Chapter 131
[ 499 words ]
Chapter 131:
Her survival instincts, which had been smothered by his kiss, suddenly flared back to life. Panic, cold and sharp, flooded her veins.
She instinctively pulled her hand away from his grip. She took a step back, pressing her spine flat against the cold steel wall of the elevator. Her fingers gripped her velvet clutch so tightly her knuckles turned white.
Jarrod noticed the sudden movement. He turned his head. He looked at her rigid posture, the wild, calculating look in her gray eyes. A slow, knowing smirk touched his lips. He was watching a trapped bird looking for an open window.
Ding.
The elevator stopped. The doors slid open, revealing a massive, dimly lit foyer with a heavy, matte-black steel door at the end.
𝗗𝘰w𝘯𝘭o𝗮d 𝘗𝘋𝖥𝘴 frе𝗲 𝗼𝘯 𝗴𝘢𝗅𝘯ov𝗲𝗹𝘴.𝖼𝗈𝗺
Jarrod stepped out of the elevator. He took two strides toward the door.
Caroline saw the gap. Her brain screamed at her to move.
She stumbled forward, her four-inch stilettos completely compromising her center of gravity. She didn’t run toward the apartment; she pitched wildly to the side, losing her balance as she desperately reached out, her hand slamming toward the “Close Door” button on the elevator panel, praying to trap herself inside and ride it back down to the street.
But before her trembling finger could even brush the plastic button, a massive, immovable force caught her from behind.
Jarrod’s thick left arm wrapped around her waist like a steel vice. He effortlessly hauled her backward, ripping her away from the control panel while keeping his injured right arm pinned carefully to his side, his face tightening momentarily with the strain of the sudden shift in weight.
Caroline gasped as her back crashed against his rock-hard chest. She kicked her legs, trying to break his grip, but he didn’t even flinch.
A low, dark chuckle vibrated against her ear.
“Did you honestly think,” Jarrod whispered, his breath hot against her neck, “that I would let you run away the second we reached my front door?”
“Let me go!” Caroline hissed, her heart hammering wildly. “I want to go back to my apartment!”
“This is your apartment now,” Jarrod stated coldly.
He didn’t waste another second arguing. He used his left hand to swipe the keycard over the biometric lock on the black steel door. The heavy deadbolts retracted with a loud, mechanical thud.
The door swung open.
Jarrod leaned down, his left arm scooping under her knees as he forced her to lean into his broad chest, using his shoulder to stabilize her since his right arm remained immobilized by his injury. He guided her across the threshold with a grim, practiced efficiency.
Caroline shrieked. Her hands instinctively flew up and clamped tightly around his thick neck to stop herself from falling. In the scuffle, her velvet clutch slipped from her fingers and dropped to the floor just inside the foyer with a muffled thud.
“Put me down!” Caroline demanded, her face burning hot with humiliation and panic. “I can walk!”
Jarrod ignored her completely. He guided her deeper into the penthouse, his heavy boots echoing on the hardwood.
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