Taken (Dark Desires 1)

I settled back in the plush leather seat and watched him come around the front of the car. God, he made walking look good…

He slid in behind the wheel and buckled up.

He glanced over at me and smiled.

That damn smile.

It made me feel… I don’t know what…

I leaned my head back and closed my eyes.

My plan was working better than I thought it would.

Now all I had to do was follow through and kill Rick Wright.

SANDY

Everything was happening so fast.

Maybe too fast.

I had walked into that dive bar with the goal of just checking out The Wright Brothers from afar. I’d never planned on confronting them; at least not so soon.

The plan was to sit at the bar, nurse one drink for a few minutes, then watch and listen. I never thought I would end up spending time with Rick Wright or be confronted by his murderous brother, Eddie.

The moment Eddie leered at me I knew he was the man who killed Brent. I remembered our eyes meeting when he came out of the convenience store. I remembered the threat in his eyes, the sneer on his lips.

If he had known who I was and what I was doing in the bar, he would have killed me in the bathroom. Of that, I have no doubt.

Rick asked for my address. I gave it to him, then directed him along the way. Turn right… turn left… no… fuck… I meant right…

I focused on the road to keep from focusing on him. He

made small talk. He liked my car. It handled well. It had good pickup. He liked the way it took the curves. He might as well have been speaking French because I had no idea what all that meant. Brent would have understood every word.

He draped his left wrist over the steering wheel and rested his right hand on the gear lever in the console as he drove. His fingers were inches from my knee. I found myself hoping that he would casually slide his hand onto my leg; gently massage my thigh, slowly move his hand closer to my...

No.

Stop it.

You should be repulsed by the mere thought of his touch.

It took twenty minutes to reach my apartment. By the time we arrived, I was feeling less nauseous, but still tipsy. And a little horny. I couldn’t help it. I knew it was wrong, but it was a different kind of horny, one I had never felt before. It was tinged with danger and abandon, a taboo kind of horny that told me to ignore the dampness in my panties and the stiffening of my nipples as I inhaled deeply Rick’s musky scent.

Rick pulled into a spot in front of my building and shut off the engine. Without a word, he came around to open my door and offer me his hand. I took a deep breath and let him pull me out of the car. I lost my balance for a moment and fell into his arms. I glanced up into his eyes. Our lips were inches apart.

“Sorry,” I said, holding onto his round shoulders to push away from him. “Guess I’m still a little tipsy.”

“Just a little,” he said. He brushed a strand of hair from my forehead and took my arm. “Come on, let’s get you in bed.”

His words echoed in my ears as he led me to the door. He gave me the keys and waited patiently while I fumbled with the deadbolt. Once I managed to get the door open, I stepped inside and turned back to look at him. He made no attempt to follow me inside. I leaned on the door and bit my lip.

“Get some rest,” he said. He tugged his phone from his back pocket. “I’m going to call for a ride. I’ll wait out here so you can get to sleep.”

My brain struggled to clear away the fog that was clouding all of my senses but one. Here we were, me and the man I blamed for the death of my fiancé, standing in my doorway at midnight. I thought it would take weeks to get Rick Wright alone, away from his crew. Yet, here we were. This was my chance.

“Want to come in?” I asked, smiling at him with dreamy eyes. I was trying to be seductive, even though I had no idea what I was doing. I’d never seduced a man in my life, especially one like Rick Wright, who looked like he could snap his fingers and have any women in the room go down on him. I leaned my cheek against the door and batted my fake eyelashes at him.