Page 137 of Obsession

I sit heavily on a chair by the door and tug her down to my lap, but she gently extricates herself from me and sits beside me instead.

Jesus.

“I was doing surveillance with Armand and Joe. There was an asshole cheating on his wife, and we were monitoring people at the mall. We had cameras set up, and we recorded everything to get evidence. And…well, there you were.”

“At the mall?” She looks perplexed. She needs a full view of things before she can make any judgment call. It’s her way. “Oh. Oh, wait.” She pales. “Cain, that was… back in the spring. I did a demonstration at the mall. That was… months and months before I met you.” Even her lips look paler.

Jesus.

“I know.” I clear my throat. “I saw you there, and I had to have you. You looked at the camera. You didn’t even know that youdid, and I… saw your eyes. They mesmerized me. I remember thinking they looked like amethyst caught in moonlight.”

She looks at me sadly. “You had me followed.”

“I followed you myself. I watched you. I looked into you.”

“You stalked me, Cain.” Her voice sounds distant and hollow. I reach for her hand, but she pulls back. I feel stung. She hasn’t yelled or gotten angry or hurt me in any way.

A part of me wishes she would.

I’m not going to sugarcoat this. “I did, baby.”

Her voice is a whisper. “Don’t call me that.”

My gut clenches. “I was obsessed with you, Violet. No. Iamobsessed with you.”

“You never told me. If you’d only told me…”

“You would’ve run from me.”

“You don’tknowthat!” Now, I see the anger. Now, I feel it. She stands, but I quickly tug her back down so she doesn’t run. We have to talk this out.

“I don’t, but I know you well enough to know that vulnerability scares the living hell out of you. I knew I had to show you that you could trust me.”

“By lying to me?” She laughs mirthlessly. “Tell me how that works?”

“God, babe, no. By showing you I was a man who had your best interest in mind.”

“And in your mind, stalking me, luring me here, and acting like I was a perfect stranger the first day we met was somehow the right thing to do?”

My phone rings, but I silence it.

“Go ahead. Take it,” she says, looking away. “I need a minute.”

“No.”

She looks at me and purses her lips. “Suit yourself.”

“Listen to me, Violet.”

“That’s all I’ve done is listen.” Her arms are wound across her chest as if to wall herself off from me. As if she wants to ensure I don’t touch her.

“So when Armand got into that accident with me… it wasn’t an accident at all? You put him up to it? How, Cain?”

I blow out a breath and go for broke. “You’re the kind of woman who values independence. You need to know that things are on your terms.”

“So you thought it best, in that omniscient mind of yours, to make those decisionsforme? Oh, I get it now. Lovely.”

She blinks, and a tear rolls down her cheek. Fuck.

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