Paradise Found: Cain (Paradise #2)(76)

“Don’t cry, love.” Tears fell faster. “It’s going to be okay, Sofie. I’ll protect you.” He added. His finger withdrew from me, and I closed my eyes. I didn’t want his protection.

“What is it, Sofie? What do you want from me?”

“Just love me,” I choked as a sob escaped me, no longer able to contain my emotions.

“I do love you, Sofie. I do,” he repeated. “I’ve been so lost without you, Sofie. Lost. But I found you over and over.”

My eyes returned to his. He removed his shirt, then sat back to slip off his jeans. His hands skimmed up my inner thighs and a finger caressed my core. His eyes narrowed, as I remained quiet, tears still trickled down my cheeks.

“Sofie, you didn’t know?”

I shook my head adamantly back and forth.

“How could you not know, Sofie?” His eyes skimmed over me. “I kept following you, searching for you, waiting for you.” He chuckled softly, as he returned to drawing over sensitive skin.

“You never said it,” I whispered.

“Is this what you want from me?” His eyes frantically roamed over my face, and he paused his attention down below. I bit my lip.

“I love you, Sofie. They’re the most foreign words to me, but I give them to you. I love you.” His lip tweaked. Large fingers impaled me tenderly. My tears of frustration shifted to ones of joy. He was hard instantly, and he slid his thick thighs between mine, forcing me to open wide for him.

“I love you, Sofie.” The conviction in his words was real. There was no more pretending. “You’re staying my wife.” He slipped into me with the hardness of him in such a tender manner; it nearly broke me. “And I want to be the love of your life.” For a beat we rocked together, finding that pace, that rhythm.

“My wife,” he stressed. “Mine,” he muttered softly with a thrust into me. “Because I love you. I’m never letting you go. Never losing you again.” Emphasizing each word forced me over the edge on a slow burn of elongated pleasure. A trifecta of orgasms was nothing compared to the sincerity of those words. Especially when I knew, I was the first person ever to receive that sacred trio from him.

“I love you.”





I could only hope I had convinced her. I loved Sofie. As rocky as our relationship had been, I knew from the moment I saw her she’d be my greatest sin and my salvation, rolled in one. When we made love again in the early morning I told her such. She worried she wouldn’t ever feel safe until my father was a memory for us, and that’s when I knew what I had to do.

“Abel,” I called out, interrupting his rhythm as he beat the bag before him. That intensity was familiar. The drive and focus had been written on my face every fight. Abel continued to work, left, right, left. Touching him would risk me a jab, but I needed his attention. A light brush on the shoulder and my instinct was to duck as he spun to face me.

“Jesus, you startled me,” he said, ripping the earbuds from his ears. Music screamed through the set, and he turned off the iPod at his waist. Sweat beaded off my younger brother, whose body was lean compared to mine. He was taller than me, but not nearly as solid. It was a wonder we ended up in the same weight class. It had to be the wide range of weights allowed.

“Hey,” I said after he wiped himself with a small towel. I wasn’t one to mince words with my brother so I jumped right into my dilemma.

“I saw Dad.” That alone could have said it all, but Abel’s eyes didn’t seem to register. I saw our father often enough, as I went back to Vegas for fights, after I bought the house in Preston. Abel reached for his water bottle and squeezed for a stream to fill his mouth.

“He wants to set up a final fight for me. A sort of fight to end all fights,” I continued. Sweat began to bead on my own skin. I didn’t realize how hard this was going to be.

“I thought you already had a fight like that. Me,” Abel mocked sarcastically.

“Well,” I started then scratched at the back of my head. “He had something similar in mind.”

Abel stopped, lowering the water bottle, holding it in mid-air and stared at me.

“Are you f*cking kidding?”

I wanted to chuckle. My kid brother was hardly the tough one and he rarely swore. He’d grown into a viper in his own right. Betta, he called himself: the warrior fighting fish.

“Who’s he want you to fight now, our sister, Evie?” Abel laughed without humor. The mention of our little sister’s name made me tense. I didn’t like to talk about her. Being sent away had been a godsend, she’d never understand. She never had to witness what Abel and I went through with our father. Granted, this left her with no mother or father to speak of, but she still went to a good school on the East Coast, where she was provided for in full. Funds I fought for left her without a want. I took care of my siblings.

“Actually,” I drew out the word. “He wants us to fight again.”

“Are you f*cking kidding me?” This time the voice was behind me, distinctly feminine. I turned to face a woman, who looked vaguely familiar to me, and it wasn’t just that she was Abel’s coach. Ava Shepherd had dark hair, almost black, and deep dark eyes as well. She was a fit woman. Solid to the core and wore her long hair in a severe bun that would have made her look schoolmarm-ish, if it weren’t for the athletic clothing she wore. She came across tougher than I suspected she was, although I had no doubt she’d put up a good fight in an attempt to kick my ass.