AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Maggie? Who are you talking about?”
She shrugged but I could tell whoever the girl was, it bothered Zoe. “Do you remember my eighteenth birthday?”
“Vaguely.” I remembered every single detail of the night she’d turned eighteen. Legal. No longer jailbait, the girl appearing more like a woman than I’d ever seen her in a stunning emerald-green dress that highlighted her curves, the softness of her skin. My cock ached thinking about the way I’d looked at her, as if she’d changed overnight. I’d been furious with myself, finding an excuse to leave the party early. It had taken every ounce of control to keep from taking her that night, claiming her as mine.
After that, I’d done everything in my power to keep from seeing her the few times she’d returned home, including ignoring her at Arman’s wedding to Raven. At least that had been easy given her hatred of me because of what I’d said to her at the airport when she’d left for college.
Here I was, my dick aching, which wasn’t the only part of me feeling the tight pull, the intensity of a need that would never befulfilled. No longer could I walk away, pretending as if she didn’t have a powerful hold over me. The tenseness we shared was as strong as the jolts of constant current, but she was living in a bubble if she thought I would be good for her. Fuck me. She had no clue what I was capable of.
“Oh, well, my best friend was there,” she said, another blush cresting across her jaw as she threw a slight look in my direction. “She was so beautiful, perfect for you, but called you a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
“Your friend would be right. I have a very dark side, one that should terrify you.”
“I don’t scare easily.”
“Then maybe I’m not trying hard enough.” I lowered my voice, giving her a dangerous look, drinking in her essence as if it was the only sustenance I needed to survive. The moment she dragged her tongue across her bottom lip as she’d done before, I forced myself to turn slightly so she wouldn’t see the bulge between my legs, the building need that could easily get out of control.
“Maybe I like the darkness.”
“Not my kind, Zoe. You need to find a good man, one with decent characteristics.”
“You know what strikes me?” she asked as if in absolute control over the conversation.
“I’m certain you’re going to tell me whether I like it or not.” I didn’t need to see her eyes to know she was rolling them. There was something sick about the fact I enjoyed pushing her buttons as much as she did mine.
She lifted her sunglasses briefly, the look she gave me capable of cracking granite in half. “Yes, I figure I have nothing to lose at this point. You see only truly bad men think they aren’t. They call themselves decent when they probably carve up animals for sheer entertainment in their basements. They hide behind their arrogance and the lies they tell, sanctimonious in everything they do. Meanwhile, the good ones, those who embrace humanity even if they’re forced to hide their decency, insist that they’re horrible, so bad that they should be considered untouchable.”
“While houses in New Orleans don’t have basements, I’ve spilled blood in every other room imaginable. As I said, one day you need to find yourself attracted to a truly good person.”
When she burst into laughter, it was far too disarming, the sound as sweet as any music I’d ever heard.
“That might not be what I want. Maybe I like to live dangerously because that’s the only way to feel truly alive.” When our eyes locked again, I was thrown by another series of vivid images of her writhing body underneath mine. “By the way,” she continued, “Maggie told me months later that you two were… That you’d…” She laughed but the sound indicated how nervous she suddenly was around me. “That you were into her, enjoying spending time together.”
“I assure you, Zoe, that I’ve never hooked up with an eighteen-year-old girl in my life. Not even when I was that age. I prefer women who can carry on a conversation, not just one who might be good in bed.” While my words were truthful, I could tell they bothered her.
“Oh. Well, that’s good to know. So it was an older woman who broke your heart then?”
I laughed and tried to ignore her words. That last thing I wanted to do was be reminded of my failures with women.
“I’m right. I can tell. Let me guess. She was five, no, at least ten years older, the one you lost your virginity to. She became your everything until she grew bored. Did you find her with another man, or did she simply walk into the sunset after leaving you a polite if not uncharacteristically icy note?”
Goddamn, the woman was good. She was brainy, beautiful, and far too observant for her own good. They were dangerous attributes.
“I suggest we keep our private lives private.”
“Oh, you’re afraid to be honest with me,” she taunted.
“I just think there are some questions you don’t want the answers to.”
“Like how many people you’ve killed in your line of work?”
Half laughing, I shook my head. The girl was especially good at pressing buttons, something I should be used to by now. It was funny how I wasn’t. “We’ll be at our destination soon.”
She sighed and walked toward the railing, peering over the bow. “I hope one day you can trust me enough to tell me things about your private life. I understand hurt better than most. Remember? Besides, you’re my hero.”
Hero. She had no business confusing an antihero with someone she could trust implicitly. “Stop saying that, Zoe. I’m no one’s hero.”
“You are to me. Isn’t that worth something?”
