Page 42 of Take the Sub and Run

“I told you I’m not a thief.” She frowned at him as if he were being deliberately stupid.

“You were at that museum to steal a pearl necklace.”

“First time.”

Andrei wanted to shake her until information that made sense fell out of her pretty mouth. Thinking of her mouth brought him another horrible realization.

“Sofie?”

“Yes?”

“First of all, is your name really Sofie?”

She looked offended. “Of course it is.”

His lips twitched. “So lying about being a sub, about having had sex at all, is reasonable. But lying about your name is ridiculous?”

“Yes,” she said matter-of-factly.

Andrei couldn’t help it; he started to laugh.

“In all that reading, did you ever see that people take on club names, so actually changing your name would be entirely reasonable.”

She blushed. Even with her head tucked, he could see the pink of her cheeks.

A virginal blush.

Fuck.

Abruptly he was back to guilty and angry.

“Answer my question. Truthfully.”

She flinched at his barking command, but his own emotions were roiling and barely contained.

“I will,” she said in a small voice, and he hated it. Hated that she sounded not exactly scared but as if she were trying to curl into herself and disappear.

“Have you even been kissed?”

Sofie froze on his lap, her head ducked. Andrei notched a finger under her chin, forcing her head up.

He’d thought this was her first BDSM experience, learned this was her first sexual encounter of any form.

And she’d repeatedly said she’d never had any romantic or sexual partners.

The sinking feeling from a few moments ago had led him to wonder if maybe, just maybe, there was another first she’d never experienced.

Sofie’s gaze met his as he forced her chin up, and he saw the answer to his question in her too-wide eyes, and the blush on her cheeks.

“Fuck.” He leaned his head back, eyes closed.

She’d never even been kissed and he’d spanked her. Fucked her mouth. Made her crawl to him.

He was an asshole of the highest order. Not new information—he had cultivated his assholery—but this was a whole different level.

He wasn’t solely to blame. He would have never done anything if he’d known she was innocent in a way he’d never been. But still, he’d ignored those odd moments and signs that should have made him stop and ask more questions.

“Fuck,” he said again on a sigh.

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