You Are Mine by Jackie Ashenden Page A

But he said nothing, getting out of the car to stand on the sidewalk, waiting for her.
    Jesus, her reaction was ridiculous. Completely and utterly.
    Forcing herself out of the car, she kept her gaze trained on the buttons of Zac’s elegantly tailored black overcoat and not on the sudden, yawning sense of space as she stepped onto the broken concrete of the sidewalk.
    â€œWe should have taken my car,” he murmured, glancing at a group of sullen youths who’d drifted closer to where they stood, eyeing them with guarded, wary eyes. “The limo is too ostentatious.”
    He wasn’t wrong. But right then, Eva was extremely glad she’d taken it. In fact, she couldn’t wait to get back inside it.
    â€œCome on.” She stuffed her hands into her pockets. “The quicker we do this, the quicker we can get out of here.”
    â€œIf anything happens, let me know,” Zac said to Temple, giving her a meaningful look. “We won’t be long.”
    Temple seemed to understand. “Don’t worry, Mr. Rutherford.” Her hand drifted to her hip, where the weapon she carried was secreted. “I’ll make sure the car remains in one piece.”
    For some reason, the exchange annoyed Eva. Yes, Zac had recommended Temple, but Eva was the one who paid her salary. And Eva was the one who gave the orders.
    Yet here was Zac, assuming command the way he always did, while she … let him.
    I’ve been protecting you for a very long time …
    Had he always done this? She had a horrible feeling he had and she’d never noticed.
    He’d found her a building to live in. Loaned her money to start her business. Installed the security. Recommended employees to her. Provided company whenever she went anywhere because she didn’t like being outside on her own. Been the calming voice on the end of the phone when her thoughts wouldn’t shut the hell up.
    She swallowed, momentarily forgetting the yawning sensation in the pit of her stomach as another feeling took up residence. A kind of acute, sharp realization.
    He’d done so many things for her. Why? What did he get out of it? Was it really because he’d been hoping she’d sleep with him in the end? Seven years was a long time to wait if so.
    I respect you … I like you. The fact that I have always wanted you is almost incidental.
    For some reason she found herself looking up at him, at the strong, distinct lines of his face. The angular edge of his jaw, darkened with a hint of stubble. High cheekbones that gave him a hawkish, predatory look in some lights. Slightly winged black brows that he arched to devastating effect when he wanted to. A long, hard mouth.
    A familiar face and yet a harsh, uncompromising one.
    There was no softness in him anywhere.
    Would he be that hard all over?
    A shiver went through her and it didn’t have anything to do with the cold. It was like fear and yet not. A kind of twist deep inside her. An emptiness. A hollow sensation that reminded her of … hunger.
    Zac turned his head abruptly and those golden eyes met hers. And she found herself transfixed by them, like a deer in the headlights. As if watching her doom come rushing to meet her.
    â€œCome, angel,” he said. Then he turned toward the building. Waiting for her.
    And she shook off the strange feeling, the shivering sensation in the pit of her stomach, ignoring it as she focused on the door to the building. Forcing her footsteps toward it with him moving beside her.
    As soon as she was inside, she felt better, though not by much.
    The foyer seemed to breathe old cigarette smoke, the wood floor pitted and stained. The elevators weren’t working so they made their way up the stairs, sour smells of old cooking filtering through the stairwells. As they came out onto a long hallway, Eva heard a baby cry, thin and thready.
    The familiarity of it all was suffocating, the walls closing in.
    This was like home.