Raine felt a happy little flush crawl up her cheeks.
“What’s your favorite, gold or silver?”
She got the game now. Innocuous questions followed by zingers. One was supposed to lull her into false comfort before he hit her hard. The food either rewarded or punished her, depending on how completely and honestly she answered.
Well, hell. She had to give Liam credit. It was damn clever. He could dig into her psyche while he established his control over her, all without laying a single swat anywhere on her bruised body. She was so used to Hammer, who was all glowers and demands, all thunder, and strict, and as subtle as his moniker. Liam was good with misdirection and confusion. He coaxed. He would sneak under her defenses if she wasn’t careful.
Raine cleared her throat. “I like gold and silver. Why choose?”
He tapped the end of her nose with his finger affectionately. “I shouldn’t have expected a different answer. Why, indeed? You’d look stunning in either.”
Maybe he meant it. Maybe he didn’t. But she could get used to compliments like that. “Thank you, Sir.”
His palm cupped the side of her face. “Spoken so beautifully and naturally. Good.”
He brushed something slightly textured and sweet over her bottom lip. She smelled the pineapple and opened her mouth automatically, allowing him to plop it on her tongue.
“Very nice, lass. You’re coming along and pleasing me.”
The praise warmed her. It shouldn’t, really. God, she’d only given him a common courtesy and eaten a bite of fruit. But Raine knew the drill. He was pleased because she’d called him Sir and because she’d trusted him enough to eat willingly from his hand without being told.
Even so, she couldn’t deny that his kind words made her glow. She smiled at him, and in return, he brushed a little kiss over her mouth.
“How sorely you tempt a man…” he groaned, then popped a piece of the roast beef on her tongue. He followed that with another, then gave her a pinch of bread and some wine to wash it all down.
The warmth seeped deeper in her bones. She could really get to liking this game as long as it stayed friendly.
“What’s your happiest memory?”
The question flicked across her skin like a knife so sharp she almost didn’t feel the cut. God, she hadn’t allowed herself to dwell on this in years. It made the hell of the next decade that much worse. But she also hated the thought of Liam imagining that she was just a miserable woman whom no one in her life had ever wanted. Useless, discarded, forgotten.
“When I was six, my parents sent me to spend the holidays with my grandparents in Wisconsin. Just me. There was a big tree, and Grandpa lifted me up to put the star on top on Christmas Eve. There was snow. Grandma baked, and the house always smelled heavenly.”
“Does baking now calm you because it reminds you of that time?”
Raine froze. She hadn’t thought of it quite like that, but when she baked, she could close her eyes and be transported back to the moment she’d first awakened in the big, warm bed they’d given her and everything smelled like cinnamon and yeast and happiness.
“Maybe… Yeah, I guess.”
His thumb slid over her bottom lip, and she parted, opening for him without thought.
“Lovely, lass.”
More chocolate. It sat on her tongue, sweet and firm, until she sucked at it. Slowly, it broke apart and melted inside her mouth, making her taste buds sing.
“That is the best chocolate ever. I would eat that all day, every day, if I could.”
“And give yourself a stomach ache.” He chuckled. “Probably best if I dish it out to you a bit at a time. Don’t you think?”
Probably. Otherwise, she could outgrow her entire wardrobe fast.
She wrinkled her nose. “It pains me to say it, but you’re probably right, Sir.”
“That’s a good girl.”
He fed her a bit more of the roast beef and pineapple. As far as he tipped the glass up, it seemed as if she’d finished the wine. The relaxation curling through her seemed to suggest that, too. The smile on her lips was probably a bit too happy for the moment, but it was as if getting away from Shadows for a bit, then having a good cry and a good meal with a man who seemed to care about her was cathartic. She felt a bit lighter, her soul not so weighted down with regret. She still had plenty, of course. But at least now it might not drown her.
“What happened to you as a child, Raine?”
The question came out of nowhere, like a heavyweight’s punch to the stomach. Raine gasped, couldn’t breathe. Her mouth opened, but no sound came out. She got to one knee, then leapt to her feet, backing away from Liam.