Page 441 of The Sinner: James

He chuckles.

“Okay. All right. You were young and innocent too. And you left my place untouched as well,” he argues. “Eventually, anyway.”

He pauses, and I wait, his smile withering away.

“I don’t know what it is about her,” he says seriously this time, no longer looking at me. “I guess I always felt the need to protect her. Back then, I already had my hands full with you. And Ed and Lex were two crazy motherfuckers I couldn’t trust with innocent women. Had she stayed at the Dark House, she would’ve lost more than her sleep that night. And I didn’t want that to happen to her. Not like that, anyway. I also didn’t want it to happen to you. That’s why I said no to you, but with her...”

He pauses, his eyes gleaming.

“I always felt like she was my little sister. Not because she wasn’t attractive and couldn’t think about her like a woman. But because she hadn’t had the chance to come out of her shell. And that may be the reason she can’t find her man,” he says. “It takes a special kind of man to love a woman like her. He needs to take her on a crazy journey and help her come into her own. In a sense, she hasn’t lost her innocence, yet strangely enough, she’s too complicated for most guys. And most men listen to their gut when they evaluate a woman. She’s not for everybody, and that’s why she doesn’t click with a lot of them. She’s like a pearl in a shell, and one day a real man will be her home.”

He pauses.

“She’ll find him. Or he’ll find her. And trust me. He’ll need everything she has to offer,” he adds, glancing at me.

Propped on my elbow, I look at him.

“I hope so,” I say, smiling. “If not, she might try something different. She’s still talking about the two men in Monaco.”

“You think she’d do it?” he asks.

“She jokes about it, but I think she’d say yes if she had the opportunity.”

“Well...” he smirks.

“Don’t even try it. I don’t want to hear another joke about it.”

Grinning, he slides closer to me and snakes his arm around my body. Smoothly, I slink my hand inside his towel and grab his muscular butt.

He tilts his head and gently bites my lip.

“If she is a pearl in a shell, what was I when you met me for the first time?” I ask.

Running his hand up and down, he strokes the back of my thigh.

“You were like a...”

He smiles, entertained.

“You were like a wild horse that needed a good... rider?”

I breathe a chuckle.

“I could say the same thing about you,” I murmur.

He purses his lips into a mischievous grin.

“Although you’ve thrown me out of the saddle quite a few times,” I comment.

“And you didn’t like it… Not at all,” he jokes.

I run my fingers over his neck before smoothly untucking his towel and pushing it to the side.

“You were the best rider I could’ve had,” I say against his lips, my hand sliding to his groin and softly caressing his hard meat.

His erection twitches against my touch while I move my thigh up and open my legs for him.

“Then make my time worthwhile,” he murmurs, sliding his hand into my hair, propping himself on his elbow, and entering me.

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