Chapter 3

After lying on the guest bed for half an hour, the burning emptiness in Georgia's stomach became unbearable.

She kicked off the velvet duvet and planted her bare feet on the cold hardwood floor. Even if she had to chew on raw celery, she needed food now. Cracking the door open, she slipped out into the dim hallway, taking the back corridor to avoid running into Martha.

As she tiptoed past the dead-end corner near the service elevator, a heavy mechanical lock clicked loudly from a reinforced steel door set into the wall.

Georgia gasped, flattening her back against the wallpaper in the shadows as the steel door slid open. She recognized it immediately from the book: the entrance to Garrett's underground safe room, a private bunker filled with ice baths and medical restraints where he locked himself away to survive his violent intimacy addiction.

A wave of freezing air rolled into the hallway as Garrett stepped out. His black dress shirt was unbuttoned to his waist, exposing broad, sculpted pecs and tight abs. Cold water dripped from his dark hair, rolling down his sharp jawline and disappearing into his collarbone, his whole body radiating a raw, barely leashed savagery.

Hidden in the dim corner, Georgia's eyes glued themselves to the deep grooves of his eight-pack, and she swallowed hard, her throat making an audible click.

Garrett's head snapped toward the shadows, his ice-blue eyes locking onto her like a predator. In three long strides, his dress shoes echoed against the floorboards, trapping her against the corner wall.

"Are you spying on me?"

His voice was gravelly and ragged, thick with the lingering aggression of his condition. Georgia shrank back, shaking her head frantically.

"No! I was just starving and looking for the kitchen."

Garrett didn't buy it for a second. His right hand shot out, his fingers clamping around her thin wrist like an iron cuff.

The moment his skin touched hers, the frantic voice blasted straight into his brain again.

WTF! Those abs are insane! What was he doing down in the bunker? Didn't the book say he locks himself in ice water whenever his freaky sex addiction flares up?

Garrett's pupils contracted violently, his grip tightening until her wrist bones ground together.

Ow, ow, ow! Why is this psycho losing his mind? No wonder he ends up doing all that kinky stuff with Danica later in the plot, the man is a total beast!

At the name Danica, a cold jolt went down Garrett's spine, murderous intent flashing across his eyes. Nobody outside his personal physician knew about his neurological addiction or the bunker, and he had never heard the name Danica in his life.

He leaned down, his face inches from hers, his voice dropping to a lethal whisper.

"What else do you know?"

Terrified by the violent look in his eyes, Georgia forced tears into her eyes, her lower lip quivering.

"I don't know anything, I swear! I just got lost!"

Give this woman an Oscar! I read the whole damn book, I know all your dirty secrets backwards and forwards! Now let go of my arm so I can go find a cheeseburger!

Hearing the shameless bragging inside her head while looking at her trembling, tearful face, Garrett felt a bizarre mix of rage and sheer absurdity. He flung her wrist away and stepped back, his broad chest heaving as he forced his breathing under control.

The instant their skin separated, the hallway went dead quiet again, save for Georgia's fake sniffles.

Staring at his palm, Garrett finally accepted the impossible truth: he wasn't hallucinating. He could hear every single thought in his wife's head whenever he touched her. He looked Georgia up and down, studying her as if seeing her for the first time.

Rubbing her red wrist, Georgia edged toward the main corridor, ready to bolt. Garrett let out a short, cold laugh.

"The kitchen is to the left. Stay out of this wing."

Georgia didn't wait to be told twice; she spun around and sprinted down the hall, leaving Garrett standing in the shadows outside the steel door, his eyes gleaming with a cold plan to strip away every single one of her lies.