Page 41 of Finding Eve
The lamp had been on ever since.
Not hard to figure out—Eve Langley was afraid of the dark.
A fear that had nothing to do with her current state of distress.
At quarter to three in the morning, she should be sleeping peacefully. Instead, she had the covers shoved aside, and with her right arm at an awkward angle above her head, it was easy to picture how her captor had kept her handcuffed.
Adam’s blood heated. His anger a fire, burning through his veins.
In the midst of a nightmare, her long legs shifted restlessly, and her cheeks glistened with tears.
His fault.
He’d pushed her too hard too soon.
“No,” she whispered, her head shifting back and forth on the pillow as he resettled her blankets.
Unsure if he should wake her, he sat down beside her. The mattress dipped, and she groaned as she lowered her arm abruptly, her fingers brushing against his thigh as they came to rest on the duvet.
“No!” she moaned again, her voice laced with pain and accompanied by a full-body twitch that made him want to find the Matthews and end them. One or both. Didn’t matter to him. Without a doubt, someone from Eve’s adopted family had imprisoned her. Beaten her.
God only knew what else.
It hadn’t taken Grant long to put two and two together. The A-Bloom truck led to Carlos Aguiar. Carlos to girlfriend, Yolande Seguin. Employed by the Matthews, Yolande led to the discovery of Eve.
A ten-year-old orphan left to the guardianship of the judge after the death of her parents. Now a twenty-eight-year-old woman on the run from the people who raised her. It made no fucking sense. And she wasn’t talking.
Stupid move on his part, throwing the truth at her like a hand grenade in a bunker.
Jesus Christ he was a fucking asshole.
Unable to resist, he took her hand and brushed his thumb over chilled skin.
Grant had suspected the Matthews from the beginning, and Adam had agreed with his theory. Why else would two women connected to them flee LA at the same time? No phones, no IDs, no credit cards. These women were scared, and they sure as shit didn’t want to be found. The only thing linking them—California District Court Judge the Honorable Roland T. Matthew.
Yeah. He could have been gentler with Eve. Could have accepted her lies for what they were. An act of self-defense. An attempt to set boundaries and keep a safe distance between them. Too late. Adam had given her everything when he told her his real name.
He wanted the same from her. Every secret. Every desire. Every bit of her truth.
Not the stuff Jay had found online—most of it illegally. Not the statistical information. Education transcripts. Employment history. Tax returns. He wanted to know the real Eve. The one she kept hidden.
The fierce blue-eyed warrior princess.
She was the woman he wanted to know.
He had no right to any piece of her. No right to ask for her honesty in return for his. He just happened to be the asshole who’d found her on the side of the road. The asshole who’d invaded her privacy. The asshole who wanted things from her he had no business wanting.
This attraction to her? Had to be her vulnerability, coupled with his instinct to protect.
Yes. She was beautiful. Yes. She had curves to explore for days. Yes. She personified the perfect combination of sweet and sassy. If circumstances were different. Another time. Another place. Maybe, he would have asked her on a date. Taken her for dinner. Brought her coffee the next morning.
Maybe?
Who’s lying now, asshole?
Okay. Truth. He would have definitely asked her on a date. As to the rest?
Would have been up to her.
