Escaping Reality

leasing office providing me
    instructions for my work assignments and a needling begins inside me. Why
    exactly would my handler leave anything with anyone for me?
    Approaching my apartment door, I dig for my key, and will my nerves
    to calm down. The “zone” my fake self slides into to perform seems to be
    pretty much non-existent where Liam is concerned, and I have to find it
    now. For his own good.
    Somehow, I unlock the door with a steady hand. The walls I erect
    while inside my zone are trying to form, but they are as paper-thin as my
    ability to resist this man. Entering the hallway, Liam is on my heels, but I
    pause in front of him, and I flip on the light, stalling to inhale a deep breath
    before letting him follow me forward. I turn to wait on him to shut the
    door, blocking his entry, a soldier drawing a hard line.
    He arches a brow and I really wish he wasn’t so damn sexy when he
    did that. “Don’t jump to conclusions,” I warn. “The moving company lost
    my things. I’m filing a claim. I took out the insurance I needed so I’ll have
    my things replaced, so don’t go offering to help. I don’t need help.”
    “It could take weeks to get a check.”
    “I bought some things to get me by today.”
    He stares down at me with that unreadable mask he wears like a
    champion poker player, and then grabs my hand and says, “Show me.”
    “Show you what?”
    “Exactly what you have to survive on the next few weeks until you
    get a check.” He doesn’t give me time to argue, dragging me with him to
    the bedroom, and straight to my closet.
    I cringe when he opens the door to the empty room and then
    actually glares at me as if I’ve done something wrong. “What exactly is it
    that you bought to get you by?”
    “It’s not your business to—”
    “I’m making it my business.” He releases my hand and walks to the
    dresser, opening several empty drawers and removing the limited items I
    purchased yesterday, setting them all on the bed. “This is what you call
    getting by?” He looks at a price tag and grimaces. “A couple of outfits from
    the bargain racks and not much else?”
    My defenses prickle. “I’m not spending money I don’t have to.”
    He grabs me and sits down on the bed, leading me between his legs,
    his fingers playing on my hips, his mouth pressing to my belly. It’s so
    unexpected that my mood softens instantly and I almost forget how
    overbearing he is being. “Change clothes and let’s get out of here,” he says
    softly. “I don’t like this apartment or you in it.”
    My suspicion over him not pushing me on the purchase of more
    clothing takes a backseat to his concern over my living arrangements.
    “What’s wrong with this place and me in it?”
    “Aside from me preferring you in my hotel and my bed, I don’t like
    the premise of a boss you’ve never met arranging your lease.”
    He is turning the pages on my cover story far too quickly. “Lots of
    employers line up housing when employees relocate.”
    “Not for an employee they don’t intend to keep for more than a few
    months.”
    “My ex-boss is good friends with him and all he did was contact his
    realtor to find me something.”
    “Are you certain he’s not on the lease and has no access to the
    apartment?”
    He hits a nerve that is already open. “Of course he doesn’t have
    access.”
    “Nevertheless, I’m going to get your locks changed.”
    “You can’t just decide to change my locks, Liam,” I say, despite that
    being exactly what I intend to do. I have to reel him in before he dials into
    things that get him into trouble. “And you can’t just take over my life.”
    “I’m not asking for a key.”
    “No. You’d just take one. And this isn’t about a key. It’s about you
    being assuming and bossy.”
    His hands slide under my dress, up the back of my thighs. “You like
    those things.”
    “Sometimes.” Often. Too often. I fear it speaks of just how much I’m
    breaking down again. “And those times usually include us not wearing
    clothing.”
    “Just stay with me at the hotel. Problem solved.”
    My desire to escape to his world and block out my own is so intense
    it’s frightening. Too easily he could leave and I will be broken and alone
    again. “I need to stay here and start making this home.”
    “I have room service, which lets us stay in bed longer and more
    often.”
    A knock sounds on the door and I tense before I can stop myself.
    “Expecting