Page 53 of Enforcer's Obsession

She cut off quickly, and I knew there was more to that story.

I wanted to uncover it all.

And in time, I would.

“Then we’re going for waffles,” I said.

She was dressed in the jeans and plain button-down.

I regretted it even buying them.

All the fine clothes she had at her fingertips, and she only chose those, probably to spite me.

I didn’t say anything, though.

My inclination was to push, but as seemed to be the case far too often with her, I questioned myself.

I knew Hope was trying to navigate an entirely new world, so her clothes were probably the least of her concerns and should have been the least of mine. Ordinarily it would have been. ButI couldn’t shake the feeling that it was part of her attempt to distance herself from me.

Something I hated as much as I understood it.

Instincts I didn’t even know I had screamed at me to claim her, but I kept them at bay, reminding myself that an innocent like her had no place in my life, so maybe distance wasn’t such a bad idea.

Something I seemed to lose sight of as I kept a hand at the small of her back and guided her to the garage.

“A different car,” she commented.

She closed her mouth quickly, and I saw her expression go blank.

“Observant,” I said.

“I talk too much,” she muttered.

I smiled, but didn’t contradict her or agree.

Once she was settled in the car, I pulled out of the garage, and set off toward our destination.

“You’re not putting me in the trunk again?” she asked.

“If that’s what you would prefer,” I responded, glancing over at her.

She shook her head quickly, then shivered. “No.”

I felta twist in my gut, something much too much like guilt.

That had been a necessity, and was one of the things that had kept her alive.

I decided not to point that fact out to her, knowing that she probably understood all too well.

She looked out of her window, trying her best not to appear engaged, though she wasn’t fooling me.

She was looking at everything she passed, trying to get a sense of her location.

“We’re not too far outside of the city,” I said.

She looked at me out of the corner of her eye, guilt practically radiating from her being.

“Do I want you to tell me any of this?” she asked.

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