“You don’t need to be a prophet to know that a female who has been held in one prison after another doesn’t have a great deal of experience with men,” she said softly. “There were a few, of course, but not like a normal female would enjoy.”
He held her gaze, reaching up to press her fingers against his cheek. “Briggs?” he asked, referring to the demented Were that had helped to hold her hostage.
“What about him?”
“Briggs . . .”—he found it difficult to even utter the question—“never abused you?”
“Of course not.” She allowed a small, mysterious smile to curve her lips. “He was terrified of me.”
Caine released a shaky breath, savagely relieved that she hadn’t been harmed, even though he’d already suspected the truth.
The innocence shimmering in her eyes was more than just a lack of worldly experience.
“So you’re a . . .”
“Virgin.”
Chapter 3
Caine shuddered.
There . . . She’d said it.
The V word.
“Virgin,” he muttered.
She blinked, tugging her hand from his loose grip. “Why do you make it sound like a bad thing?”
“Not bad. Just . . .” He shoved his fingers through his hair. Dammit, how did he explain he wanted her so badly he could barely breathe, but she was depending on him to keep her safe? And to top it off, she was a damned virgin. Only an animal would take advantage of her. “Christ.”
“In the books that I used to read the males always seemed to appreciate the privilege of taking their mate’s innocence,” she mused.
He moaned, wondering if she were deliberately trying to torture him. “Let me guess,” he said in a thick voice. “You read romance books?”
“When Briggs would bring them to me. I liked them.” She tilted her chin. “In fact, I still do.”
Holy hell. Could this get any worse?
“Of course you do,” he muttered, regarding her warily. “But you understand that men aren’t really like the heroes in a story?”
“You are,” she said with a confidence that had him shaking his head in instant denial.
“No.”
“You rescued me from the demon lord.”
“Are you kidding me?” He stepped close enough to make sure that not even a vampire could overhear his words. “The only thing I did was stand in front of the bastard long enough to get myself killed and then mysteriously resurrected.”
“You led me out of the caves.”
“I was saving my own skin.”
“And now you have taken the role of my protector,” she said, clearly determined to see him as some sort of savior. A pathetic joke. “What is that if not heroic?”
He grasped her shoulders, gazing down at her wide eyes with a rising sense of frustration. “Shit, Cassie, if I was really heroic I would take you to your sisters where you would truly be protected and get the hell out of your life.”
She stiffened, clearly not eager to be reunited with her three identical sisters.