CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: MAKSIM
Like Sarah suggested, I took the leather recliner that was very obviously her father’s while she sat on the end of the couch closest to me. As she turned on the TV with the remote, Sarah asked, “What kind of movie do you want to watch?”
“Something b-black and white with no sex,” I mused.
She laughed. “Hmm, I think I can find something within those parameters.”
In the end, we ended up watching reruns of something called “I Love Lucy”. I’d never seen it before, but it was definitely a palette cleanser after the harshness of the evenings.
Around midnight, I noticed Sarah wasn’t giggling at Lucy’s antics anymore. When I glanced over, she was sound asleep.With a smile, I rose out of the chair and grabbed the blanket off the back of the couch.
After draping it over her, I started to go back to the chair, but she threw her hand down to stop me. “Sit with me.”
“I thought you were asleep.”
She stared drowsily up at me. “I was. But there’s something I need to talk to you about.”
“It can wait until morning. Just g-go back to sleep.”
“No, it can’t.”
Easing down beside her, I said, “What is it, Ms. Stubborn.”
I expected her to smile at my teasing, but her expression remained serious. It caused my chest to clench.
“Even though you’ve done so much for me, there’s one more thing I would ask of you.”
I stared intently into her eyes. “What is it?”
As she swallowed hard, I watched the delicate bob of her throat. “Your associate who kidnapped me….”
My chest clenched in agony at the reference to the Beast. Fuck, she was going to tell me she’d been wrong earlier about wanting to start something with me. She’d had time to think about it now, and she was going to ask me to bring the two of them together.
After everything we had been through, it was still him she wanted.
Just the thought made me want to bolt out of the room and keep running until I’d put enough distance between us that I wouldn’t feel this horrible ache in my chest. Somehow I thought I could never run far enough.
“Yes?” I choked out.
“I don’t want to ever see him again.”
Oh fuck. Was I really hearing her correctly? “I…d-don’t understand.”
“We have a past, and it’s one I don’t want to be reminded of anymore.”
Every molecule that had shuddered to a stop at the thought of her not wanting me suddenly burst forth with new life. Fuck me. I’d been wrong. Sarah didn’t really want the man who had brought her fantasies to life.
She wanted me.
“You have my word.”
Instead of being relieved, Sarah wrung her hands in her lap. “Didn’t you hear me?”
“I did. But…”
“There’s more?”
She nodded. “I know this will sound crazy, but we have a past beyond just him abducting me.”
