Paradise Found: Cain (Paradise #2)(11)

When I returned to my suite, I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was. She was gone. Her scent lingered on the sheets, but nothing else remained. I’d persuaded her roommates, one of which happened to be the resort owner’s daughter, into sending her suitcase to my room. I didn’t even have a sense that she’d showered. In my mind’s eyes, I could picture her leaving; just like she’d done that morning after…that day my father intruded and kicked her out of my room. The pain in her eyes as she questioned me, whispering my name in confusion; it gutted me. This morning, she would have dressed quickly and wheeled her case down the hall, attempting to disappear from my life.

Only this time, I knew where she was, and I wasn’t letting her get away so easily.

I’d already sent my keys to Abel’s room, hoping he would escape the devil’s hold, so I didn’t have my SUV. I’d have to take Kursch’s truck, as I couldn’t wait for a flight back to the Valley. I would be too wound up to sit still on an airplane anyway. I needed to feel in control and driving was the only way that would happen. Without giving much explanation, Kursch willingly handed over SUV keys and sent me on my way. I trusted he’d be following on the next flight out of Vegas.

Crossing the desert of Nevada was my penance. I’d been too brash with her this morning. Sofie’s shock at discovering we were still married was etched in her sweet face, which paled at my revelation. Her struggle for words was further evidence of her surprise. Being married to me was the last thing she wanted. The sooner I returned to the Valley, the sooner I found Sofie; the sooner we’d finalize our divorce. The problem was, I hadn’t convinced myself.

My heart rate spiked as I drummed the steering wheel, willing myself to go faster than the almost hundred miles per hour I was attempting. I needed to take care of things, once and for all, with Sofie. Let her go and move on. It was the right thing to do, but I never did the right thing. As much as I wanted to keep her, I had to free her. The divorce would assure her safety from my world. The only issue was; I’d been holding on for almost a year. When she didn’t sign those papers, I hoped it was for some other reason. And hope was a dangerous word. I’d had the internal conversation a million times with myself. Maybe she didn’t want to divorce me, just didn’t know how to find me. However, I wasn’t difficult to find. I was a prizefighter, a champion in the circuit. I argued Sofie wasn’t familiar with the fight world. I had to laugh as I remembered her asking me if MMA was an academy. She was so innocent. The curve of her ripe lips. The sweet sparkle to her eyes. The tenderness of her skin.

My foot pushed the pedal further to the floor. She could have found me, I reasoned, but then I remembered the way she left my room at her grandparents’ inn. She didn’t look back. It had to be me who searched for her, and that’s just what I’d done. I filed for divorce: assuring my father I would handle “the situation” as he called it. My indiscretion, he cursed. I had been too late, though. She left for Italy. I’d sent the papers to her grandparents, but she was gone on her semester abroad. That was the reason she hadn’t signed the damn papers. It had nothing to do with wanting me.

My palm beat against the steering wheel, causing it to shudder under the force. “Fuck!” I cursed and the sound echoed back through the empty SUV. I needed to get to the Valley. I needed to return if I wished to let her go. The problem was…I didn’t.





It had only been one day. Twenty-four hours. I returned to Lindee Parks’ room, scowling at Lucie, for letting my things be moved to Cain’s room. She didn’t know the extent of my history with him. How could I tell my friends that I’d married a man I hardly knew, on the first night we met? And suddenly, I’d found out we were still married? I couldn’t even comprehend this bizarre situation myself, let alone try to explain to others what I’d done. What I’d done was be tempted by a snake, seduced by his charm, and warmed by his body. In reality, it wasn’t as cut and dry as that sounded.

Cain Callahan had come to the vineyard to escape. He’d killed a man, and he wanted some peace to process what he’d done. I only knew these things upon deep reflection after he left. During his visit, I had become a distraction. I wasn’t so full of my own self-confidence to think I had tempted him. On the contrary, I had been played by the master of seduction. His focus on me preoccupied his mind from the real world, at least for twenty-four hours.

I was considered sweet, driven, and focused. I had a plan. I was going to be a doctor. The death of my parents had been the force pushing me in the direction of medical school. I didn’t want what happened to them to happen to others. Because of this future goal, I didn’t date. I didn’t party. I didn’t do much of anything outside my scheduled world of study and work. At Preston University, I was a senior, and I had a job this past semester as a TA. I worked at my grandparents’ vineyard on long weekends. That’s how I was home the previous summer and met Cain Callahan.

Lucille Cecilia Moretti, otherwise known as Lucie, had become my best friend, while we were overseas in Italy. I didn’t have many friends outside of her. She was observant and hadn’t missed my not-so-discreet obsession with all things Cain Callahan. When she asked me about him, I replied minimally, often closing out the Internet screen and fumbling to find an answer for her question: What are you doing looking at images of the Cobra? It was a very good question, and one I wished I could honestly answer. I should have forgotten him. The way he left me was etched in my memory. His cold dismissal, as his father implied I was like any other slut Cain had used for a night. His hard face was bronzed in my mind as I returned the ring to him, one more time, then fled the room like the hussy I felt myself to be. Thrown out of our private Garden of Eden, a night of pure seduction, I was cursed to live alone.