Much to her astonishment, and she had absolutelynoidea where her courage came from, she heard herself ask, “What do I say in your fantasies?”
One dark eyebrow winged up his forehead. She’d surprised him as much as she’d surprised herself. But he quickly recovered.
No. He more than recovered. He saw her subtle flirtation and raised her all the way to dirty talk. “My name.” He gave her a wicked, knowing sort of smile that instantly had an ache forming at the junction of her legs. “You say my name, myrealname, as I make you come.”
She wasn’t holding her breath anymore. God, no. It whooshed out of her on a long, shivery sigh.
Oh, how she wanted exactly that. Wantedhim.Wanted all the things his smile promised.
But she still didn’t know where to begin. And if she kept looking at the desire in his eyes, desire he made no attempt to hide, she reallywouldpull the fifteen-year-old-girl move—hop into his lap, smash their mouths together, and shove her hand down his pants so she could wrap her fingers around the hungry column of flesh he’d been sporting in his jeans all evening.
Another thing he’s made no attempt to hide.
Blame it on her lack of experience when it came to the art of seduction. Blame it on her nervousness because, come on, this wasRomeositting beside her. Romeo with his perfect face and his perfect body and his oodles of lovers. But suddenly she heard herself admitting, “You know how I told you my voice sounds this way because my vocal cords were injured when I was little?”
When a line appeared between his eyebrows, she silently chided herself.Shut up, Mia! What are you doing?
She was ruining a perfectly lovely, perfectly romantic, perfectlysexymoment. And why?Why?
She didn’t know. All she knew was she couldn’t stop herself. “It’s because I was intubated for three days when I was seven years old. I got into my mother’s pain pills and overdosed. The tube they used on me in the hospital was too big or something because—”
“Sweet Mother Mary,” he cursed, and she saw a muscle working in his jaw.
Gone was the hungry look in his eye. It’d been replaced by a lethal gleam. Gone were the soothing circles his thumb had been rubbing on the back of her hand. Now his fingers were tight around hers. And gone was that lovely, anticipatoryhumof excitement. It’d been replaced by a hard, sharp sort of tension that crackled like a downed electrical line.
It’s official. Moment ruined. Way to go, Mia, you dumbass!
“That woman should be jailed for her incompetence as a parent,” he finished on a vehement snarl that had a vein popping out in his forehead.
Mia turned to look at the horizon. The sky had faded from vibrant graffiti art into a pastel palette of pinks and purples and blues.
I could keep my mouth shut,she contemplated as a sickening sensation swirled in her gut.I could let him think all the blame rests solely on Mom’s shoulders.
As quickly as she had the thought, she discarded it. She couldn’t tell himeverything, of course. But she could tell him what had started her down the path to hell, and maybe that would be enough.
Enough to what?The question rang inside her head as clear as the bells at the Holy Name Cathedral in downtown Chicago.
Enough to satisfy this need I have to share more of myself with him than I’ve ever shared with anyone.
Enough to make this thing we’re about to do feel like more than a simple fling.
Enough to...release some of the weight that comes with carrying around so much unspoken guilt.
“Save some of that disdain and contempt for me. I’m not completely innocent,” she whispered.
She could feel he’d cocked his head even though she wasn’t looking at him. Even though shecouldn’tlook at him when she admitted this next part.
“I wasn’t the only one I hurt with those pills.” Her voice was little more than a breath of wind. “I gave some to my baby brother too.” That sick sensation swirling in her gut became a whirlpool of nausea. “It nearly killed him.Inearly killed him.”
A long moment passed without Romeo saying anything. So long, in fact, she peeked over at him, not surprised to find his eyes glued to her face. They narrowed slightly when he asked, “Why?”
She chuffed out a humorless laugh. “Thatisthe question, isn’t it? My dad always assumed I did because I thought they were candy.”
“Why would you have thought that?”
“Because that’s what my mother told me they were.”
“Your mother.” He spat the two words as if they were poison.
