Chapter 11: Mystery Directive

Leena stupidly rambled on about the chinchilla she had as a pet when she was fifteen. His name was Butterbean, but she called him Bean for short. He had brittle bones. He really liked goji berries, but they were kind of hard to find. He died because she tried to feed him corn but found out too late that chinchillas couldn’t digest it properly. With every word out of her mouth, she felt like a bigger and bigger idiot, but she liked the way Ransom’s eyes were shining at her.

“You’re pretty cute,” he said unabashedly.

Leena’s mouth was stuck partially open until Ransom closed the box of the first aid kit and snapped her back into reality. Honestly, this whole night felt like a dream. She might have thought that it was had she not once again felt the rush of electricity up her arm when Ransom touched her hand.

“You’re all set,” he said. “Too bad about Bean though. He sounded like a cool dude.”

Leena let out a little laugh which made Ransom smile. He was so…

A maid with dark, short hair walked in holding a tray with some food on it. Leena recognized her as a maid for the black pants and the white apron she wore. She just looked very maid-like, and she behaved very maid-like. She set the tray on the table and stepped back away from the table, holding her hands neatly in front of her.

“Thanks, Agatha,” Ransom said without looking back at her.

She nodded once with a little bow and left the room.

The food smelled good, and it was making Leena salivate. She wondered if it was for her, but there was only one bowl, and she didn’t want to assume. She tucked her hands under the table and tried not to look at the food directly. If she did, she was afraid she’d be given away. But the smell of it was enough to make her stomach growl.

“What is this?” Leena asked.

Ransom pushed the tray towards her, the soup sloshing slightly in the bowl. “It’s your dinner,” he said.

“Oh,” she said. But she was suddenly nervous to eat it. Even though it smelled good and there were even a couple of little rolls on the side— bread was her favorite— she wasn’t sure she should. She’d spent most of her night locked in a basement, and for half of that time, she was tied to a chair. Before that, she’d been kidnapped and knocked unconscious. What if this was just Ransom’s way of lulling her into a false sense of security before killing her with poisoned food? She glanced at the tasty-looking food. “Thanks, but I’m okay.”

Ransom laughed and pulled the tray to himself. He grabbed the spoon, scooped out a heaping spoonful of soup, and fed himself. “See? Not a trick. Not poisoned or anything. Just a kind gesture,” he said with an amused grin.

With a hesitant hand, Leena pulled the tray back to her and looked into the soup. She bit her lip nervously.

“Here,” Ransom said, handing her the spoon.

Leena took it. “Your lips…”

Ransom shrugged. “You want me to call Agatha back to get you a spoon?”

“I-it’s fine,” Leena said, not wanting to bother the maid.

Ransom watched Leena eat. All the while his eyes were bright and watchful. It was making her a bit self-conscious, but she didn’t really mind the attention. It made her feel admirable.

“So do you have any family?” Ransom finally asked after Leena was almost done with the soup.

She set the spoon down on the tray next to the bowl and picked up one of the rolls. She pulled a bit of bread off of it and popped it in her mouth. “Yes, it’s just me and my parents.”

“Ah, so you’ve got both. Not a lot of people do these days,” he said. Leena wondered about Ransom’s parents. Did they know what he was doing? It sounded like he might not have had both either. She wondered which he was missing, but it didn’t feel appropriate to ask. He was only asking her because he needed to know these things before he let her go.

“Wait, should I be lying? Are you going to use this information against me somehow?” Leena asked with teasing speculation.

Ransom gave her a crooked grin, a little dimple appearing for a moment before his smile fell. “Even if you were, I would find out the truth. But it’s easier if you just start with that. Less of an inconvenience to me.”

Leena started to laugh, but the way he answered her made her hesitate. This was another one of those times she couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. She tore off another piece of the bread and chewed it slowly.

With smoldering eyes, he slid his gaze over her slowly. What was with that look? Leena gulped down her bread and shifted uncomfortably, squeezing her legs together again. She set the bread down and put her hands in her lap.

“What kind of things do you do for fun besides yoga?” Ransom asked.

What was with these questions? What was this? A date? “What makes you think I do it for fun?”

Ransom smirked and rested his elbow on the table. He looked very cool, very nonchalant. She couldn’t help but like being in front of him even though he made her tingle and think impure thoughts, Even though he intimidated her a little bit.

“Touche,” he said. “So what do you do for fun then?”

Leena thought about it. She might as well humor him and answer his questions. At least she would if she had an answer for it. Leena hadn’t exactly made a habit of doing things for fun. Her life was mostly business and obligations to keep herself healthy and successful.

“What, you don’t have anything?” Ransom asked. “An interesting girl like you?”

Something about his words set something off in her. She just felt angry all of a sudden. She crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair. This was ridiculous. What even was going on here? she wondered.

With her stomach full and her hand bandaged, she had managed to regain her senses. This wasn’t a dream. This was her current reality, even if she didn’t quite understand what was going on.

“I’m confused by these mixed signals. What are you doing?” she said with a bite to her words.

Ransom’s entertained expression faltered. One eyebrow raised slightly. “What mixed signals? I’m just making sure you’re okay, and I’m asking you questions.” He also crossed his arms to mirror Leena. “Have you gotten any negative signals from anyone besides that wannabe tough guy Manny?”

Leena huffed. “No,” she mumbled. She looked down at her lap. “I guess not… aside from the being kidnapped and held against my will.”

Ransom looked at her, his emotion was imperceptible.

It was true though that Ransom had been particularly nice to her since he showed up. He’d untied her and bandaged her hand and even fed her. He had made her smile…. And even Mateo had sort of stood up for her when Manny was bullying her, and he got her a glass of water.

“Sorry,” she said.

“You don’t have to apologize. In fact, you shouldn’t. All you did was respond to a situation and get taken in by some amateurs who wanted a pat on the back for doing something thuggish. You did nothing wrong,” he said. He started out serious, but he was smiling by the end. “I’m proud of you for kicking ol’ Manny in the crotch though. I wish I could have seen that.”

Leena took a deep breath. “Fine,” she said haughtily, “then I’m not sorry.”

Ransom chuckled and relaxed his arms back on the table. His knee brushed hers underneath the table and his eyes were agleam. How could he do that? How could he go from confident mysterious bad guy to flirty mysterious hot guy?

It was seriously annoying.

Leena shook her head, failing to keep her thoughts in line. “You know what I mean. By now, I’ve figured out that you’re not just some random guy, so tell me, who are you, and what are you going to do to me?”

Ransom rubbed his bottom lip with his thumb and gave her a seductive look. A playful smile took shape on his lips. “What do you want me to do to you?”