12 Chapter 12

She desperately wanted to ask what changed his mind, but wasn't brave enough. Maybe he didn't want to hurt her. Maybe he had a conscience after all. Whatever veneer of civilization clung to Daniel Mercer, however, was extremely thin and easily discarded.

His fingers brushed across her eyelids. Her eyes fluttered open and stared blankly up at him. His arm rested behind her head and she could feel his fist clenching in the soft hair that spilled across his pillows. She noticed he liked to touch her hair, but seemed to have to stop himself from just grabbing it.

They laid that way for a while, the silence tense to her ears. She was used to directing conversations, to maintaining happy chatter and listening to music almost constantly. The quiet, which she sensed Daniel habitually surrounded himself with, seemed strange to her. As though expectations were building, but she didn't understand what kind of expectation or why.

"How are we supposed to get to know each other if we don't speak?" she asked.

"Speak then," he answered.

She shifted, trying to jerk her head away from his sifting fingers, not liking the way they felt so nice against her scalp. She knew Daniel was a violent man, she didn't need to forget that he was a threat to her. His fingers tightened in her hair, as though warning her if she persisted in pulling free he would make it hurt. She settled down with a huff of annoyance and allowed him to continue his ministrations.

"You already seem to know plenty about me," she pointed out sarcastically.

He didn't respond to her dig, just continued to pet her hair.

Fine, then she would dig into his life since he seemed to be okay with prying uninvited into hers. "How old are you?" she asked, imagining he was in his late thirties.

He didn't say anything.

"Where are you from?"

Nope. Still no reaction.

"Uh, because I noticed you had a little bit of an accent," she supplied in hopes that it might get him talking.

He stiffened, his hand freezing in her hair. Apparently she had touched on a sensitive topic. She hardly dared to breathe, wondering why the subject of his barely there accent was something he didn't want her talking about. "Not that anyone else would notice, it's just that I have a very practiced ear, being a blind musician and all," she hurriedly explained. After a moment he seemed to relax once more.

Well this is fun, she thought. Maybe I should have gone the sex route, because conversation was apparently not his strong suit.

She lapsed into silence not wanting to say anything else that might set him off. She suspected he would never normally let anyone get this close to him and wasn't entirely predictable in his actions while navigating a new situation. Addison wished she understood why he chose her of all people to test out his new desire to get up close and personal with someone.

He spoke, his husky voice close to her ear making her jump a little. "You touch people."

Addison frowned and nodded, not sure where he was going with this. "Yes, of course I touch people."

"Touch me," he said, peeling the blanket away from her throat where she clutched it tightly against her chest. "Get to know me."

Addison squeaked in protest and tried to hang on to her precious source of heat and flimsy protection, but he pulled it relentlessly away from her. Once her arm was freed he resettled the blanket over both of them so she would still be warm. She wasn't happy about this new turn of events, but she wasn't sure what she could do about it. Daniel wasn't turning out to be someone she could win an argument with.

He took her hand in his, enveloping her long fragile fingers in a steely grip and pressed them against his chest. He held her fingers there, trapping them against the fabric of his cotton shirt, under which she could feel the tight compact slabs of muscle. She knew from his position as a security specialist and what little of his body she had felt thus far in adrenalin fueled moments that he must be in good shape, but she hadn't imagined his body would be so hard.

Addison was caught somewhere between her visceral fear of a man she suspected had tortured and killed people in horrific ways and her curiosity to explore his body. She had always been attracted to people. No matter their shape or size. People were unique, and as a person with a visual impairment she found herself attracted to the person before the body. Yet she had never been in a situation quite like this before. And she had never felt a body like Daniel's.

Chewing on her lower lip, she flattened her hand out beneath the press of Daniel's larger hand and slid her fingers lower, tracing the edges of his pectoral muscles with the sensitive pads of her fingertips, her nail gently catching on his nipple. He sucked air in through clenched teeth and stiffened beneath her touch. She froze before moving lower.

"You won't lose control will you?" she asked hesitantly. "I don't... I don't want this to go any further."

"Not tonight," he agreed quietly.

She noted he was very careful to only give her the night. She may as well explore his body and get to know him if the countdown was on and they were going to become lovers. Or explore his body now because she was going to get herself the hell out of this situation and wouldn't get another chance to touch a man like Daniel Mercer. She was going to be very careful who she associated with in the future. Maybe become reclusive. Live on a mountaintop and write music for a living. That seemed safe. She was much less likely to get shot at and kidnapped if she became a hermit.

She slid her hand down his chest, taking secret enjoyment in the waves of sexual tension rolling off him. It was like being able to play with fire, but having the fire's solemn promise that it wouldn't burn her for the time being. The sensation was powerful, not a feeling she often had. The fingers wrapped in her hair stilled and then clenched around the loose curls, not painfully, but absently as though he fought with himself not to grab her.

Addison could feel the heat of his stomach as she continued to explore each ridge of his muscular rib cage and abdomen. She had never felt so many muscles on a single human being before, each one felt sculpted to perfection. She traced them over his T-shirt and around to his back, reaching as far as she could to touch each one, fascinated by the hard resilience.

She desperately wanted to know how they felt, but she was afraid to push him too far. She stopped, her hand hesitating at the edge of his shirt. She could feel the press of his erect penis against her hip as it strained through the layers of clothes. He was clearly enjoying her touch very much.

As though reading her mind, he seized her hand, pulled his shirt up and pressed her hand hard against the bare skin of his stomach. He crushed her hand into the heat of his muscular abdomen before easing up to allow her to continue her exploration. His skin was hot to her touch and smooth, but also hard with almost no give beneath the musculature. She tested each dip and crevice with her long fingers, exploring at will, now that she had his permission. She felt the gradual tightening of his body, but chose to ignore it. She had his promise. And so far he'd kept his word.

She felt a trail of hair along his stomach from his belly button that went lower and beckoned her fingers. As she slid one hand lower, she found herself curious if he had any hair on his chest too. She freed her other arm from the enveloping blanket and started to slide it up his chest when all at once she found herself flat on her back with Daniel on top of her and both of her wrists seized in one of his strong hands.

Addison let out a shriek of surprise. He sat heavily on top of her and she desperately wondered if she had misread him. If she wasn't safe at all. Was he going to hurt her? But as soon as she had the thought, Daniel rolled off of her just as swiftly and got off the bed. She let out another gasp as the blanket snapped above her and then landed over her body again. She lay stiffly, expecting his big body to settle back on the bed with her.

"Sleep," he said gruffly.

She heard him walk away, then the light switch and the shadows in the room disappeared leaving her in complete darkness. The door opened and closed, and a lock engaged. She wasn't sure if he was locking her in for safety or making sure she wouldn't leave.

* * *

Daniel threw himself into the most gruelling workout he'd done in years. Not since his guerrilla days when he'd had to keep his body in peak physical condition had he demanded such obedience from his exhausted muscles. Sweat poured from his face and chest. He knew it was stupid not to have a spotter, but he wasn't about to call one of his men at 2 am. Most lived off property and those that didn't were new. He'd had to replace a few of the guys he'd lost during Dante's failed kidnapping attempt of the Cantore woman and the idiots didn't know how to keep their mouth's shut yet. He'd hate to have to painfully explain to them the value in not questioning his actions. He usually liked to give them time to settle in before having that conversation.

A vision of Addison's beautiful tapered fingers reaching down his belly for his dick flashed through his thoughts nearly short-circuiting his brain. He pushed himself even harder, relentlessly shredding muscles in an attempt to stop himself from taking the steps needed to go back to his place, open the door between himself and his obsession and savagely fuck her until she cried and begged him for mercy. Even then he wouldn't stop. Because he was a merciless, selfish bastard that took what he wanted regardless of who got hurt.

The only reason he hadn't already taken Addison was because he wanted what he'd already seen of her. He wanted her passion. He wanted her willingness. The savage in him sensed her submission, sensed her curiosity and told him that if he practiced a little patience she would give him what he wanted. Which was better than a one time vicious fuck that would turn her against him. The savage told him her capitulation was going to be sweeter than her humiliation.

He grunted as he lifted and held an insane amount of weight before lowering it. Finally, after two hours alternating cardio with weight lifting, Daniel showered off before heading back to his apartment. He entered soundlessly, knowing Addison was unlikely to wake. He could tell from the soft sound of her even breaths coming from the bed that she was asleep.

He turned a lamp on and approached the bed. He'd purchased the bed on an impulse, not having had one in his place before. He preferred the couch or the floor. He liked this bed though. It suited Addison perfectly. It was a sturdy wooden four poster bed frame with a headboard. It was nice, but not ostentatious.

She was curled on her side with the royal blue quilt tucked completely around her. She had one hand curled underneath her head, cushioning the baby soft strands of wavy chestnut hair in her palm while her other hand held on to the quilt in a tight grip against her throat. He touched her soft cheek. Even in her sleep she attempted to protect herself. Soon she would learn, she would be completely vulnerable to him and him alone.

Daniel settled on the floor next to the bed, setting his internal clock for four hours of sleep.