And he'd watched her, the only problem he'd had was the amount of time it was taking her. The set of his mouth indicated it was past time for her to be in bed with him.
So with her boundaries set, her kitchen, her domain, his ring on her finger and the right to call herself his girlfriend, the only problem Natalie had was the freaking annoyance that he didn't trust her.
And it had to end. Today.
She'd picked the place for the confrontation carefully. A street in Downtown far enough away from home that he'd drop what he was doing and come look for her, unless he trusted her enough to just call, but she doubted he'd do that. She hoped he would, but she doubted it. The location was close enough she could get there by train and on the outskirts enough, not completely surrounded by tall buildings, that he shouldn't have a problem pinpointing her location.
She wanted him to pinpoint her location, all right.
Natalie walked into the Starbucks she'd already chosen, ordered a coffee, and walked into the restroom. She dumped the coffee into the sink, rinsed and dried the cup out and slipped the smart phone inside. Walking outside to the patio area, she hid the cup in a large potted plant next to a trash receptacle and walked down the street to an outside magazine vendor and pretended to be immersed in browsing for a purchase.
She chatted with the vendor, bought a pack of gum, and continued to look at the magazines while watching the street in front of the Starbucks.
The whole process had already taken over thirty minutes since she'd left the penthouse, and she figured something would happen soon, at least she thought it would.
If he were going to call her, he would have done so already.
Just as the thought came, Marco's car came sliding up to the Starbucks. Fury encompassed her being, and she thanked the vendor and walked swiftly in the opposite direction from the car, pulling out her phone and dialing as she walked. He picked up on the second ring, but she didn't give him even a second to speak. "Are you looking for me, Marco?"
"Yes." He didn't attempt to deny it.
"Your spy phone is in an empty coffee cup inside that potted palm tree next to the trashcan, if you want it. I damn sure don't. I won't be your prisoner anymore. You have my number if you want to call me. If you're interested in having a normal relationship. She ended the call, turned left, cut through a bank and went down a flight of stairs before becoming immersed in the network of tunnels under the city.
She sat in a fast food restaurant for about an hour, sipping on a Diet Coke, her fury and pain growing when he didn't call her back, until she realized that her cell wasn't picking up a signal down there. She berated herself, feeling like a fool, and then left her seat and went back up again into the sunlight.
Immediately, her phone chimed and registered the text messages she'd missed and his furious voice mail that demanded to know where she was.
She decided he could stew for awhile, and didn't call him back, but walked at her leisure back to the penthouse.
He was waiting for her when the elevator doors opened.
"Where the fuck have you been?" His rage was palpable, but Natalie was angry as well and itching for a fight. She'd left all her stuff in the penthouse, having decided not to move out until she knew how this was going to play out.
"In the tunnels." She said simply, showing no reaction.
"The tunnels? The tunnels are dangerous, Natalie!" he hissed.
"Dangerous? I don't think so, Marco. I was sitting in a fast food restaurant the entire time."
"You don't understand. Maybe the first time you go there you might think it's safe--"
"You're assuming today was the first time? I've been exploring the city for weeks."
The look he gave her became frozen, impenetrable. His eyes hooded and his features hardened. "You've been lying to me."
"Lying to you?" she puffed out. "I don't think so. I simply took the SIM card from the phone you gave me and put it in my old phone, which I happen to like better. How's that lying to you?"
"How long?" He was trying to control his anger. Natalie could see that, just as she could see the tic in his cheek that he couldn't control.
"Since the day I got lost and you picked me up. You know what hurts the most, Marco?"
He crossed his arms and raised an elegant eyebrow.
She continued, "The fact that you think I'm that stupid. I even tested you on it, you know? That day I went to the library and you got so upset. You thought I'd forgotten my phone. I realize that I'm small, I don't have a college degree, I don't have a lot of money. But just as sure as I am that the Earth spins on a tilted axis, I'm that damn sure that my I.Q. is higher than yours.
"I don't think you're stupid, Natalie--"
"Don't give me that crap, Marco. You think I'm small and frail and helpless. We know that much. Why don't you just admit it and let's throw stupid into the mix?"
He gritted his teeth and ran his fingers through his hair. "I don't think you're stupid. I'm sorry I underestimated you--"
"Yeah, I bet you're sorry, all right. Now you don't get to keep tabs on me twenty-four hours a day. And that just hurts, doesn't it?"
"Yeah, it does," he had the gall to say.
"How dare you? How freakin' dare you track my movements? How could you? What were you trying to accomplish?"
His look became sullen. "I was attempting to keep you safe."
She slashed her hand through the air in frustrated anger. "Don't bullshit me, Marco. You were trying to protect your twenty-thousand dollar investment--"
His muscles tightened and he took a step toward her. "Bullshit. I've never given a fuck about the money. You know that by now. It's been about you the whole goddamn time."
"That's even worse! If it's been about me that means you don't trust me. You think I'm going to what? Steal your silver? Make off with your American Express card?"
He let out a long low sigh as if he wanted to be anywhere else but having this conversation. "No."
"Then what? What for God's sake?" she demanded to know.
His shoulders stiffened and his eyes glared and when he spoke, Natalie knew he was telling her his exact thoughts. "I thought you might--cheat on me."
Her brow wrinkled in confusion as her mind ran over the recent past. "Cheat on you? I wasn't even yours when you gave me that phone."
His eyes ran over her, top to bottom and landed back on her eyes. He studied her unwaveringly, his feet planted in a solid stance. "You've been mine since the day you slammed into me from behind, Natalie. You just didn't know it."