Page 39 of Forbidden Obsession

“This is an amazing fortress,” she said. “It feels like something out of a fairy tale.”

I smirked. “Beauty and the Beast, perhaps.”

Her lips spread into a smile, and laughter shuffled from her—that sound that tingled the soles of my feet and accelerated my heartbeat.

Long lashes fluttered over at me. “Perhaps, but then, if you recall that fairy tale, the Beast rained hell upon anyone around him because of the life he’d been forced to live, not of his own doing.”

I inhaled a deep breath, my jaw locking. Penelope saw me.

I couldn’t ignore that. She didn’t know how much of a beast I was, yet still, she saw me without witnessing my hell and had already decided I was worthy of…something better than the darkness that consumed me.

“Yes, but that didn’t take away the pain he’d caused. Or, the hell he’d rained, as you put it.”

“And still, he was redeemed.”

Silence moved between us as our gazes locked.

I smiled. “Are you hungry?”

“A little.”

“We’ve got a party to attend, so I hope you feel like dancing.”

Her face brightened. “Dancing? You? Oh, I’ve got to see this.”

I laughed. “Why is that so surprising?”

“I could only picture you standing in a quiet corner, brooding.” She imitated my face and I howled, my amusement heightened.

“Is that how I look?”

“Yeah. And it’s all sexy and shit.”

I reached out and pinched her face. “Is that why you won’t leave my side because I’m all sexy and shit?”

“No.” Her smile faded, and sentiments of kindness filled her eyes. “My soul connects with yours. I feel…drawn to you, if that makes sense.”

“It doesn’t make a bit of sense considering who you are and who I am.”

“But you don’t know who I am, Dominic.”

If we were talking about details, she had me there. We had yet to broach that conversation because I’d been too busy trying to will her away from me. But if we were talking about souls, I assumed hers would clash violently with the chaos that resided in mine.

Fortunately, that had yet to happen. Penelope’s light was the peace that made me act out of my norms; it calmed me and I’d yet to figure out if that was a good thing or not.

“You’re right.”

She wiggled her brows. “I am.”

“Not entirely; so half-correct.

She giggled heavily.

“What I don’t know is—who are the Bonnie and Clyde you referred to as your parents?”

She sucked in her laughter and rolled her eyes. “Gosh.” She took her eyes beyond the window to the horizon. “They were my favorite people when I was a preteen, but their love for gunplay, robbing banks, and murdering anyone who dared stand in their way took precedence over raising me.”

“If they didn’t raise you, then who?”

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