CATCH (The Billionaire's Rules, Book 14) by Kelly Favor Read Free Book Online

CATCH (The Billionaire’s Rules, Book 14)
    I can’t do this .
    Lanie tried to breathe but her throat felt closed.
    I can’t. I cant.
    She’d been blindfolded. And the darkness was total, complete.
    Even though she knew intellectually that the piece of cloth could easily be untied or removed, her fear was mounting. Growing until it was something closer to terror.
    “Lanie,” Brayden said, his voice startlingly close.
    “Yes?” she said, her voice tiny, squeaking with anxiety.
    “Calm down,” he said. “You’re breathing very fast and we haven’t even started yet.”
    I can’t do this. This is too much.
    But how to explain it to him? She felt humiliated at the prospect of telling Brayden Forman that she was afraid of the dark.
    What a silly, silly fear. And this wasn’t even like being locked in a dark closet or something. She was merely blindfolded.
    This would surely be the last straw and Brayden would realize that she wasn’t worth the effort.
    “Do I have to be blindfolded?” she said. Her hands clenched.
    “Is it a problem?”
    Yes. Yes. Yes, it’s a problem.
    “I’m just…I don’t understand what’s going on,” Lanie replied, and her voice sounded far less panicked to her ears than she in fact felt.
    Get this fucking thing off of me. I can’t see. Help me.
    “Lanie, relax and sit back,” Brayden said. “No more questions.”
    She felt movement and realized that he’d begun driving once again, and that he expected her to actually sit there, in the dark, for however long he wanted her to sit like that.
    How dare you? She thought, even as she knew there was no way he could suspect her phobia.
    She tried to just relax. Lanie knew she was safe with Brayden, but no matter how much she told herself that, all she could feel was the pounding in her chest, the sweat on her forehead, the shaking inside, and the sudden certainty that she couldn’t breathe.
    Her hands reached up to touch the silky cloth of the blindfold.
    “Don’t do that,” he said, his voice taking on a commanding tone that stopped her from moving further.
    “Brayden, I don’t feel well.”
    “Just be patient,” he said.
    “But—“
    “Everything’s fine. You need to let go.”
    But she couldn’t breathe. The darkness was total.
    I’m all alone. All alone.
    Please, no. Don’t leave me here.
    Her hands went to the blindfold as if they had a mind of their own.
    “Lanie, dammit.” His voice was unforgiving.
    Only, she didn’t care, because her fear was far too powerful to resist, no matter how much she wanted to make Brayden happy. Lanie ripped the blindfold off, blinking, reassuring herself that she could in fact still see.
    There was the road in front of her, and the headlights of cars driving past in the other lane, the red break lights of the cars directly in front of them.
    She turned and saw Brayden’s stern, disbelieving expression.
    “I can’t do this,” she said. “I don’t feel well. I’m sorry.”
    He glanced at her and then back to the road ahead. His jaw twitched. “You should not have done that.” His voice was flat.
    “I’m sorry,” she mumbled.
    “What’s wrong with you?” he asked.
    She shrugged, but the acidic tone of his voice made her stomach twist.
    You should tell him the truth.
    Lanie imagined herself telling Brayden that she was scared of the dark, but the words wouldn’t come. He wouldn’t understand. He wasn’t weak, he wasn’t frightened of things.
    He would laugh, tell her she was being silly and he would see it as weakness.
    It was weakness.
    Lanie hated that she was so scared of so much in this world. But telling Brayden Forman about her childhood fears was not something she could bring herself to do.
    Not now. Maybe not ever.
    When Lanie finally spoke, her tone was one of sharp frustration. “I told you I don’t feel well. Now please, can we drop it? I don’t have to be blindfolded, do I? Because if I need to be blindfolded to continue this—whatever this is—then you