Page 20 of Glorious Sinner

“You trust me, don’t you, Angel?” he said.

I loved when he called me that, so much, too much. “Yes.” I did, and there was no reason to tell him anything but the truth. He’d taken care of me back then and now, so I owed him that. “You actually care about what happens to me, don’t you?” I said, somehow finding the courage to say it.

That dark stare turned heated. “I care about you.”

I swallowed. That stare terrified me, but only because it drew me. Under that hot-blooded gaze, I felt like a moth to a flame. “Dad, he always liked you,” I said. “Even after you left and started…your other businesses, he always thought highly of you. Thank you…for looking out for me…”

“I respected your dad, Stephanie. I did,” he said. “He was the best man I ever knew. He gave me a chance when no one else would, but I’m not doing this for him.”

His gaze didn’t waver from mine, like he was letting what he’d said sink in. I wasn’t dumb, despite what Ryan said. Tomas had been saying things like that a lot the last few days. He wanted me. I guess I just didn’t understand why. Why me? I kept trying to come up with reasons that made sense.

The silence stretched out and he looked away, back to the TV. We were halfway through a movie when my phone beeped. Tomas stilled, looking at my phone sitting on the coffee table in front of us. I reached out and my hand shook because I knew who it was going to be from.

Why are you hiding from me, Steph?

I blinked down at the screen. It beeped again and another message popped up on the screen.

Are you fucking him? I’ll kill you if you are.

He’d been at Stilettos—he had to have been if he knew I was with Tomas. Who else could he mean? I wondered why our driver took such a long route home from the club the other night, why he occasionally passed a car or zipped down a street. He was trying to shake off Ryan.

I looked at Tomas. He was watching me. “Was he following us?”

“He tried. I had men on his tail, but he ditched his car and took off on foot,” he said, giving me the truth.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t want you to worry. I have it under control.”

I knew he did, and I knew as long as I was with him I was safe, but still… “Please, don’t keep anything from me again,” I said.

He dipped his chin and held out his hand. “I promise. Now will you show me the phone?”

I passed it to him and watched his jaw get tight, his eyes turn hard, before coming back to me. “Are you okay?” he said, voice soft, too soft.

“Yes,” I whispered back, but I wasn’t and we both knew it.

He turned the phone off and put it back on the table facedown. He didn’t push, didn’t ask me a bunch of questions, he just sat beside me, quietly offering support. I wanted him to reach for me. God, I wanted him to pull me into his arms so badly I craved it. I craved his touch like a person presented with food after being starved for a month. But in my case, I’d been without for a whole lot longer.

I had to ask for it, though. Tomas wasn’t going to push me for any kind of intimacy. I knew that now. It had to be me.

I couldn’t make myself do it.

So I turned back to the TV. I couldn’t tell you one thing that happened in the show, but I sat there until it finished, keeping my eyes fixed straight ahead, trying to work up the courage. I hadn’t accepted or asked for comfort for such a long time, and God, I needed it. I needed it from Tomas.

My heart raced faster as I turned to him, the words on the tip of my tongue…

His eyes were closed.

He was leaning back, one hand on his thigh, the other arm along the back of the couch. His features were relaxed, lashes resting in his cheeks, dark and thick.

Now or never. Taking a deep breath, I slid closer until I was pressed against his side. He didn’t move, his breathing still slow and even, still asleep. It wasn’t enough, so I rested my head on his chest and carefully wrapped my arm around his waist.

And I breathed.

I breathed for the first time in a long time.

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