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Unable to hold back any longer, I released, throwing my head back and staring at the stars as I filled her with my seed.
“Yes. Yes. Yes.”
And even though our combined sounds were ones of passion, I heard her sweet words all over again.
“I love you.”
CHAPTER 18
Zoe
“Have you ever wanted to do something else with your life?” I asked as he opened the restaurant door, guiding me into the bright sunshine. The day was perfect, limited white fluffy clouds in the sky. The heat would normally be oppressive yet given the light tropical breeze and the closeness of the ocean, the term sultry instead of scorching came to mind. “I mean other than being a hero and a force of nature due to your power and ruthlessness.”
Perhaps my choice of words was because of the man beside me. He was and would forever be my hero whether he liked the word or not. As Maddox pressed his hand against the small of my back, an instinctive quiver drifted down my spine.
“I was a wild kid, Zoe. I roamed the streets of New Orleans from the time I was eight or nine. I had no morals or values. At least that what I was told several times,” Maddox stated, his voice completely devoid of emotion. He’d never talked about hisformer family, although I’d sensed for a long time he missed his mother.
“What does that mean?”
He yanked out his sunglasses, sliding them across his chiseled face as I watched. In all the years I’d known him, I could count on one hand the number of private aspects about his life that he’d told me, none of which shocked me or allowed me to catch a realistic glimpse of what made him tick.
“That means I was a little criminal, a kid who learned early on that only through stealing could I find enough to eat. I wasn’t the kind of kid to scour through garbage, preferring to eat like a little prince.”
“You stole?”
He chuckled as he threw me a quick look. “Yes, Zoe. I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth.”
“You never really mentioned your parents other than in passing.”
“That’s because there’s nothing to tell. My mother was a junkie, my father abandoning us early on to take this job or that job. He lied every time about finding a break, coming home after squandering whatever money he’d made on women and gambling. The dude took criminal activity to a new level. That much I can tell you. He hated both my mother and me. He made that perfectly clear through years of abuse, beating us with everything he could get his hands on. The man took cruelty to an entirely different level.”
Jesus. I had no idea. I’d seen a few scars on his back and a portion of his thighs, but I’d believed them to be from the yearsof working with my father. He was telling me his limited story as if standing on the outside looking in. That was the sign of a survivor.
I wrapped my hand around his arm, moving in front of him on the sidewalk. “I’m very sorry. I assure you that being born with a silver spoon in my mouth had its disadvantages, but I can’t imagine what you were forced to endure.”
The way he cupped my chin without hesitation, rubbing his thumb across my lips was scintillating, the move so unexpected, it surprised both of us. “I don’t mean any disrespect, Zoe. I can’t imagine what living in a cage felt like, the bubble around you required yet stifling.”
“I can’t complain, Maddox. You know my father. He did everything he could to be there when I was growing up, trying so hard to be my mother and father after Mama’s death. And I had a wonderful support system.”
“You do have an amazing family.”
“I include you as my family,” I told him, which seemed to have the opposite effect I wanted, his expression darkening even behind his dark sunglasses as he pulled his hand away. “So does everyone else. When was the last time you saw your birth father?”
“The day I pressed the tip of a butcher knife to his throat and told him that if he ever came around again, I’d kill him.”
His admittance was so shocking and gut-wrenching that all I wanted to do was comfort him as he’d done with me. “I… What did he say?”
Laughing, he started walking again, his steps slow and easy. “That he’d hunt me down one day and see if I had the balls to follow through with my threat. But he left and I haven’t seen him since.”
“Where is he?”
“Rotting in prison somewhere. I couldn’t give a shit where.”
I was floored, uncertain what to say. There were so many things I wanted to ask him but the gift of allowing me into his life and his past was too precious to ruin.
“How did you get off the streets?” I finally asked after we walked a couple of blocks.
“Did you ever know your grandfather used to own a restaurant?”
