“I wasn’t judging you,” she said. “I’ve enjoyed more than my share of meaningless hookups.”
Was that supposed to reassure him?
Dios.
Abruptly rolling onto his back, he threw an arm over his face.
Why didn’t she get a little salt to rub into the wound?
“You’re right, I don’t want to hear this,” he muttered.
He felt her turn to press against his side, her hand lightly running over his chest in a gesture of apology.
“Luc, let me finish,” she softly pleaded.
He refused to look at her. Maybe he was being childish. After all, he couldn’t deny that he’d had a few one-night stands in his past. And while he had never intentionally used a woman, there might have been a few who had wanted more than he was willing to offer.
But the thought that Sophia could ever have dismissed their powerful connection as a meaningless bout of lust pissed him off.
Royally.
“Say it,” he snarled.
“I was lying to myself.”
“About what?”
There was the slightest hesitation before she heaved a deep sigh.
“About you and why I was terrified to let you into my bed.”
He lowered his arm, grudgingly meeting her troubled gaze. “Then what was the reason?”
“I was afraid I would never let you out of it.”
The blunt words hung in the air as Luc allowed them to slowly ease the sick ball of dread that had lodged in his gut.
At last he lifted a hand to lightly touch her pale cheek. “Sophia?”
“My wolf recognized you from the beginning,” she admitted. “It understood... .”
“Don’t stop now, cara,” he coaxed, desperately needing to hear the words.
“It understood that you belong to me.”
“Ah.”
The emerald eyes flared at his noncommittal response. “I warned you that you wouldn’t want to know.”
His laughter was filled with pure joy as he rolled her beneath him, pinning her to the mattress with his much larger body.
“How could you possibly think I wouldn’t want to know how you feel?” he growled, not certain if he wanted to shake her or kiss her senseless.
The damned female could make him feel as uncertain and awkward as a pup.
Her eyes widened as she felt the blunt tip of his erection settle at the moist entrance between her legs.
“You came here for a job, not to become mated.”