this man is no gentleman, he’s rough, dirty and feral and it feels amazing.
Then he pulls back and it’s like a bucket of icy water dousing the flames as he tears away and groans, “This isn’t right.”
Once again, I feel the rejection and the tears burn as I say in a small voice, “Then I’ll go.”
I make to stand and a hand shoots out and grasps my wrist so hard I wince with the pain and he says roughly, “I said you’re going nowhere. What I mean is, this isn’t right because you have just told me something that changes things. I don’t want to be another monster taking advantage of a young innocent girl. That’s not what happens here. You trusted me and I’ll not take advantage of that. The thing is, you have asked for something I am only too eager to follow through for my own selfish reasons. But not now, not under these circumstances and not until you are sure.”
“But…” His hand silences my mouth and his eyes soften into two liquid pools of desire mixed with yearning. “I want you Sophia, so badly I don’t know what to do about it. My greatest fear is that you won’t want me when you know the truth and so I’m shutting this down now, before either of us gets hurt. I’ll not be the man who takes advantage of a young girl who doesn’t know what dancing with the devil involves, so settle back and I’ll give you that food I promised and you can tell me why the fuck you think you killed your parents.”
His words bring me back to reality and I slump back against the seat and feel the pain twist inside me like an angry knife that just won’t go away. He reaches across and grabs a plate filled with a sandwich and some potato chips and says huskily, “Eat, there’s some water here to keep a clear head. You’re to eat and tell me the rest, so we can work out what we’re gonna do about it.”
I nod with an acceptance that surprises me. He wants me to open up to him and I thought I already had. But he wants it all. The whole sorry tale and the bare bones of my soul. He will not rest until I have shared something with him of which I’m not sure I can form the words, let alone say out loud, so while I eat, I try to work out how on earth I’m going to get through the night ahead.
10
Maverick
Watching Sophia eat is torture of the worst kind. Every mouthful she takes reminds me of a very different thing we could be doing right now, but I’m not ready for that. The fact she’s even here is going against every instinct I have because Sophia Moretti is my ruin. She just doesn’t know that yet and I’m the fucking idiot for letting her bring me down.
She finishes up and hands me the plate gratefully. “Thank you, I didn’t realize how hungry I was.”
Our fingers brush as I take the plate and that one simple act causes every nerve in me to stand to attention.
Setting it down on the side table, I say gruffly, “So, what happened next?”
She looks down and my first instinct is to grab her hand and hold it in mine, squeezing it with a reassurance she badly needs.
Sighing, she says in a sad voice, “I waited for Carlos for the whole day and night. I thought he’d gone for food, but it soon became obvious he wasn’t coming back. His bag was gone and I felt like such a fool it took me so long to register that simple fact. I was destroyed, Maverick. I felt used, dirty and like a cheap whore who surrendered something so valuable to a monster. I hated myself more than him and that feeling has never left me. After a while, I faced the facts and called a cab to take me home. The trouble was, as soon as I got there, I knew something bad had happened.”
She breaks off and puts her head in her hands and the grief visits her for a second wave. I rub her back and say nothing because she needs to deal with this in her own way.
“There were so many guards, I knew immediately something bad had happened. They were running around with an urgency that was different. Once the cab stopped, I was told to