Chapter 38

She had known on an instinctual level that the man wanted her, so she wasn't entirely surprised by his response. She stepped back, attempting to put space between them. His hand dropped from her, but his knuckles brushed across the peak of her breast, tightly wrapped in the dress. Her body responded involuntarily, a spear of attraction shooting through her.
"What if I say no?" she asked, breathlessly. "What if I want to leave? Will you let me go?" She knew the answer before he spoke.
"No, I'm afraid that's not an option, Claudia."
"Why?" she asked, the constrictive band tightening around her chest once more. "That's that's kidnapping."
He stepped back, pulling his suit jacket off his huge shoulders and laying it casually across the back of a couch. "For several reasons," he spoke, as he pulled cufflinks off his shirt, dropped them into his pocket and rolled the white sleeves of his dress shirt up his muscular forearms. Dark tattoos swirled up his arms drawing her eyes. They looked both beautiful and pagan. "I want you here, and I always get what I want, Claudia."
Short gasps of breath escaped her. "But why do you want me here?"
He swept her entire body with a long appreciative look, his eyes taking in every curve. "You're a very beautiful woman Claudia, you're every man's fantasy come to life. I think it would be fairly obvious why I would want you here in my penthouse."
Claudia wasn't a particularly self-effacing type of woman, however she wouldn't have described herself in quite that way. She was slightly overweight, not something she had a problem with, but she wouldn't think in a world that adored super thin model-like women that she would particularly draw the notice of a man of Tyson King's caliber. Her hair was too long and un-styled to be considered fashionable and her features were even, but not particularly remarkable.
"But why like this?" she asked. "Why would you force me to come here? Why wouldn't you just ask me out like a normal guy?"
"Would you have agreed to go out with me if I had walked up to you at that coffee shop you work at and asked you out on a date? Could you see us going to dinner and a movie?" he demanded. "Tell me honestly, what would your answer have been?"
She eyed his massive proportions, took note of the intense sexuality and barely leashed violence in his demeanour and shook her head. She bit her lip and answered truthfully. "I probably would have said no."
He nodded, not disturbed by her response.
"I still don't understand why you've brought me here, tonight," she persisted.
He sighed and rubbed a huge hand over his dark hair. "I saw you several weeks ago at one of my banks and had planned on pursuing you in a somewhat normal manner. Of course, I had to do a background check on you to find out if there were any flags I should be aware of before proceeding with an intimate relationship."
She frowned at his casual invasion of her privacy, remembering that particular bank trip she had taken. She usually banked online, but she'd needed to upgrade her debit card and had gone into the King Financial branch to replace her current card. She hadn't seen Tyson King. She would definitely have noticed a man that looked like a vicious linebacker wearing an expensive business suit.
"When I received the report," he continued, "I was somewhat concerned by the lack of information in Claudia Cantore's past. It's rather convenient that her parents died in a car crash when she was eighteen, leaving her with enough money to live independently and mostly off the radar. Also interesting is the lack of information about her past residences. It's almost as though she didn't exist before she popped up here eight months ago, that her past was a convenient and incredibly normal story. Too much so."
Panic flashed across Claudia's face before the expression was smothered with a neutral look. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Ignoring her denial, he continued. "I pulled a few strings among my government contacts and found out that Claudia Cantore doesn't actually exist. That she's an alias for Alicia Pedersen, a twenty-nine year old woman who was born and raised in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. A woman whose parents are very much alive and worried sick about their missing daughter."
Darkness started to engulf Claudia's vision and she swayed, reaching blindly for something to hold on to. Without realizing it, she grabbed hold of his arm as he reached for her. Gasping, breathy sobs escaped her lips unbidden. She brought a hand up to cover her mouth and tried to force her body upright, tried to tell herself she needed to face this man who knew too much about her with all of her strength restored. But the enticing blackness surrounding her vision called to her.
She felt the world tilt beneath her and thought she must be fainting when the buttery softness of the leather couch met her back. Tyson had lifted her up, placed her on the couch and now stood over her frowning. He left her for a moment and returned with a glass. He lifted her head and shoulders with an arm around her back and placed the glass against her lips.
"Drink," he said softly.
Claudia did as he told her and sipped the liquid. As she suspected, it was whisky, which burned a path from her throat down to her belly. Warmth spread across her clammy skin, chasing away the chill of his words. She leaned up, away from the muscular bulge of his arm. She grimaced at the taste of the strong liquor. But desirous of the courage it would give her, she wrapped her fingers around the glass, taking it from Tyson. When he stepped away from the couch, she curled her legs under her and huddled into the corner.
Sipping at the whisky, she looked up at him. He stood towering over her, frowning fiercely. His arms, crossed in front of him, emphasized the bulk of muscles that rippled up his arms and chest. Ordinarily she could appreciate the view, but at the moment she was far too worried about her immediate future.
"What what else did you find out about me?" she asked, frightened of finding out, but knowing she didn't have a choice. She had to understand what kind of a threat Tyson King constituted in her world, besides the fact that he wanted to have sex with her.
He studied her face, still frowning. "I'm not sure we should continue this now. You came damn close to fainting when I said your real name and mentioned your parents. I'm not sure if you're up to hearing more."
"Please," she begged softly, "I have to know what I'm up against. I need to know exactly how much danger I'm in."
His frown turned even darker and he dropped to one knee in front of her. He was so tall that, even kneeling, his head still topped hers by several inches. He placed an arm across the cushion next to her body and the other one gripped the back of the couch on the other side of her head, trapping her.
"You need to understand one thing here, Claudia. You're in the safest place you can possibly be at the moment. No one can harm a hair on your head as long as you're under my protection."
"Am I?" she asked breathlessly. "Under your protection, I mean?"
"Baby, you had my protection the moment I looked up and saw you standing in line at the bank, smiling and chatting with the complete stranger behind you," his deep voice rumbled.