‘What was the man thinking, having this installed here?’ Ash’s growl impinged.
‘It is pretty unusual.’ She released a helpless laugh. ‘Did he think he was in danger or the end of the world was nigh?’
‘No.’ Ash shook his head. ‘I think it was the accessory du jour and he wanted to feel superior to his friends in his club. He’d hint and whisper but confirm nothing. My father did like keeping secrets.’
Hearing underlying rancour in his tone, Merle stilled. That edge of emotion flickered in his eyes. It made him even more beautiful. Merle stiffened. Never had she thought a man beautiful before... The bunker no longer felt spacious. Or safe. It was scarily exciting.
He rubbed his arm absently as he looked about the luxury lounge.
‘Are you cold?’ she unthinkingly observed aloud. ‘Maybe you should wear more clothes.’
He snapped his head back and turned a wicked smile on her. ‘Don’t you like to swim?’ he teased and stepped towards her. ‘It’s very warm this afternoon.’
It was extremely warm this afternoon. Truthfully, she was melting this second, but she wasn’t about to tell him that. She’d lost her ability to speak again and she just knew another scalding blush was mottling her skin.
‘You’re not a pool person? What about the beach?’ He cocked his head and chuckled at her. ‘Or is it just bubble baths for you?’
‘I didn’t want to disturb you,’ she muttered.
‘Too late, Merle.’ A heated glint flickered in his eyes. ‘But I’ve been hogging the pool, haven’t I?’
‘This is your home. I’m just working here.’
‘You’re also living here. You’re not supposed to work all day, you’re supposed to have breaks. If you like, I’ll vacate the pool area at a time that’s convenient to you.’
She met his gaze, stilling when she saw seriousness stealing that glint away. Stupidly another wave of heat overwhelmed her—how could she find him even more attractive just because he was being almost human?
She walked down the narrow corridor, more to escape him than to explore. But fascination and curiosity took hold as she ventured further into the pod. There was a bunk room gorgeously decorated in light colours, a sleek bathroom and beyond that a luxurious bedroom for two. The whole place was pristine and perfect and surprisingly cosy. It would be easy to forget you were deep underground. But then Ash followed her into the room and she remembered just how alone and isolated they were.
‘It’s better finished than most homes,’ she commented, purely to pierce the thickening atmosphere. Certainly it was nicer than the house she’d grown up in. ‘For a space likely never to be used, it’s extravagant, isn’t it?’
He merely nodded. Embarrassed, she realised that for him this wasn’t extravagant. He probably thought it sparse, given the luxury he was probably used to.
‘Anything archive-worthy?’ Ash asked.
‘I’m not sure.’ She glanced again at the concealed drawers and cupboards. If she were bolder, she’d check them out to see if anything was inside. But being down here was confusing her thinking. With Ash in the luxurious bedroom beside her, it felt as if the space was smaller. Intimate. Inescapable.
Her gaze was unerringly drawn back to him. He was watching her. Too close. The temperature soared. Her lungs squeezed and she swivelled to nervously step past him. She needed to get upstairs so she could breathe again. It wasn’t that she was claustrophobic, she was just too close to him. All of her usual reticence and caution had evaporated and she was tempted to act...wantonly.
It was imperative to put distance between them. Not because he was dangerous in a threatening way, more that he was too wicked and her own mind was turning towards temptation. She’d avoided temptation all of her life—but then, she’d never been confronted by anything or anyone who ignited it within her like this. But the current of awareness that sparked to life whenever Ash Castle so much as stepped into her line of sight wasn’t just unsettling, it was also unstoppable.
‘I’ll just...’ She breathed out, unable to regulate her racing heart. ‘I’ll just head back up.’
She glanced over again and was instantly snared in the crucible of his attention. She lost time—she didn’t know how much—as she strived not to crumble beneath the intensity of his killer eye-contact. Her temperature climbed and her pulse skipped and worst of all she was so sure he knew. Yet seconds stopped in the heat of that stare.
‘I’ll be back up in a moment,’ he muttered eventually.
Scalding humiliation flooded her as she scurried towards those steep stairs. That mortifying moment made her even more aware of her internal reaction to him. That raw physical response that was so strong, so primal. She had to get away and get herself under control. She climbed carefully, keeping her eyes fixed on each steep stair. But ten steps from the top she stopped, finally realising that there was no glow of sunlight shining down on her. No space where the hatch had been left open.
‘A-Ash?’ Sound struggled to emerge from her suddenly tight throat. ‘Ash?’
‘Yes?’ A second later he appeared on the bottom step. ‘What?’
But he could already see. He took the stairs two at a time and in a blink was too close behind her. Her heart galloped as she heard his sharply inhaled breath.
‘Merle?’
She could feel him only a step from her now but she couldn’t bear to face him as she admitted the awful truth. ‘I don’t think we can get out.’
CHAPTER FOUR
‘MERLE...’ A LOW hum of laughter emanated from him. ‘What did you do?’
‘I left it open. I know I left it open.’ Merle retreated down a few of the stairs to let Ash try the hatch, even though she was fatalistically certain he wasn’t going to be able to open it.
‘It must’ve closed automatically,’ he drawled.
‘Which means it must open automatically again, right?’ she rationalised, striving for calm. ‘With some other secret mechanism?’
‘Sure,’ he agreed, too equably.
But there were no levers or buttons or anything near. ‘If this place is that high-tech...isn’t there some retinal scan that would unlock the door in seconds?’
He glanced at her then, droll amusement oozing from him. ‘And if I had my dad’s eyeball in my pocket we could use that. Sadly, I don’t.’
Why wasn’t he bothered by this the same way she was?
Because he’s not bothered by you. Her subconscious whispered the biting truth. Or maybe it was because he knew exactly how to get them out and was merely teasing her?