Sophia had no interest in being decoded, though.
She sat back against the seat and turned to look out of her own window.
After several minutes had passed, he spoke again. “You are annoyed at me.”
She wiped an imaginary piece of lint from her dress, keeping her expression carefully muted of any emotion. She wasn’t annoyed. She was livid and cross, angry and hurt. She was a thousand things, all bottled up inside of her. She remembered the way they’d parted, two nights earlier.
It will never be more than sex.
What had she expected? Passionate declarations of love? No. Nothing so juvenile. Only she’d entered this marriage presuming they could build on something, that they would find a way to have a real relationship. It had never occurred to Sophia that sex alone was all Malik would offer, nor that it would be all he sought from her.
With a steely gaze and a coldness to her tone, she arched a brow, turning her vibrant blue eyes to him with obvious derision. “Do you care if I am?”
Silence laced around them, thudding in the car, throbbing with words not spoken and questions not asked. “Yes.”
Sophia’s heart pounded against her ribs, his admission not at all what she’d expected.
“Surprisingly,” he tacked on, showing himself to be aware of how little sense that made.
“I am surprised,” she said, earning a tight grimace from him.
“A long time ago, I promised Addan I would be kind to you,” he said, after a moment. Sophia’s heart lurched, memories of her friend making her chest hurt. “It occurs to me I have broken that promise.”
“Addan wanted us to be friends,” she said softly, remembering his entreaties with a small shake of her head, the past like quicksand that would swallow her in its memories if she weren’t careful. “He could never understand why we…”
“Could not stand one another?”
She murmured her agreement. “Addan liked to think everyone could find common ground.”
“And what do you think, Sophia?”
She observed him through narrowed eyes and then shrugged her slender shoulders, as though none of this mattered. “I think you are determined not to like me, not even a little bit. Beyond that, what does common ground matter?”
He was quiet and watchful for several seconds before responding. “What do you base this opinion on?”
Her laugh was a short, sharp sound. “Don’t insult my intelligence by trying to deny it.”
“I’m not denying it,” he said quietly.
“Good. I know how you feel about me. I know how you felt about me as Addan’s fiancé. You could never understand the reason for our betrothal. You thought me undeserving of him and undeserving of this role, and now you’re stuck with me.” She crossed her arms over her chest, watching him through shuttered eyes.
“It would appear so,” he drawled, but there was ice in the statement.
“Can’t you see that you’re the only person fighting this?”
“I married you,” he said firmly. “We are doing what we can to provide this country with an heir. How exactly am I fighting this?”
“You’re boxing me up, keeping me in one tiny compartment of your life…”
“We have discussed this. Our marriage requires that we –,”
“Yes, yes, I know,” she interrupted crossly. “An heir. I get it. But Addan wanted me to be his equal in every way. That’s what I’m trained for, and I’m ready for that, Malik.”
The engine was cut. In moments, the door would be opened.
“You don’t care for me like Addan did. Fine. What he and I shared was completely different. With Addan and me there was such a meeting of the minds, we were so well-suited…”
Malik’s features tightened.