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“I went to great lengths to keep it that way, and I’m not giving it up now. I won’t let you take that from me.”
A few things clicked into place at once. She was a virgin. Keeping that virginity intact hadn’t been easy.
But most importantly, she wasterrifiedof losing it.
“Who has you this afraid?”
“You.”
I chuckled low in my throat, and she flinched backward at the sound. I realized too late precisely how threatening the sound had been. “Stellina, we both know damn well that fear isn’t because of me. You haven’t been afraid of me since we’ve met—not really.”
“I’m afraid of what you want to do.”
That declaration hit me like a bullet in the chest. “Because of what someone else has tried to do to you?” I asked. She didn’t nod, but she didn’t deny it. Her burning eyes told me all I needed to know about the situation. “There’s something you need to know about me.”
Her shaking seized just a bit as her eyes finally held mine, no longer frantically roaming around the alleyway. “I don’t need to know anything about you.”
“You do, actually.” I forced her to hold my gaze as mine burrowed deep into her. “I don’t force myself on people. I don’t fuck women who are scared of me unless that’s whattheywant.” I paused. “And you’re not scared of me. You’re not even a little scared of me, Stellina. You’re scared of your past.”
Her eyes didn’t so much as flicker to the side as I spoke. Truth. I was saying only the truth, and she knew it.
“I think,” I continued, releasing my grip on her chin and planting my palm on the ground beside her head. “That you wouldn’t know fear if it weren’t for that situation in your past. Tell me what happened.”
“No,” she whispered.
“Consider it a part of your debt to me.”
“I thought you claimed your debts in other ways,” she said sarcastically, some of the shaking in her tone relaxing.
“From how you watched me undress earlier, I thought you’d be happy to pay your debt this way.” I shook my head slightly. “Was I mistaken?”
Again, she didn’t respond.
“I’m not often wrong about things like this, but I could be this time.”
I leaned forward slightly, and her breath hitched as I lowered my face to a mere inch above hers.
“I can’t help but wonder why you have challenged me from the moment I first met you. I would have let you go immediately if you wouldn’t have said anything, but you opened that pretty little mouth. And then you did it again. And again. Now, I wonder if you’re doing it on purpose. Are you challenging me because you think it’s funny? Are you doing it because it’s a game to you?”
“None of this is a game.”
It was the first certain, entirely serious thing she’d said since lying here.
“Then why do you do it?”
She exhaled sharply. “Because I want you to let me go.”
I wasn’t sure what to make of that response. I moved one of my hands to her waist and trailed it up her side. I focused on the dip and swell of her breasts as my hand lingered there. “Tell me what scares you, and you can consider your debt paid.”
It was stupid. The ignorance of my words struck me, but I didn’t take them back. She was property to me until I deemed her less of a threat. Eighteen grand was a drop in the bucket compared to the time I’d spend unraveling her story. If it would get me the answers I needed to release her, it would be a debt well paid.
I had too much shit to handle with Valentino to continue with this girl, no matter how much her constant challenges intrigued me.
No matter how supple her body felt beneath mine.
I looked into her darting eyes and wanted to chuckle at the absurdity of this trade.
“Why won’t you believe that it’s you that scares me?” she finally asked.
