Paradise Found: Cain (Paradise #2)(40)

She was silent again, and it never occurred to me that Sofie would be at any risk with her own family. I didn’t think it particularly unusual to be in a woman’s room, but for Sofie, this experience was all new. While I didn’t like to think other men had been here, it never crossed my mind that others might not. Used to coming and going as I pleased, I didn’t account for women with my father, who paid for my first experience to find I’d already lost my virginity on my own. I also didn’t bring women home, so it wasn’t an issue.

“What about your grandmother?”

“She’d take one look at you and love you, while she hated you.”

I laughed, uncertain why I found that humorous. “What does that mean?”

“Judging you from the outside, she’d think you were a lost soul, and you needed protection. She would want to love you, help you. But she’d also hate that you looked hard, like you could hurt me, and she’d recognize that you could.”

I needed a moment with what she said.

“What about you? First impression,” I asked, a slight smile in my tone.

“I ... I hate that I knew I could love you. Not to help you, but to help me. I knew you could hurt me, but I wasn’t able to deny the attraction.”

“Help you?”

She was silent. For a second, I thought I heard a sniffle like she was crying. I should have sat up to look. I should have checked on her, but I was afraid to move. I worried any sudden movement would stop her from opening up to me.

“I ... I don’t think I can say,” she sniffle-laughed. She was crying and I wanted to comfort her. I wanted to slither up the bed, and take her in the best way possible, to make her tell me how she felt. But the truth was, if I knew her feelings, and they didn’t match mine, I wouldn’t be able to handle the words.

“Sofie, sweet apple, tell me.”

“I’m not the right girl for you, Cain. I’m foolish to believe I ever was. I’m not like you. I’m not like her…”

“Who’s her?”

“Malinda,” she said, sounding exasperated.

“I didn’t sleep with Malinda,” I sputtered.

“Recently or ever?” she asked instantly.

“Do you really want an answer?” I asked, uncertain why she cared, but then again, I knew why I cared about the mysterious Jacob.

“Never mind. You just answered.” Her voice was so soft; I hardly heard it. The shaky sound convinced me that more tears fell. My fist clenched and banged lightly on the floor. The conversation was veering off in a direction I didn’t wish to discuss.

“Recently,” I offered. “I haven’t slept with her recently. I didn’t think I’d ever see you again, but once I discovered you were back from Italy in January … I’ve been waiting.” If I wanted her to trust me, I had to give her truth. “I want you to know that I’m clean. It’s been months since I’ve been with anyone. I’m sorry for being with someone other than you. You’re the only one I want.”

She didn’t answer me, and I waited an eternity of minutes before I called her name, breaking the deafening sound of her silence.

“Go to sleep, Cain. I’m tired,” she said with a stifled yawn. It didn’t sound real, but we were used to pretending with one another.





Eventually I slept, although I’d been restless. Sobs choked me as I tried to contain them from his admission of sleeping with someone other than me in the last year. He was a man with strong desires, but I had them, too. I just didn’t intend to follow through on them randomly. I’d already made that mistake once. With him.

The sense of panic the following morning was unexpected. When I heard the flush from my bathroom and then saw Cain enter my room in tight, navy blue boxer briefs, my breath hitched at the sight of him. He was tattooed glory with that angry snake coiling across his chest, then slithering and swirling down his right arm. The tongue flicked out of the open mouth at the base of his arm. The telling words on his left arm stated his commitment to his brother. All marks were in the traditional dark ink. He had no color on him unlike his brother, Abel, whose bright aquatic motif was beautiful and brilliantly matched with his blue eyes.

Cain caught me staring at him and he paused at the foot of my bed.

“Good morning,” he said quietly.

“Where are you going?” I answered, a touch of unnecessary fear in my voice.

“Nowhere,” he responded, then braced his large hands on the edge of my bed, on either side of my covered feet. His eyes focused on mine and I watched as he slowly crawled upward, straddling my legs with his thick thighs. His mighty chest came toward me. His body slowly crept to cover me. On instinct, I cautiously sat up, pressing my body against my pillow and then the headboard, as if the strength at my back could support me. When he looked at me like that, I had no backbone with this man.

“Forgive me.” That was all he said. “I’ll file the papers and set you free.”

My heart pinched for some reason. His dark eyes focused on mine. Orbs of blackness swirled. The air was being sucked from me. Hypnotized by the seductive glare, I didn’t move. I couldn’t nod in agreement. I couldn’t work my mouth to say I approved. My heart began to slow.

“But I want one thing first.”