Page 20 of Born into Darkness

Confused, I ask, “What do you mean?”

I swear her cheeks blush an even deeper pink when she says, “I’m including just hooking up with someone when I say I’ve never dated anyone.”

Unable to hide my grin, I say, “Me, too.”

She pops her head up, too stunned to keep still. Her dark eyes study my face, and I swear my own face heats up a bit at the shock on hers. “Are you being serious?”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t lie to you,” I tell her.

“How old are you?”

“I’m twenty-one,” I tell her. “You?”

“Same.” She studies my face again, looking for any sign that I’m teasing her, but when she doesn’t find any, she says, “You and I both know how protected the wives and daughters are in a Bratva, so my lack of experience isn’t all that surprising, but yours doesn’t make any sense.”

“How so?” I ask.

“Oh, come on, Max.” She shakes her head and then goes back to resting it on my shoulder. “Don’t insult me by playing stupid.”

“Hey, look at me.” I wait until she lifts her head back up, and when she does, I cup her face and keep my eyes on hers. “The truth is that I’ve never done anything with anyone because I never met anyone that makes me feel the way you do. I wasn’t willing to settle for anything less.”

Her words are whisper soft when she asks, “Anything less than what?”

I smile as my thumb strokes her cheek. “Would you agree that there are a lot of attractive people in the world? I mean, it’s not that hard to find a pretty face. We’re surrounded by them thanks to the media and everyone’s obsession with famous people, but it’s also not hard to find an attractive person just out and about.”

“True,” she says, and the hesitant tone makes it clear she’s not sure where I’m going with this.

“The point I’m trying to make is that a pretty face is really not all that rare. What’s rare is when another person makes your whole body light up when you see them.”

Her gaze softens as I stroke her face again and add, “When I look at you, I hear so many different notes, so many bars of music that I can’t wait to write down and play. That’s rare,svetik moy. I’ve never once experienced anything close to that.” I give a soft shrug. “I was waiting for someone to knock me on my ass.” I lean in and kiss her forehead. “You knocked me on my ass, Talia.”

“Maybe you just have Stockholm Syndrome,” she says, making me laugh.

“Then I’d be telling all this to Miguel, and that’s not about to happen. I refuse to whisper sweet words to that fucking bastard.”

She smiles and softly shakes her head. “He doesn’t deserve them.”

“He doesn’t,” I agree, “and he doesn’t make me hear music when I look at him. That’s all you.”

“You hear music when you look at me?”

She seems surprised by what I’ve said, and the sweet smile she’s giving me inspires a brand-new chord to the song I’m slowly composing.

“I do. I’ve never had a muse before, but you’re inspiring one hell of a song.”

She smiles even bigger. “I am?”

“You are. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever created before.”

“What’s it sound like?”

I give a soft laugh at her eager curiosity and trace the line of her jaw with my thumb. “It’s not ready yet. You can hear it when I’m done.”

“You’ll play it for me?”

“If you want to hear it, yes,” I tell her.

“Of course I do,” she quickly says. “You promise you’ll play it for me?”

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