His deep-blue eyes glowed hypnotically and for a few suspended moments… Nikki was lost.
He knew it.
And quietly said, “We’re both trapped. Admit it.”
8
Nikki couldn’t breathe.
Holy hell, what sort of twisted game is this?
She had no idea.
All she could say was, “I want my computer back. It’s like losing a major organ, Damen.”
“I understand. And you will get it back,” he averred. “Completely intact, I assure you.”
She gazed at him a moment longer, then asked, “Why should I trust you?”
“Because you have incredibly good instincts and sound judgement.”
She swallowed down a lump of emotion. Those were actually true assessments.
Still… She was in a bit of a quandary.
“In which direction are you actually trying to sway me?” she carefully challenged.
“I think that’s obvious.” One dark brow crooked. “I want to believe you know nothing about this device in your computer. I also want to believe… You’re as captivated by me as I am by you.”
“You can’t be serious,” she said on a wisp of air—as everything inside her quivered.
His gaze didn’t falter. “Then tell me I’m the only one who’s feeling something. Convince me. That’s the only way to put things back into perspective and right this particularly skewed axis. For both of us.”
“It wasn’t skewed when you were unconscious,” she told him. “It was—”
His brow crooked further, cutting her off.
She let out a sho
rt breath.
He said, “I was informed you came back night after night at the hospital, to my room. You’d finish with your other patients and then sit alongside my bed until visiting hours were over. They actually had to ‘kindly’ kick you out a few times.”
“I was just being polite,” she casually commented.
His eyes darkened, indicating he hadn’t missed the hitch in her breath. It was clearly a tell-tale sign there was nothing casual about her visits…or hers and Damen’s association with each other.
“I visited a lot of patients,” she added, hoping to cover her tracks. Not seem so…interested.
He snickered. Low and seductively. Nikki felt ripples of desire through her body.
His gaze dropped to her lips, and he said, “I heard your voice as I was coming out of the coma. It was sultry, sensuous…soothing. I kept willing my eyes to open.”
“Why?” she asked on bated breath, unable to stop herself.
“Because I was desperate to see you. Desperate to get a glimpse of who this angel—”
“I’m no angel,” she was quick to say, though her voice remained at a soft decibel.