She was silent.
He hated it when she got silent. “Sophie…”
“What do you think?” Sophie asked as she tilted her head. A lamp was on in his bedroom, so he could see the delicate lines of her profile. “That I have this amazingly long list of lovers that I’m going to share with you?”
“You said you had preferences when it came to your lovers.” Those words had burned into his mind. “You want a man who isn’t afraid of danger. A man who doesn’t mind getting dirty.” He’d love to show her how dirty he could be.
“I do enjoy men with a certain edge, but I don’t always indulge that particular need.” Her voice was soft, a seduction in itself. “I know it’s risky to let someone get close.”
He was close to her right then.
“Do you really need that list?” Sophie continued, seeming to hesitate. “To do your job?”
Yes. “You can tell me or Dev will just dig into your past and find it out for me.” He shrugged. “Having you tell me on your own just seemed easier.”
“Dev,” she repeated the name, her voice slightly wooden. “He’s the one so good with computers, right? A few taps on the keyboard, and he finds all your little secrets.”
He wasn’t surprised that she knew about Dev’s skill set. A woman like Sophie would have done her research on VJS Protection.
“Has he already found some of my secrets?” Sophie asked as she stepped closer to Lex. Her tone was different. Angry. Desperate? She put her hand on his chest, as she gazed up at him. She still had on her heels. He didn’t even know how in the hell she hadn’t lost those things during the commotion on the street.
“He found some,” Lex allowed. Why lie?
“What did he learn?”
His hand rose and slid down her arm. He’d been playing nicely with her so far, but if the woman was determined to hold back on him, she was just putting herself in greater danger. He couldn’t allow that. To unmask her stalker, he needed to know everything about her. And, yeah, he had Dev hacking into her past. Dev was looking for her lovers. But Lex wanted Sophie to trust him enough to actually tell him about her past.
“What did he learn?” Sophie said again, her voice sharper.
His fingers slid over her. First her arm, then his hand curled around her hip. “When you were a girl, you spent a lot of time in the hospital, didn’t you?”
He heard her sharply indrawn breath, and he almost stopped.
Almost.
But her life was on the line. The bastard out there wasn’t just playing some game. He was a threat that had to be eliminated.
And I already told her that I’m no gentleman.
His hand slid up her ribcage. “Broken arms, broken ribs. So many accidents for such a young girl.”
She trembled beneath his touch.
“The police were called in a few times, weren’t they?” Lex asked her.
“The ER docs have to report,” Sophie whispered.
He leaned toward her. “Did those doctors think you were being abused, Sophie?”
Silence.
“They did, didn’t they? You were hurt so much.” And it pissed him off. “But the cops didn’t stop the pain, did they?”
“No one stopped it.” Her voice had gone flat. Completely cold.
“Who hurt you?” Lex asked. “Your mother? Your father? Both of them?”
“Stop it.”
“Someone was hurting you. For years. Dev got access to your medical reports, so we know what went down. The cops didn’t stop the abuse. You just kept being hurt.” Not just hurt, tortured. “Where was your good buddy Ethan back then? Why didn’t he help you?” Because he knew they’d grown up together. Sophie and Ethan Barclay. “Or good old Finn. I saw the photo of the three of you.”
She shook her head.
“You, Ethan, and Finn. You all looked barely eighteen. If both of those guys were there back then, why didn’t they help you? Why didn’t they—”
“Stop it!”
Exactly. “Why didn’t they stop it, Sophie?”
She shoved against his chest. “Don’t talk about Ethan, understand?”
Ah, and they were back to that. Her almost fanatical loyalty to the guy. “You’re so close to him, but Ethan isn’t here, is he? Why didn’t you go to him for protection?”
“I don’t want Ethan to know—”
“Why the fuck not?” His fury exploded.
“Because Ethan would kill for me!” The words came out of her as a scream and he knew her control had broken.
Sophie clapped her hand over her mouth.
But the damage had already been done.
“Did he kill for you before?” Now things made sense. “Your parents…their murders were never solved, were they? The cops had suspicions that you were involved, but they never pressed charges against you. Hell, how could they? You had medical reports a mile long. No jury in the world would have ever convicted you.”
But Ethan Barclay would have been another story. Had she covered for that man, all those years? Because, judging by the passion in her voice, she absolutely believed Ethan would kill for her.
She pulled her hands from him. Straightened her shoulders. “You don’t know me.”
“Because you won’t let me know you.” Suddenly, what she’d said before made sense. “Once,” he said, throwing that one word back at her. “You said that you and Finn had been lovers once. You meant that. You only slept with him once.” More details started to click for him and he spoke faster, saying, “You told me…you just said that you didn’t let people get close, but lovers are close, aren’t they, Sophie?”
She backed up a step. “I’m done for the night. I’ll answer your questions in the morning.”
In the morning, her control would be back in place. In the morning, she’d have nice, pat, safe answers to give him. He didn’t want safe. He wanted real. And if he had to keep pushing her, so be it. Just more sins to add to his already blackened soul.
But she’ll be safe. I’ll know her secrets so I can protect her.
“You take dangerous lovers.” This was all info she’d revealed to him, but now he’d put the pieces together. “Because they’re men you won’t fall for, right? You seduce them, they seduce you—whatever the hell your game of choice is. But it’s just once, right? You don’t stay with your lovers long. Just—”
“Once,” Sophie said flatly. Her gaze glinted up at him. “That’s all I need. I’m not looking for some kind of forever. Some lasting love. I know that’s all just BS. But we all need pleasure every now and then, don’t we? We need to feel like we’re not alone in the dark.”
He stared down at her.
“You want a list? Fine.” Her voice was too brittle. “You already know about Finn. I was with him when I was eighteen.”
He’d pushed, but he didn’t want—
“Alec Farrell.”
His stomach muscles clenched.
“I think I was twenty-one then.”
He fucking knew the guy’s name. And he’d heard plenty about the man’s ties to organized crime.
“Kurt Allan.”
Another name that was familiar. The guy was a music mogul—one who’d crashed and burned hard after his brother was found murdered in Kurt’s hotel room.
Shit, had Sophie defended the guy in that case? He thought she might have.
“Bruce Mitchum.”
Now he had to fist his hands. He actually knew that guy—personally. Bruce was an ex-SEAL, and they’d crossed paths more than a few times. Bruce had always struck him as a serious jerk—a man who sought out danger and said to hell with the consequences.
Yeah, she definitely seemed to have a type all right.
He waited for more names to come. He was damn well braced for them.
Sophie kept glaring at him. “Happy now?”
No, he was—“Wait, that’s it?”
She huffed out a hard breath. “I don’t like for people to get close, but sometimes, I just—I need, Lex. Da
mmit, I need, too.”
Then she spun away. Sophie’s hand flew out and he knew she was going to slam that door shut on him.
And it was too much. He’d pushed, but he hated the tremble in her voice. Hated the idea of her with any other man—
But me.
His feelings weren’t rational. He wasn’t rational. Lex didn’t care. He grabbed the door before it could slam on him. His fingers curled around the wood and he shoved it back. “You think you’re the only one who needs something in the dark? Someone?”
She stumbled back, then stilled.
She didn’t tell him to get the hell out.
Her mistake.
“You like danger, Sophie? The thrill that comes with the fast hookups?” Finn didn’t fit that bill—not exactly—but had the others truly just been one night stands for her? “I can give you that thrill. Right here. Right now.” It was wrong. They were both still riding the edge of adrenaline from that near run-in with the black car. He’d pushed too much. He’d—
Sophie tossed her blouse aside. “Right here.” She just stripped the garment off in a flash.
What. The. Fuck?