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She wrinkles her nose. “All I wanted was to be free. Now, I am. Nothing else matters.”
“‘Free’? I seem to remember you told me I was holding you hostage here.”
“Are you going to keep quoting my words back to me?” She pokes me playfully in the chest. “I was…adjusting.”
“And now?”
She smiles so wide her eyes are almost closed. “I’d say I’ve adjusted.”
She stretches her arms over her head and yawns. Her eyes are puffy with sleep and there are pillow creases on her cheek.
Lying next to her like this feels more intimate than sex. There’s something vulnerable about waking up next to someone.
I never thought I’d like it this much.
“It’s not the first time I’ve been held hostage,” she explains. “Itisthe first time I’m not mad about it.”
“How flattering.”
“Telling you you’re better than my stepdad isn’t much of a compliment. He set the bar so low it’s basically in hell.” She gives me a wry smile. “I preferred living on the street to living in his mansion.”
“I didn’t know you lived on the streets.”
“Only for a year,” she explains. “My real dad left and my mom was struggling. She married him without a penny to her name. When he left, he took everything.”
“Fuck him.”
She snorts. “That’s exactly what his new wife did…while he was still married to my mom. She got pregnant and he bailed.”
When Yasha told me Cora’s dad had abandoned her, I was pissed. Now, I almost feel bad for him. He gave up Cora.
What a fucking idiot.
“So, yeah,” she continues. “We bounced from shelter to shelter until Mom was able to get a job as a secretary at this accounting firm. My stepdad walked into her work one day and that was that. It would be a romantic story if he wasn’t such a prick.”
“Does he have kids of his own?”
“No. But don’t worry, he viewed me as the daughter he never had.” She rolls her eyes. “He reminded me of that often. Usually when he was trying to pimp me out for money.”
I go rigid. “He didn’t—”
“No.” She lays a hand on my arm, soothing me back down into the mattress. “Not literally. But he made sure I met the sons of every rich friend he had. The sons of men he wanted to work with. I was the sign-on bonus.”
“Welcome to the club,” I say. “I was born understanding that the only reason I existed is because my father couldn’t figure out how to make himself immortal. Someone had to take over everything he’d built.”
“Do you think that made it easier? Being born into it?” She sighs. “I mean, it’s fucked-up either way. But sometimes, I wonder what my life would look like if I’d been born into this world. If I’d been raised knowing that I was going to marry rich and spend my life being some millionaire’s arm candy, maybe I would think it was normal. Maybe I’d be married right now. Pregnant, even. I’d spend my days shopping and supervising household staff and warming his bed every night.”
She frowns. I’m positive images of her next to her asshole ex-fiancé are flashing through her mind right now. Some possessive part of me snarls at the mere idea of another man daring to set foot in her head.
I grab her chin and bring her eyes to mine. “That would never be you, Cora.”
“How do you know?”
“Because you would roast those poor bastards alive, no matter how many they tried to set you up with. Some people just can’t be contained. You are one.”
“You make me sound like a wild animal.” Obvious amusement dances on the curve of her lips.
“After the noises you made last night, the shoe fits.”
