The various detritus littering the floor was a testament to how pissed and scared Sadie was when she woke up. She threw everything she could – plates, books, lamps, cups. Though she managed to restrain herself when it came to the goldfish. Goldy narrowly escaped death by flinging.
The first thing she saw on waking was Lorenzo. She had a pleasurable second or two as she recognized him – happily thinking that they had hooked up – right before she remembered what happened. Or rather, remembered what didn’t happen. There was no hookup, no sexy, adventurous sex, there had only been a sudden trip into snoozeland which she figured was due to some kind of chloroform. Biggest disappointment of her life.
Then she realized that not only was she lacking a warming memory of having spent a night with the sexiest man she ever met, but she wasn’t in her own bedroom – wasn’t even in her own apartment. Nope, she had been kidnapped. That was what started the desire to throw anything and everything that came to hand.
Her panic had mostly been about Mandy – fearing for her little girl. But when she really came round, she gathered her wits and thoughts and remembered that Mandy was safe. Well, she was with her father, so safe enough, and at least away from whatever mess she was in.
Lorenzo had merely looked resigned as she hit him square in the forehead with a random paperback copy of Lady De Villiers Takes a Lover. Not a short read; it probably hurt. But, all he did was sigh and mutter something about getting her some breakfast.
Sadie quickly realized that she wasn’t alone. Nope, there were three other women from the speed dating event. One was still asleep, another appeared to be meditating, and the third was definitely freaking out.
Her eyes flicked around the room. It was plain but nice, airy and well kept. Not exactly a prison cell, but, she definitely hadn’t been brought there of her free will and were those her suitcases?!
Her jaw nearly hit the floor as she realized her two-piece matching set was there, and when she delved inside them, she found they contained her clothes, her underwear, and her freaking toothbrush. Well, it would have been more shocking if they were someone else’s underwear and clothes, but it was still pretty shocking.
“What the f...”
She looked up sharply as the door opened and a small Latina woman bustled through carrying a huge tray.
“You ladies must be hungry,” she said with a bright smile. “I brought breakfast.”
Sadie stared at her. Worry started to creep in that perhaps she was losing her mind. Could this be any more surreal? “Breakfast? Breakfast?!”
Al’s lawyer had seriously tried to infer that she was a little cuckoo at the various court hearings she had been subjected to – as apparently, she would have to be crazy to want to leave her husband. But she hadn’t actually considered there could be any truth in it until that moment.
“What the hell is going on?” demanded Sadie.
The small woman’s smile barely dimmed. “Oh, baby, you have nothing to be afraid of – you’ve just been brought here to be a bride of a jaguar.”
The meditating woman gaped at her. The timid woman gasped.
“Bride of a jaguar?” repeated Sadie slowly, not trusting her own ears.
The small woman nodded happily. “Yes, you have been brought here to be a bride. You have nothing to fear.”
“Yeah, see, those statements don’t really go together.” She ran her hands down her face. “Bride of a jaguar? Bride of a freaking jaguar?”
Then a small bubble of laughter erupted out of her mouth. Followed by another, and then another until she was laughing uncontrollably. The three other conscious women in the room watched her with a mixture of horror and concern, but Sadie could not stop laughing.
Hands down, it was the funniest and craziest thing she ever heard.
*
“This is your room,” murmured Lorenzo, shouldering his way into a bright, white bedroom.
“Aha,” muttered Sadie, eyeing him warily.
Though, it had to be said not quite as warily as he was eyeing her. Given that he was the one who kidnapped her, his suspicion was a little rich in her opinion. But, she wasn’t panicking. She wasn’t worrying. Nope, she was remaining calm and remaining practical about it. She needed to get out of there as quickly and carefully as possible. She had no idea who these people were or how they were going to react to anything, so she had to be cautious. Particularly when it came to mentioning Mandy. The last thing she wanted was to admit she had a daughter and have them track her down and drag her into this awful mess.
Sadie had already lied about herself, pretending she was merely a traveling sales rep working for a cosmetics company. Well, it was half true anyway. She just neglected to mention that the only traveling she did was in getting away from her ass of a husband.
She desperately wanted to see Mandy again, wanted to hear her sweet voice, needed to know she was okay, but she wasn’t about to blurt out the truth to her kidnapper. Not when he was looking at her like he suspected her of serial puppy kicking.
“That’s your bed,” he muttered, dumping her heavy suitcases on top of it.
Sadie felt a flash of amusement. “What really? This is the bed?” she asked pointing at it. “I could have sworn it was that large cupboard-type object in the corner.”
Lorenzo gave her a slight smile. It nearly cracked his face. He was handsome, but he was hardly Mr. Jolly Happy Pants – who was a clown she once hired for one of Mandy’s birthday. There was not an animal alive he could not make out of balloons, and he was seriously happy all the time. She supposed he would be, given that he had a hot wife and three girlfriends. Apparently, some women found clowns sexy.
“You wouldn’t last a day as a bellhop,” she teased mildly.
Lorenzo grunted. “You need anything?”
Hmmm? Freedom? To speak to her daughter?
“My phone?” she suggested, knowing that was a non-starter.
Maria – the small, friendly Latina woman – told her they would get them back after a period of two weeks. After the ‘wooing’ was over.
“Except for that.”
“A quart of vodka?” she quipped.
“I’m sure I can arrange some vodka.”
“Maybe not. I could do with keeping my wits about me.”
Sadie pouted slightly, considering that she would actually like a cigarette. But, she decided against it. If she started, she wasn’t sure she would be able to stop.
Lorenzo stared at her for a few beats before he finally said, “I’ll leave you to it.” He stomped out of the room none too gracefully.
“You will?” she said peevishly, “how kind.”
He looked up; his eyes shimmered slightly. She thought he was going to say something, but no, he just shook his head.
Sadie rolled her eyes, gave him a smile and then slammed the door in his face. So far, his wooing left a lot to be desired, though a treacherous part of her couldn’t help the sigh and shiver that just the thought of him elicited.
There was a strange, disloyal part of her that wasn’t completely peeved at being kidnapped by him. No, that part was a little bashful, a little flattered and completely smitten. That part of her actually wanted to stay put, to see where this whole kidnapping thing went. That part of her also liked weepy romantic movies where one of the main characters always died. The theme music for that part of her was The Way We Were.
Thankfully, that part was being drowned out by the smothering mother part of her. The strongest part of her – the one that always put Mandy first. That part of her that was prepared to stroll over hot coals and sky dive over live volcanoes for her baby. The theme music for that part of her was Ride of the Valkyries, and right now, that part of her was telling her she needed to get out of there and make sure her baby was safe.