Paradise Found: Cain (Paradise #2)(59)

There in laid another thing I wish I could change, but I had no control over. Unbeknown to her, I wanted the investigation reopened, but Kursch repeatedly convinced me against it. My father killed her parents. How sick and wrong was that? Yet here we were, drawn together. Or maybe, it was only I was drawn to her. She was sitting a million miles away from me on this couch in her tiny apartment, and my skin vibrated with her nearness. Every fiber of my being was on alert, sensing she was close, but she was so far away from me. Eventually, I saw her head nod forward. She jerked it back and her eyes sprang open.

“Are you falling asleep?” I teased, implying she was bored with my company. She was clearly tired, but I was just happy to be in her presence.

“No,” she shifted, placing her elbow on the edge of the couch, and propping her head on her hand. She stared at the television, as I did, for a few seconds longer before her head rolled forward again, and it fell off her hand.

“Tired?” I questioned.

“No.” She was a terrible liar, I was learning. Like telling me nothing was on her mind, when clearly she’d shifted from playful, laughing Sofie to Sofie lost in her head. Then telling me what she imagined shredded my heart. I put those images in her head, and I wanted to rip my heart out bare-fisted and throw it to the floor, to be stomped on a hundred times over. Her picturing me with Malinda was my fault. I hated the truth more; I had been with another woman. I’d destroyed my own false vows for fidelity, when I hadn’t considered them false.

When her head lulled forward again, I reached over and wrapped a hand around her back. Tugging her toward me, she shifted so she fell against my side, surprising me with the contact.

“Here,” I said, twisting my body and dragging her to lie between my thighs and rest against my chest.

“Cain,” she muttered, but I shushed her. Brushing back her hair, I stroked over her head and her eyes instantly shut.

“Are you studying too hard?” I teased again.

“I’m just not sleeping well, lately,” she muttered, her voice falling off as her body continued to relax against mine.

I shifted one more time, pushing my body down the couch and stretching out better to accommodate her weight on me. She moved with me, adjusting herself without even opening her eyes. Resting her head over my heart, she fell fast asleep.

I must have drifted off because I woke when I heard her murmur my name. Her eyes were still closed, her body restless. My hand came to her back to settle her as I kissed the top of her head. The storm had stopped a while back, but I didn’t want to mention it. I wasn’t ready to leave. The television was on; the sound so low I couldn’t hear what the actors were saying. She whimpered my name again, and I shushed her softly, brushing back her hair.

The touch of my hand on her forehead made her startle and she sat up, pressing her hands into my chest. Dazed, sleepy eyes looked at me.

“Cain?” Her voice was rough with sleep and sexy as hell because of it. Her eyes instantly filled with liquid and the blue clouded over. The first soft drop splashed onto my abs.

“What is it, love?” I asked, but the tears fell harder as she tenderly closed her eyes, shaking her head in refusal to answer.

“Sofie, my sweet temptation,” I whispered. “I’m sorry.” It was all I could think to say. If I said it a thousand times, it wasn’t going to be enough to mend her heart. To my surprise, she collapsed onto my chest again and slipped her arms around me. She squeezed me tight, her face buried into my skin. Every inch of me was on overload. My heart raced extra beats. My skin prickled with her touch, but her tears; they undid me. My arms slipped around her and I held her pressed to me.

“Sofie, you promised to never let me take advantage of you. But take advantage of me. What do you need from me? I’ll give you anything. I’ll do anything. Just tell me,” I begged. Literally. I needed her to guide me.

“Just,” she sobbed. “Just stay right here, for now,” she whimpered into my skin. My head shook back and forth as I squeezed her tighter against me. Leaning forward to kiss her hair, she quietly cried over my heart. I’ll never let you go, it beat.





In the morning, he was gone. I tried to convince myself I’d dreamt the whole night. His standing in the rain. His being in my space. His holding me. I had imagined it all, I determined as I stretched out in my bed, not even waking on the couch where I believed we had shared a moment. Had his presence been a hallucination? I thought so. He was a whisper in the dark. A hiss in the forest. A voice in my head. He couldn’t have been here, willingly comforting me. However, his scent lingered, and a piece of paper on the pillow held the image of two boxing gloves crossed over each other giving the subtle appearance of a heart. It occurred to me that this design was the same one under the logo for Eden2.

The truth also was I’d had another nightmare the night before. One where I pictured my mother and father laughing, imagined them kissing. I was often told that my mother loved my father fiercely. In my mind, they were coming out the back door of the casino, exiting into an alley. Not escaping as much as celebrating, as if they got away with something that was secret and precious to both of them.

I’d never believe they were running away from someone or something they owed to another. My father’s face grew stern in my vision, and my mother’s expression softened to concern. The words exchanged were something I never heard. The dialogue was fictionalized with the edgy accent of Atom Callahan being prominent. He would have accused my father. He would have made demands. How my mother got involved, was a mystery to me. Did she step forward to try to reason with an unreasonable man? Did she try to protect my father as a human shield? My assumption was she attempted both before the fatal shot was made. The explosion in my head woke me, as did the warmth of Cain’s hand on my back. For a moment, it was me in the dream. I was stepping in front of Cain, confessing some sin, and his father raised the gun to destroy me.