Page 72 of Ruthless Ambition
“Using my words . . . Trying to break the ice?” I asked as I leaned forward. “Why are you in here?”
“Well, I wanted to tell you why I went home,” she said tersely.
“I know why you left,” I told her bluntly. “We don’t like each other, there’s still a part of you that isn’t sure I’m not your guy, and you’d rather put yourself in danger than stay where it’s safe.”
“Is that right?”
“Yes.”
“You’re always so sure you’re right,” she said with a quick shake of her head. “I need to do this myself, and I can’t ask you or your . . .friendsto do anything for me.”
“Noted.”
“I mean, I appreciate the place to stay—”
“I noticed how much you appreciated it when you skulked out the next morning.”
Her lips pressed together as she stopped herself from whatever bitchy reply she was going to give. “I just want to say thank you, again.”
Was she waiting for an acknowledgment? She would be waiting a long time. Realizing that, she turned and headed to the door, reaching out for the handle.
“How’s your suite in The Grande?”
Angel froze, and slowly she turned back around to look at me. “How do you know?”
“Easy, it’s called the internet. I knew where you were within twenty minutes of you checking in,” I told her, knowing my tone was too clipped, too pissed off. “If I know,heknows. You’re notsaferthere, vampire. You just handed him a golden fucking ticket to your life.”
“I didn’t want to stay at home,” she said, her voice cracking. “It was a solution.”
“It’s not a solution, it’s desperation. Desperate people make mistakes.”
“So, what? I’m only safe with you?”
I snorted my contempt at her daring. “In general? No. For this? I like your odds better when you’re where I can control you.”
“Controlme?” she asked as she frowned in displeasure. When I didn’t reply, she looked down. “I refuse to be scared.”
“You moved into a hotel. You’re so fucking terrified that you can’t even think straight.”
Her head snapped up to meet my challenge, and I saw her shut it down. “This is what’s best for me,” she declared before walking out of my office.
Stupidity. I loathed it.
I called Cooper. “Put an extra camera outside her room. I want to know every fucker that walks through that door.”
“On it.”
Turning my attention back to the CCTV footage, I watched her stalker. “You think you’re smart,” I said quietly as I watched the car from a few days ago. “I’m smarter. I see you fucker, and I’m coming for you.”
* * *
Later that night at home, I walked into the bedroom that she had slept in the night before. My housekeeper had tidied the room, and I knew the bedding would have already been stripped and laundered. The towels she used would be replaced and washed, too. Still, as I stood in the center of the room, I could still sense her here.
Stretching my neck from side to side, I fought off the irritation I had at her leaving. With long strides, I went into the closet and investigated the top drawer of underwear. I had never actually looked before. I had a personal shopper, she knew my parents favored this room, and she also knew my mom appreciated the fact that she had a home away from home. So, she bought things for my parents to wear, for when they came to visit and stay with me, so they didn’t need to pack a lot.
It was so fucking innocent, something that I admittedly was hardly ever accused of being. It pissed me off that lingerie bought for mymotherhad cast me into a fucking creeper role in Angel’s eyes.
I huffed out a laugh at that. I was sure I was already a creep to her. Angel wasn’t the kind of girl who fucked them and forgot them. I knew she had never intended to let me into her bed that night of Mayhem in college.
