We stared at each other for a few seconds in silence, and I could tell that Jakob was thinking hard about something. I knew this was the turning point for us. He needed to tell me more than he already had, which was really nothing. I hadn’t wanted to push him when we’d first arrived, but now that we’d been here for a few days, I needed more.
“So I guess now’s the time I should tell you that I wasn’t at that coffee shop by mistake.”
“What?” My voice echoed in the small shack.
“It’s not what you think.” He sighed. “I received an e-mail that morning from a business colleague. She said she wanted to meet me there to discuss something about a business I’m in the process of trying to acquire.”
“Okay . . .”
“There weren’t any other tables, so I sat with you.” He took a step toward me. “I chose to sit at your table on purpose.”
“Why?” My body stilled.
“Because I wanted to flirt with the cute brunette I spotted typing away,” he smiled. “Only, you ignored me when I approached the table.”
“Sorry,” I bit down on my lower lip as I watched him talking.
“It’s okay. I felt like a bit of an idiot, so I took my book out of my bag and pretended to read instead.”
“I felt like a bit of an idiot for being so rude, if that helps.” I smiled at him. “I was trying to finish an article and only had a few minutes left. Normally I’m not so rude.”
“That’s okay, Pip is one of my favorites, so I was happy to sit there and try to read while I waited on my colleague to show up.”
“Pip.” I kept my composure as I stared at him. “Like Pip and Miss Havisham?”
“Yes. I told you I love Dickens, right?”
“Yeah.” I nodded slowly. “You did.”
“Great Expectations is one of his best novels, if I do say so myself. I read it in high school and it really touched something in me. I try to read it every couple of years.”
“The movie was pretty good as well,” I babbled. “Not the one with Ethan Hawke and Gwyneth Paltrow so much, but the one from the forties with Anthony Wager.”
“Oh, not sure I saw that one.”
“So you came to the coffee shop that day to meet someone and decided to sit with me on purpose because you thought I was attractive?” I tried to keep my tone even, but I was finding it hard not to panic. Why had he lied about the book he’d been reading? Unless he was just recalling it incorrectly? “Anything else?”
“No, not that I—”
“You told me before that you were reading A Tale of Two Cities.” I cut him off, unable to keep it in. “So what was it, Great Expectations or A Tale of Two Cities?”
He didn’t even flinch at my words. Either he was a good actor or it had been a genuine mistake. “I must have gotten confused. I love all of his books. Cliché I guess. I’m a rags-to-riches guy. I suppose I resonate with the characters in a way.” He ran his hands through his hair and then stretched. “There’s one more thing, Bianca.”
“Yes?”
“My colleague never showed up that day. When I called her, she said that she’d never sent me the e-mail. I didn’t think much of it until we were kidnapped.” He paused and then looked around before continuing in a lower voice. “And the company we were going to discuss, the company I’ve been interested in acquiring, is Bradley Inc.”
“What?” Several emotions hit me then: shock, distrust, and curiosity.
“I didn’t want to say anything. I didn’t realize that it had that much importance, not until you told me about your father’s letter.”
“You should have told me before.” I gazed at him. “This means that it wasn’t just a case of mistaken identity for your kidnapping. This means you likely weren’t kidnapped because you were sitting at a table with me. This means that Mattias Bradley, if he’s the one responsible for the kidnapping, wanted you here as well.”
“I think you’re right.” He nodded. “Mattias is playing a game with both of us.”
“Have you met him, then?” I asked him curiously, wondering why he would have kept all this from me when I’d spent half the previous night spilling my heart out to him.
“Stand still,” he whispered suddenly, instead of answering. He moved toward me slowly, and his eyes narrowed as he moved his hand up swiftly. I took a quick step back as I saw something in his hand. My heart skipped a beat as his fingers continued their ascent. I felt the blood drain from my face as he stepped toward me again.
“Don’t!” I gasped. “Please don’t.”
“Don’t what?” His hand brushed something off my shoulder. “There was a mosquito on your arm.”
“Oh.” I looked at his palm and saw nothing there. It must have been a trick of my mind.
“They like sweet blood.” He grinned suddenly. “And I remember you telling me that your blood is very sweet.”
“Yeah, it is.” I nodded, trying to catch my breath. I felt like my romantic suspense adventure was slowly turning into a psychological thriller. “Thanks. Mosquitoes love to suck on my skin.”
“And so do I.”
“You like blood?”
“No.” He started laughing. “I messed that up. I meant to say I like sweet lips.”
“There’s a big difference between sweet blood and sweet lips.”
“Yes, there is.” He took a step toward me and gazed into my eyes. My heart started beating rapidly again, but this time, it wasn’t because I was scared. “Do you like being kissed, Bianca?”
“As much as every other woman.”
“Do you like it when I kiss you?” He took another step toward me.
“Why are you asking me this?” I swallowed hard but stood my ground. “I want to know what our notes meant. I want to know what else you’re hiding from me.”
“What do you think the consequences of my kissing you are?”
“Stop changing the subject. I don’t care about the consequences of you kissing me. Last time I checked, it won’t get me pregnant.”
“My note said ‘Everyone has a price. Every action has a consequence.’ ” His voice was dry. “I kiss you because I can’t resist your lips, but there’s a voice in the back of my head that says I should be stronger. I wonder what the consequences of my ignoring that voice in the back of my head are.”