not willing to let him grab the reins. “I guess I’ll find out. I’m willing to take my chances. Anything is better than going in there.”

“Even giving me your body, knowing there’s nothing in the future for us? Not knowing if I’ll keep my end of the bargain?”

She nodded, pinning him with a frank and open stare. “I’ve already given you my body. What I wonder is if you’ll give me yours. I want you, Ian. It’s simple as that. And I don’t want to go to jail. Maybe I’m the one using you.”

He was testing her, putting their situation in the coarsest terms he could, but she’d answered him without so much as a flinch. She was either being very honest or she was just very, very good.

He didn’t touch her anymore, didn’t stand closer—they were in a public place where people would recognize him, so he couldn’t risk it—but he was burning with the desire to haul her next to him and show her what she was doing to his sense of control.