promised and make us some food to help get us through a long night ahead.
9
Sophia
For the first time in more years than I can remember, I sleep with no nightmares to tear at my soul.
When I wake, the shadows dance with the light as the day turns to dusk and I feel the cool leather against my cheek. For a moment I think I’m back at home in the mansion with Tobias—my brother. A sudden dart of worry pierces my heart and I sit up quickly, only to find a gentle hand reaching out and a gruff voice say, “Relax, darlin’, you’re safe.”
Turning, I see Maverick sitting beside me looking like hell and I stare at him in concern as he rakes his fingers through his hair and stares at me with pain-filled eyes. To my surprise, my first thought is of him and reaching out, I do something I’ve never had the bravery to do before and lightly stroke his cheek, saying with concern, “Tell me what’s wrong.”
He almost flinches under my touch and it makes me draw my hand back quickly as if it burns and I feel like a fool. He doesn’t want me to touch him, it’s obvious, he is just doing his job, after all.
As I look down, he reaches across and lifts my face to his and the fierce fire that blazes back at me makes me catch my breath as he growls, “What’s wrong, darlin’, is that everything’s changed.”
I feel the panic setting in as I sense change and wonder if he’s having second thoughts about helping me. It must show in my expression because he groans and pulls me close once again and whispers against my hair, “I’m not sure you’re safe with me. This was a bad idea.”
My first thought is to run because the fear of rejection is too much to bear because he is the first man I have ever opened up to and it’s obviously sickened him, so I make to pull away and he holds on tight, growling, “You’re going nowhere.”
“But…”
“You think I’m done with you, you’re wrong. You think your sorry tale has put me off, you’re wrong. You think you’re on your own, you’re so wrong. The reason everything’s changed is because we’ve changed. How can I walk away now? How can I turn my back on something that stirred feelings inside me I never knew were possible for me? When you opened up to me, Sophia, it triggered a reaction that I never saw coming. Watching you sleep, cemented a feeling I knew as soon as I saw you in the forest. Your problem is my problem and that is why everything’s changed. I don’t want this, hell, I’ve been running from it for as many painful years as I can remember. I let no one in and that’s just the way I like it. But you—you’re different and that is what I’m finding so hard to reason with. You see, Sophia Moretti, you are trouble for me and I don’t like trouble. My first instinct is to run. Take off and never look back.”
“Then why don’t you?”
My heart beats so fast it’s like a pressure cooker building steam and once again I feel an incredible urge to do something I’ve never done before. So, with a bravery that comes from nowhere, I stare at those malevolent eyes and whisper, “Will you help me, Maverick?”
I can see he’s conflicted and fighting an inner battle that I can only watch from afar, praying the right emotion will win in the end because I want something from him, I never thought I’d ask for.
His breathing is erratic and any control he once had is hanging by a thread as he says gruffly, “What do you want from me, Sophia?”
Closing my eyes tightly shut, I press my lips to his before I can change my mind and for a moment, I think he’s going to pull away. There’s a slight hesitation and yet I keep my mouth pressed to his until he groans and grabs the back of my head and grinds his lips to mine in an act of pure desperation. My lips part as he forces them open and as his tongue enters my mouth and claims its territory, I feel a shiver pass through me that ignites a fire inside that has been waiting its whole life for a spark. His scent fills my senses and his rough stubble grazes my skin, reminding me