Sin of Silence (Sinner's Empire #1) - Nikita Slater Page 0,103

and she suspected she was going to become quickly bored with having such easy access to everything. It was Jozef who made her look forward to waking up each day, despite waking up in a mansion filled with intrigue and criminals. She could no longer deny it, she was falling for her darkly handsome kidnapper.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Shaun reached out tentatively and touched the scar on his throat. “When did it happen?”

He hesitated, as if deciding how to answer. She suspected this was a topic he didn’t enjoy talking about, which was why she hadn’t brought it up before. Now that he seemed more willing to share with her, she wanted to know about him. About the kinds of things that had shaped the man he was now.

Finally, he told her, I was stabbed in the throat when I was seven. I don’t remember anything except waking up in the hospital with my aunt and uncle by my side. They told me my parents were both dead.

Shaun frowned and scooted closer to him on the couch, leaning in to examine the scar. This close she wasn’t able to sign, so she whispered, “Whoever stabbed you would have damaged your trachea, causing vocal cord paralysis. This is why you can’t speak, isn’t it?”

Shaun had suspected, but she hadn’t put a lot of thought into why Jozef communicated nonverbally. His lack of speech could have been something he was born with, completely unrelated to the knife to his throat, or it might have been psychological.

Jozef nodded, his head brushing hers as she leaned in to look at him.

“Whoever did this was either really bad at aiming, or they weren’t trying to kill you,” she murmured, almost to herself. “If I had to guess, I would say you were stabbed, straight in, straight out with a short blade. Your attacker was trying to damage your vocal cords.”

She glanced up at him and realized how close she’d gotten when his velvet blue gaze met hers, their face only inches apart. “Someone was trying to keep you from speaking.”

A slight frown pulled at his brow, as though she was giving him information he hadn’t known before. She wanted to ask him if he remembered anything, but he already told her he didn’t and she didn’t want to push.

She touched the rigid scar on his neck, running her fingertips over it and then lifting her fingers to touch his scruffy chin. He needed a shave. His facial hair grew quickly and even when he shaved in the morning, he usually needed another by the time evening came around. The dark hair against his pale jaw was sexy as hell.

The air surrounding them became charged with sexual tension as Shaun continued to stroke her fingers down the side of his face. She shouldn’t be doing it. She was reaching out and touching the forbidden, and if she wasn’t careful the forbidden was going to get her killed. Yet she felt helpless against the swirling chemistry that came to life whenever they were near each other. Like oppositely charged magnets, they were drawn together, even if they were better apart.

Slowly Jozef dropped his head to hers, resting his lips on hers. He waited, giving her the power to decide. Blood was rushing through her veins and each breath she took stuttered in, then whooshed out. She’d never felt this way with anyone before. As though she was sitting next to the one person on the planet who could possibly complete her. The idea was so wildly disconnected from all her usual cool logic that she was left floundering in a strange new world with only Jozef as her anchor.

She reached for him, sliding her arms around his neck and wiggling closer to him on the couch. She tilted her head up, pressing her lips against his. He didn’t hesitate. He took her invitation, gripping her around the waist and dragging her onto his lap until her knees fell open on either side of his body. He gripped her hard around the back and slashed his mouth across hers, kissing her with brutal desperation. It was painful, but also fierce and exhilarating, as though they couldn’t contain themselves anymore.

The kiss progressed quickly until Shaun was dragging Jozef’s coat from his shoulders, her hands clutching at the muscles of his back, while Jozef gripped her thighs so hard she was positive she would bruise.

He pushed her back on the couch, never breaking their kiss, and leaned across her, his chest pressed to