Page 16 of Tempting Devil

Now, the similarity was glaring at me.

Not even thinking about what I was doing, I stormed up the stairs and burst into my bedroom. Crawling onto the bed, I yanked the duvet down Gideon’s body, revealing his heavily scarred torso.Red lines crisscrossed his skin, some deep and jagged, while others were only a subtle reminder of his past.

And amongst the many scars were the same cigarette burns and birthmark Samuel had in this photo, although Gideon’s were duller and his birthmark wasn’t quite the same shape, having been cut off by one of his scars.

Still, they were in the same exact spot as Samuel.

That couldn’t be a coincidence.

“Ready to go again?” Gideon asked, his voice raspy as he opened his eyes to meet my gaze.

“How did you get this?” I demanded, pointing to the burns in question.

“What do you?—”

“These marks right here.” I ran my fingers along them, a thousand memories of doing the same thing with Samuel flooding back. “How did you get them?” I barely squeaked out.

He hesitated, his expression shifting from confusion to something resembling dread. “I told you. I was in a car accident.”

“I know what you told me,” I snapped, my eyes on fire as I leaned closer. “How did you really get them?”

His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down in a nervous swallow as he shifted his gaze to meet mine. “What’s this all about?”

I tried to remember what Melanie’s father once said about how to tell if someone was lying or hoping to deceive you. I thought he mentioned something about eye contact. That if someone failed to look you directly in the eye, it was a surefire way to know they were lying.

As was trying to be evasive when answering.

While Gideon’s eye contact remained steady, he was being evasive.

“Tell me how you got these marks,” I ordered, although my voice quivered with emotion over the idea that Gideon was Samuel and he’d been lying to me all along.

Or was I just so desperate to have Samuel back that I was willing to accuse a man who had done nothing but show a sincere interest in me of being my dead boyfriend?

It sounded so crazy. But I couldn’t ignore the nagging feeling in my gut that had been there since the first time I saw Gideon.

“Are you Samuel Tate?” I somehow managed to choke out as I showed him the zoomed-in image of the cigarette burns on Samuel’s body.

His brow furrowed, deepening the lines of worry etched on his face as he looked between me and my phone. For a moment, I thought I saw a flicker of panic in his expression, like an animal caught in a trap. But as he returned his eyes to mine, there was nothing but heartache and pain within.

“You think I’m your ex?” His voice was strained, evidencing how much my line of questioning hurt him. “Or perhaps that’s who you want me to be.”

He jumped out of the bed, his body coiled and tense. With swift and determined movements, he angrily yanked on his boxer briefs before stepping into his pants.

“I’m sorry to disappoint you, Imogene, but I’m not him.I just…” He pinched his lips together into a tight line as he dug his fingers through his hair in frustration. When he finally looked at me again, defeat swirled in his blue eyes.

“I care about you, Imogene. More than I ever thought I would. I’m trying so damn hard to be understanding of your past, but this…” He shook his head as he tugged on his shirt, leaving it unbuttoned. His stare held a mixture of sadness and pity as it met mine. “I want to be with someone who wants to be with me.” He gestured down his torso. “Scars and all. Not with someone who wishes I were someone else.”

He abruptly spun on his heels and stormed out of the bedroom, his footfalls heavy as he made his way out of my townhouse. The door slammed shut behind him, the reverberations filling the sudden silence that now surrounded me.

Several seconds ticked by as I stared into space, listening as his car hummed to life outside.

Every fiber of my being screamed for me to chase after him. To apologize and beg for forgiveness. Explain I was just confused by everything I’d learned over the past few hours.

But something held me back, an invisible force keeping me frozen in place.

So instead of going after him and apologizing for my irrational behavior, I collapsed onto my bed, my only company that of my dog and the lingering presence of Samuel’s ghost that I feared would haunt me for the rest of my days.

Chapter Seven

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