‘What is?’
‘Mr Kane’s private office.’ He indicates with a slight cock of his head that I should lead on. I look across to the double doors, nervous as hell and fidgety. ‘Knock once,’ he says.
Knock once. Not twice or three times? As I slowly make my way over, my heart starts thumping, getting louder with each step I take.
‘And keep your distance, miss,’ Jefferson adds, his voice now quiet. I swing around, seeing his back disappear through an arch across the hall. Keep my distance? Is he warning me? I look back at the door, my nerves accelerating. It takes a stupid amount of time for me to raise enough courage to knock – once.
‘Come in.’ Theo’s deep voice resonates through the wood and spreads across my skin. It’s full of authority. Rough and sexy. I close my eyes and get a hold of my wayward thoughts, taking the doorknob and breathing in. Pushing my way into his office, I keep my eyes low as I close the door behind me.
‘Izzy.’ He says my name in a breathy whisper, and my body rolls with something that mystifies me, though I refuse to allow myself time to try to figure out what it is, because I sure as hell know that I’m not going to be comfortable with my conclusion.
Say what I need to say and leave, and make sure I don’t look at him while I follow my plan. ‘She’s okay.’ I swallow, trying to moisten my dry mouth. ‘Beaten, but okay. I’ve given Jefferson instructions and told him of the symptoms you need to keep an eye out for.’
‘I’m glad, thank you. But what about you?’
I frown down at the deep red carpet. ‘What about me?’
‘Are you okay?’ he asks, his voice still low but getting louder. He’s coming closer.
I step back, retreating without thought. ‘I really need to go.’ I’m not at all comfortable with the reactions I’m having to this man, least of all because I’ve already seen he carries a gun, and I watched one of his men virtually strangle someone before my eyes, before having him hauled off to . . . where? Where did they take him? And, more importantly, what did they do to him? Is he dead? I flinch, trying not to go there. I shake my wondering away. It shouldn’t matter to me, anyway. What matters is that this man is a perfect stranger, and a dark one at that. There are so many signs that are screaming at me that he’s bad news. Yet there’s a sense of ease that is unfamiliar to me, and I’m not at all comfortable with how much I like it. He saved Penny tonight. Took her away from the danger. There was no man to save me when I needed it. No strapping beast of a male to rain holy hell on my tormentor.
I don’t realize that I’ve taken more than one backward step until my back hits the door. The contact startles me, and I look up without thought, finding Theo only a metre away. He could reach me with his hand if he were to extend it. ‘Who are you?’ The question tumbles past my lips before I can stop it.
He ignores me, his eyes dropping to my neck. His hand lifts and reaches up. I press myself into the wood, silently begging him not to touch me. His fingers skim the black waves around my neck for a fleeting moment before he pushes them away, tilting his head. ‘What’s this?’ he asks, his fingertip meeting my flesh and tracing down one of the scratch marks. I freeze, forcing air from my mouth as he makes a point of feeling every line on my neck. My skin flames, my heart galloping uncontrollably. I can’t speak, and after a few tense but pleasurable seconds of him grazing my neck with his touch, he goes on. ‘Who did this to you?’
‘A patient,’ I say quietly, convincing my hand to lift and replace his at my neck – not that I’m trying to hide the marks, more trying to free myself of his touch so I can move away from him. He’s not holding me in place. Not physically. Yet when he’s touching me, I find myself incapable of movement. But a microsecond before my hand reaches his to detach it, he jerks away, saving me the trouble.
He steps back, a slight scowl on his face. ‘A patient?’
‘He’s old. Senile.’ I find myself rushing to explain, not liking his reaction. There’s no softness anywhere to be found now. ‘Perks of the job,’ I joke, feeling the need to break the tension. He doesn’t laugh, doesn’t even crack a smile. Yikes, he looks furious. ‘I should be going now.’ I thumb over my shoulder blindly.
Theo flinches, shaking his head mildly. ‘Certainly.’ He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a card, handing it to me. ‘I’ll have a car waiting for you outside. Callum will take you home. This is my card, should you need to contact me.’