Freeing Her by A. M. Hargrove Page B

forgotten
already?”
    “ Of course I haven’t
forgotten!” How could he possibly think that?
    She tried to snatch her arm out of his
grasp, but he only tightened it. “You seem to be some kind of, oh,
I don’t know, magnet for danger. Or maybe you’re one of those women
who seeks out danger. Are you, Gabby?”
    “ No! I can’t believe you
would even suggest that.”
    “ What would you think if
you were in my shoes? Look around you. How many single women do you
see out here jogging?”
    She took a quick look around and didn’t see
one.
    “ That’s right. There
aren’t any. Do you have any pepper spray with you? Anything to
protect yourself with?” He shook his head. Then he marched her in
the opposite direction of her apartment. She had to jog to keep up
with him.
    “ Let go of me.”
    He paid her no attention. They entered a
large, beautiful building and she remembered it from the other
morning. It was his building.
    He punched the elevator button with the side
of his fist. When the doors opened, he nearly threw her inside.
That’s when he released her to enter a series of codes on the
elevator panel. No doubt she would have a bruise where he’d held
her. But worse than that, he frightened her. Lids dropping to
half-staff and mouth forming a thin crease, his nostrils flared as
he stared her down. She backed into the corner, afraid he was going
to hit her.
    When the doors opened again, they were in
his penthouse. “Come on,” he said, voice curt.
    Shaking her head, she said, “I’m not going
in there. You could be a lunatic.”
    “ If that were the case,
you would’ve seen crazy way before now.”
    “ I’m not going and you
can’t make me.”
    He glowered at her and said, “Oh, yes, you
are.” He picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. She kicked
and pounded her fists into his back, but it didn’t faze him in the
least.
    Gabby wasn’t sure whether she was more
frightened or infuriated by his actions. When he reached the den,
he plopped her on to the sofa. She scrambled to her feet, spitting
fire.
    “ What the hell was that
all about? You can’t just pick me up and toss me around like you
own me!”
    “ I told you. You have no
business being out and about like that, all by yourself,
unprotected.”
    “ And just who do you think
you are? My dad or something?”
    “ I would like to think
your father would protect you better than that.”
    “ Oh, yeah? Well, for your
information, my dad doesn’t give a rat’s ass about me. He thinks I’m nothing but
a pain in the ass. I don’t even speak to him!” And then her fingers
covered the lips he was dying to touch as the pink coloring her
cheeks turned ashen. She’d never breathed a word about her past to
anyone. Ever. Her hands flew to her head as she stood there,
shocked that those secretive words had rushed past her lips, words
she kept tightly locked away from everyone.
    She sucked in her breath and darted out of
the room, knowing it was silly to do so, because she had no idea
where she was going. She opened the first set of double doors she
saw. Pushing one wide enough for her to slip through, she stepped
inside and kept moving. She didn’t stop until she reached a huge
window that overlooked the park and stared at the view as her
ridiculous actions replayed themselves in her head.
    Damn it, Gabby, what the hell were you
thinking?
    “ What exactly did Danny do
to you, Gabriella?”
    The words were soft and the fact that he’d
used her full name didn’t register. But the question itself did. It
sounded like he screamed it at her.
    “ He didn’t do anything to
me!” she shouted. Deny. Deny.
Deny.
    “ Yes, he did. Your words
contradict your actions.”
    She pushed her tangled hair off her face and
that’s when he caught a glimpse of her scars. His hand wrapped
around hers and he pulled it toward him. With his index finger, he
lightly probed the raised lines left behind by the box cutter. She
tried to wrench free from his grasp,