Page 62 of Forbidden Mistress

The silence stretches between us, and I know he’s already dug his heels in and refuses to pursue this. So if he feels that I don’t know him, I decide to get him talking about himself.

“Tell me about you, then. Something I might find surprising.”

He clears his throat, and I can already sense him opening up a little. Just a tiny fraction. But it’s something. “I’m a cat person.”

I gasp in mock horror. Actually, that is surprising. I would have pegged him as a dog guy, for sure. “Dogs are the best, though. Cats couldn’t care less if you died, but a dog…” I shake my head. “They are forever loyal.”

“I was bit by a dog as a teen,” he says. “I’d bent down to pet it, and it just latched on to my hand without warning.”

I nod, listening. “That same thing happened to my brother.” I pause, then correct myself, “I mean my stepbrother. It was our neighbor’s dog. Though, honestly, my brother is the idiot in this scenario. The neighbor warned him, said the dog wasn’t friendly. I tried to pull him back, but he’s always been so fucking stubborn and he stuck his hand through the fence anyway.” I laugh a little. “He never did that again.”

A pause. “Do you hate your brother so much that you’d wish him hurt?” His voice is tight, like he’s siding with Liam.

“No. Of course not,” I say lightly. “And he really wasn’t injured. Not like what happened to you. It was just a little scratch on his hand. But it freaked him the fuck out.” I can’t help but laugh inwardly. “If he’d listened to me…but he never does. I don’t have value where he’s concerned. Not worth listening to, not worth my dad’s inheritance. Nothing.”

Hart pushes out a breath. “Earlier you said you kissed your brother,” he says calmly. “Why would you do that if you dislike him so much?”

It’s my turn to tense up. “Okay, first of all, he kissed me. It was completely out of the blue. And I blame my reaction on you.”

He belts out a laugh. “Why me?”

I reach up and brush my fingers over the dusting of hair on his chest. The slow, rhythmic thud of his heart is heavy against my ear. “Because you’ve awakened something inside me, something I’ve never felt before. It’s like…you’ve lit a fire in my chest.”

There’s a tightness in his voice—the first sign of jealousy I’ve heard since he mentioned the kiss earlier. “So that makes you just…kiss random guys now?”

“He’s not a random guy,” I say, pinching his nipple a little, just for fun. “But, I have to admit that there’s always been something between Liam and me, ever since we were teenagers.”

“Then why aren’t you with him?”

I glance up at Hart, my gaze roving over the details of his stag mask. “It’s complicated.”

He shifts next to me. “I like complicated. Tell me.”

It occurs to me that I’ve opened up to Hart way more than he’s opened up to me. And here he’s turned the conversation back on me again. Still tucked against him, I shake my head. “First, you tell me—how was your Obscura persona born?”

What I’d rather know is who the woman is who hurt him, the one he wants but can’t have. But I know he won’t tell me that. Not yet, at least. We have to build up trust first, and I get that.

He smooths his hand up and down my arm absentmindedly, stroking me gently, sending tingles all the way to my fingertips. “A group of us from university came together and founded Exeter House. Obscura was Domino’s brainchild, his dark creation. He often spoke to me about the freedom and release the anonymity of Obscura offers.” He pauses for a minute, and I wonder if that’s all he’s going to say, but he continues with a hint of emotion in his deep voice. “About a year ago, I went through something…difficult. I’d lost control of my life, my direction, desires, everything. Obscura offered me control. It offered me the illusion of what I really wanted in my life but couldn’t have.”

I swallow, my cheeks flushing. “Of who you really wanted…” I correct for him.

I half-hope my comment will lead to a conversation about the woman who broke his stone-cold heart, but it doesn’t. He’s silent. When he finally does speak a few seconds later, all the emotion from a moment ago is completely gone. “Why aren’t you with Liam?” he asks stiffly, steering me back to the original topic.

“Because he betrayed me,” I say simply. “In the most horrible way.”

“How so?”

God, do I really want to get into this with Hart? I’m just afraid it makes me sound bitter. Or pathetic, because I allowed Liam to do this to me.

“Well, it’s mostly everything I’ve already told you. My dad always told me I’d have a stake in his company when he passed. Of course, we didn’t think that would be for a long, long time, but when it happened last year, my brother wouldn’t allow me to have anything to do with the business. My dad had been paying my way through college and there was a hope that I’d eventually take a position at his company. My brother left me completely destitute.”

Hart shifts his position a little, pulling me a little tighter against him. “You seem to be doing okay.”

I snort. “Yeah, now. Thanks to you.” I glance up at him. “I do appreciate the money, by the way. That was really nice of you, considering I’m not really working for you anymore.”

“Money can be corrosive, and it can attract the wrong kind of people if you’re not careful,” he says. “Maybe your brother was trying to protect you from that.”

“Shouldn’t that be my decision?” I pause, frowning. “Whose side are you on anyway?” I ask playfully, not really mad.

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