Heir to a Dark Inheritance - By Maisey Yates Page 0,34
would. There is a line in the sand that even I won’t cross. But I think you’re afraid of what might happen if I get too close. Of what might happen if I touch you. Kiss you again.”
He took a step forward, watching as her pupils expanded, making her eyes appear darker, more seductive, watching her pulse throb at the base of her throat, revealing just how unnerved she was. Revealing just how turned on she was, he suspected.
“Yes, you’re afraid of that,” he said. “So afraid of my touch.” Nearly as much as he was coming to fear hers. What it did to him. But in keeping with his character, the more dangerous something seemed, the more he wanted it.
He extended his hand, intent on cupping her cheek, feeling her silken skin beneath his fingertips and Jada jerked back like she’d seen a snake.
Jada was mainly horrified that she’d wanted to lean into his hand, that she’d longed to feel his skin against hers again. That she wanted more than what she’d gotten last night when she should really hope nothing like it ever happened again.
He was wrong, though. She wasn’t afraid of him. She was afraid of herself.
“Just because I don’t want it, doesn’t mean I’m afraid.”
“You do want it, though,” he said.
“No.” She bent down and scooped Leena up into her arms. “I don’t. I have too much going on in my life, and frankly, so do you. We have a daughter. We have a daughter together. That means we have to be able to parent together.”
“I told you, I doubt I will be doing much in the way of parenting.”
“I think you will,” she said, challenging him. The way he’d challenged her. “I think you’re going to have to. Leena isn’t an accessory to add to your home. She’s not a vase that has been in your family for generations that you’re owed based on lineage—she’s your blood. Not a thing you hold rights to.”
“It is not for my own sake that I thought to avoid her, but for hers. Don’t ask why, because you know the answer.”
She did. She knew why. Alik said the worst things at the worst possible times, and that was when he wasn’t trying to hurt anyone. He just seemed to be missing that place inside of him that should be filled with emotion and empathy. He was void there.
The realization, the image of an empty hole in his chest where his heart should be, made her own heart feel pain. It wasn’t fair. Alik had never had a chance. He had never had love or family. He’d grown into the man he was thanks to circumstances, but even though so much of it wasn’t his fault, it didn’t make it any less difficult for him to deal with. It didn’t make it any less real.
“I know you might not know this,” she said, “since you didn’t know your parents, but children are able to forgive a lot of shortcomings. Because they are born loving you, trusting you. At the moment, you have that love, that trust. No matter what you say, no matter what you intend to do, no matter how distant you want to be, you will be Leena’s father. And if you never try, she will have a lifetime of pain, disappointment and the breaking of that bond. Because she has that bond, Alik.”
“She doesn’t seem to like me,” he said, looking down on Leena’s head.
“She does. And she will more as she gets older. She’ll love you, Alik. You will be her hero. It’s how a little girl looks at her father. It’s how I looked at mine. He died when I was seventeen, and it was such a shock. He’d seemed invincible to me. Superman. I always felt safe with my father around.”
“How did he die?”
“My parents were older. I was a late-in-life surprise for them. I came sixteen years after their last child, my much-older brother. They were wonderful, and I didn’t get enough time with them. But my father…He taught me what to expect from a man in terms of treatment, simply by treating me like a princess. I would never have settled for less, because without words he showed me what it was I deserved. You have the chance to do that for her. Or not.”
“I need to go and ensure all is going as it should with the packing.”
“Of course,” she said.
Alik turned and walked out of the room, and a flood