Page 81 of Simon Says

Her chin lifted. “Something like that.”

“When you remarry—”

She laughed. “Yeah, right. Me, marry again? No, thanks.”

For now, Simon let that pass. Talking about marriage made him uneasy. Already he didn’t want Dakota with anyone else, yet it was way too soon to think about her with him on a permanent basis. “Let’s backtrack a minute. You said your mother didn’t want you to see Marvin Dream, so you ran away.”

“I was such a fool.”

“Did Marvin know how your mother felt?”

“Oh, yeah. Mom told him to his face. At the time, I was so embarrassed that she’d treated me like a kid. Now…”

“Now you understand how she felt.”

Her knee touched his thigh. Her hand clenched on his shirt. “Took me long enough. Too long, in fact.”

“You eloped?”

“Just like a fairy tale, huh? Marvin was older and handsome, and strong, and he told me we didn’t need anything from my mother as long as we had each other. I left behind most of my clothes and books and…everything. Marvin said he’d buy me whatever I needed.” She shook her head and gave a hoarse laugh. “These days, anything I need I prefer to get for myself.”

Except that Barnaby had something she wanted, and she couldn’t get it for herself. Simon frowned, pushing that thought and the guilt it caused to the back burner; he had other, more pressing issues to resolve right now. “What did Marvin do to you?”

“He was a creep, that’s all.”

“I’m sure. But he was more than that, wasn’t he?”

“Maybe.” Dakota looked at his restraining hand still on her wrist.

Simon let her go, only to lace his fingers with hers instead. It wouldn’t be easy to remember her fear, when he thought of her as so indomitable and outspoken, confident in every situation. “Tell me.”

She gave up. “How about I give you the short story? Tomorrow, if you want more of the details, I can elaborate then.”

Simon easily read her. She thought that tomorrow, he wouldn’t want to know. She honestly believed he’d give up on her. “All right.”

After a deep breath, she gave him the explanations he wanted. “Our marriage was a farce from the start. Marvin was abusive. By the time I realized it, I was stuck. And then it didn’t even matter because I returned home too late to ever see my mother again.”

“When you said short story, you meant it.”

“The details are…embarrassing.”

Simon lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles. “Of all the things I want, what I want most is for you to be comfortable with me.”

She laughed. “Really? Now why do I find that so hard to believe?”

“Because you were married to an asshole, and you haven’t dated much since.”

Expression bemused, she said, “It was a rhetorical question, Simon.”

“I know.” He lifted her hand again, and this time he kissed her wrist. “You assume I want sex first and foremost, right?”

“You did tell me that you thought I was sexy and that you hoped to get laid.”

Remembering that less than auspicious moment, his mouth quirked. “You’re very sexy, and I definitely want you. I know it’ll happen eventually, so I can be patient. But trust, that’s something else entirely.”

“You want me to trust you?”

“Yes.”

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