started, when she heard him. The door creaked, just a little, and she looked over to see a sliver of his solemn face.
“You can come in, Baojia.”
He pushed the door open and stepped inside, shutting it behind him. “How are you?”
“Better.” She watched him. He was so careful with her. As soon as he entered the room, she saw him subtly check the surroundings, paying particular attention to the windows and the door to the bathroom. “I don’t think you need to worry. It’s like Fort Knox here.”
“No.” He couldn’t help himself. He looked in the bathroom and checked behind the door. “The security here is better than Fort Knox. Are you rested?”
“Yes.”
“And they fed you?” Satisfied that no intruders had crept into her bathroom through the tiny window, he moved to the closet
.
“Yes, I’ve been fed, watered, washed. All shiny and new, George.”
He looked over his shoulder and smiled slightly as he looked inside the small walk-in closet. “We’re safe, Baojia.”
“I know.” Still, his eyes scanned the room and tension radiated from him.
“Will you come sit down, please?” Natalie patted the edge of the bed. “You’re making me nervous.”
He sat near her feet, studying her.
“Now,” she finally said after he’d looked his full. “Let’s talk about the first night we met.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“You bit me?”
Baojia sighed. “After everything I just told you, that is what you focus on?”
She was angry. “You bit me. Without my permission—even my kinda-drunk permission—you bit me and drank my blood.” She hadn’t left the bed, but she was glaring at him with one hand covering her neck. He leaned over and pulled her fingers away.
“That bite saved your life in Mexico after you went to speak to Ivan. After I told you not to.” He leaned over her, holding her wrist in his and stifling the satisfied growl that wanted to surface every time he saw the pale, silvery scars. “Those marks on your neck were the reason I could come after you and no one would question it. Without them, you would have been fair game. Would that have been preferable, Natalie? Would you rather be dead? Or Ivan’s plaything in Ensenada?”
He could tell the minute righteous anger turned to fear. Her face grew pale and her eyes widened. His anger fell away. “Don’t cry.”
Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes. She’d been so strong; the sight of her crumbling tore at him inside. He gathered her in his arms, rocking her back and forth.
“Don’t cry. Natalie, you’re safe. Don’t cry.”
“Too much,” she whispered against his shoulder. “I feel like everything changed in one moment. And I’m starting to wonder whether I’ll ever be able to go back. Is it always going to be this way? Will my life ever be normal again?”
He held her for a few more minutes as she calmed down. Finally, he said, “It won’t be the same. It can’t be. And for that, I am sorry.” But a bitter taste filled his mouth, and a guilty voice in his head whispered that he wasn’t sorry at all.
She pulled away from him and narrowed her eyes, still sniffing a little. “Not going to apologize for the bite though, are you?”
“Are you going to apologize for going to Ivan’s?”
Natalie wrinkled her nose the same way she had in the car that first night. “I don’t even remember that. How am I supposed to apologize for not taking advice I don’t remember, you dork?”
He couldn’t help it, he smiled. She was not amused.
“Stop.”
“Can’t.”
“You’re not allowed to smile. You didn’t apologize for biting me.”
“And I’m not going to.”
“Urgh!” she growled, flopping back on the pillows as he leaned over her. “You’re so damn stubborn.”
JI
He had to laugh. “Look who’s talking.”
She didn’t even respond, only lifted one eyebrow and asked, “What else?”
“What else, what?”
“What other embarrassing stuff did I do that I don’t remember? I always remember things—I hate this.”
He debated about telling her she had kissed him. “You… ah—”
“I kissed you, didn’t I?”
He blinked. “How did you know?”
“I tend to get affectionate when I’m drunk. I figured amnis-intoxication might be the same.”
“I’ll remember that.” He smiled again when she punched his arm. “And I might have seen an eyeful when I took you home.”
Her mouth gaped open. “I was in my underwear that morning! I’d forgotten that part.”
He held up his hands. “It wasn’t me. I opened the door and you started stripping.”
“Oh no!” She covered her face. “And you looked?”
Of course he had. Did he look like an idiot? He decided