good cook.” The words tumbled out of her mouth as if her
mind and her speech hadn’t been in sync. Before she had time to
mentally chastise herself for sounding so caring, he spoke.
“I like variety, but I eat just about
anything. Make something new and different each time and I’ll let
you know if I don’t like something.” His tone was flat, but that
was a step up from the cold edge the previous day. There was
something her still fuddled brain was trying to process.
He interrupted her thoughts. “I will be gone
until dinner today. Do not idle. I will know if you didn’t do your
work.”
She stood pretty still, waiting for her mind
to catch up with the situation, but it was no use. He walked toward
the door and she tried to see what numbers he was punching, but
then he swiped his damn thumb on something too. So even if she
could get the numbers, she was pretty sure her thumbprint didn’t
match his. At least she comprehended that much.
“Please,” she asked before he walked out.
She wanted to at least know his name; she felt like that was
something she should know, the name of her captor. “Tell me your
name.”
He stopped short of the door and turned
around, his eyes blazing with fury, a fire she felt in her very
bones. His name. It was a simple request, but each time she asked,
his anger became more pronounced. She sucked in a breath and held
it, her body frozen with panic.
“Don’t ask me that again,” he growled, his
cold eyes trained on her, leaving an unspoken threat hanging in the
air. They stood at opposite sides of the room, but the tension in
the air made Kat feel like she was inches from his face. He
narrowed his eyes, studying her, and must have been satisfied with
whatever he saw because a moment later, he stormed out, shutting
the door behind him.
It took a few minutes for the dread to wear
off and the anger to set in. Well, if he wasn’t going to answer
her, then she could think of a few choice words to use instead of a
name. Kat sighed and tried to eat breakfast even though she didn’t
have an appetite. While cleaning up, it finally hit her. He was
still an ass, but when she was nice to him, he responded,
reluctantly, but at least he responded. Well, except when it came
to his name. That was a touchy subject. Other than that, though,
huh. Kill him with kindness. She could do that. She
could wear him down, break down his walls, and then he’d let her
go. She knew it was pretty unrealistic, but she had nothing else
and if she dwelled on her current situation, she knew she’d snap.
She couldn’t afford to do that, and she wasn’t about to let him see
her tears. No . That was a promise to herself she wasn’t
willing to break. Screw him , she thought. He wanted to play
games, she’d show him games. If he was Mr. Asshole, she’d be Miss
Sweetheart. She’d get him to cave; she had to. She had no other
options and no other choice.
Kat put those thoughts to rest. There was
nothing she could do at the present but get to work. Even with her
master plan, she wasn’t willing to defy him, and not following his
rules would defeat the purpose of being nice. Cleaning the house
was much easier that day. She knew where everything was and the
best way to tackle the job. After a few hours, she was done. She
tried to go through the mental list of things he told her to do. Make the beds, laundry. She couldn’t think of anything else.
She quickly made the beds and there wasn’t enough laundry to do it
yet. She figured once a week would be good. She shook her head with
disbelief to dislodge her long-term thoughts.
With time on her hands, she decided to do a
little snooping. She started with his room. She looked through all
his drawers, his closet, under his bed, and even in his bathroom.
She didn’t find anything that could tell her about this man or how
to get through to him. What was actually kind of odd was how bare
his room was. He only had some clothes and a few papers here and
there. As