“Tariq told you Chalah was here today?” She turned as she reached the fireplace.
“Yes, he told me,” he muttered in disgust. “I’ll have to send him to talk to her i she doesn’t leave soon. She needs to get the hell out of here while she still can.”
“I almost betrayed us all, Abram,” she whispered, her expression reflecting the fear he knew was brewing inside her.
“But you didn’t,” he told her. “And if you had, Paige, no one could blame you. We’ve all trusted her. Even I never suspected Jafar would go to such lengths to attain whatever it is he’s after.”
“Did you trust her?” she asked quietly.
Paige watched his expression carefully, a part of her not even certain if she had truly trusted Chalah even before she saw the audio device.
“I trust no one with your safety or with your life, Paige,” he told her, his expression thoughtful, intent. “There have been moments in the past few days that I’ve even questioned my trust in Tariq.”
He moved to her, his much larger body dwarfing her as he stopped in front of her.
Her breath nearly stopped as he reached out, his fingers catching a curl that had fallen over her shoulder.
It was the only way he was touching her, his figure rubbing the soft strands slowly.
“I want you, Paige,” he stated softly, sending her blood pressure skyrocketing, pounding off the charts with the somber heat in his voice and in his face.
“You could have fooled me,” she whispered. “You haven’t even been here, Abram.”
She hadn’t liked admitting she had been frightened while he had been gone. That a part of her had been certain Azir would come for her while Abram was gone. That he would find a way to hurt her, to perhaps kill her.
She knew if he could do it, he would find great pleasure in it. She had seen it in his face, in his eyes, the day he had backhanded her across the room.
“I’ve tried to get you out of here first, Paige,” He sighed as he laid the strands of hair neatly against her breast before he stroked the backs of her fingers along the curve of her breast.
“But I don’t think I can wait much longer to have you. I don’t think I can sleep next to you one more night without touching you, without tasting you.”
Swallowing tightly she fought to catch her breath.
“You’ve managed the past three nights.” A frown jumped between her brows at the need, the sexual hunger in his voice. “What’s changed?”
His lips twitched with an edge of amusement.
“My misbegotten attempt, as I said, to have you comfortable in your forced surroundings.”
She shook her head. “I don’t believe you, Abram. Do you know what I think?”
His expression slowly tightened into one of dominant male lust.
“What do you think?” he drawled.
“I think you have no intentions of being my lover, Abram. At the most, you intend to do no more than f**k me while we’re here. And only then, if you simply can’t resist any longer.”
And exactly how right was she?
She watched his eyes narrow and glitter knowingly in his dark face. He knew she was right. She knew she was right.
“Don’t push this, Paige.”
The tone of his voice and the look in his eyes combined with the order sent a shaft of agony tearing through her.
“You’ve had me sleep between the two of you, naked, like a lover, with no intention of actually f**king me?” Mocking amusement and bitter realization filled her. “Tell me, Abram, did you order Tariq not to f**k me as well?”
His eyes narrowed further. “I do not order Tariq. As my third, that choice remained between the two of you.”