Page 53 of Sinful Desires
“Water.”
My heart dropped to my toes. Something cold uncoiled in my chest, slow and deep, twisting as it settled in my stomach.
Guilt.
I could see it now, clearer than I wanted to. His whole body had been trembling as he’d pulled me out of the pool, every movement tight and strained. His lips had been shaking, his breath rough and uneven, and his eyes had been a grey storm of panic, fury, andsomething else.
He feared water, but he had still jumped into that pool, drowning himself just to save me.
My chest twisted, self-loathing curling tighter inside me.
Fuck, Scarlett, you are so dumb.
“You mean pools?” I breathed out.
He lifted a shoulder. “Pools. Oceans. Showers. It doesn’t matter. Water drags up everything I’ve buried. It pulls it back to the surface and watches while I fucking drown in it.”
My throat tightened. “What happened?” I asked, quieter now.
“Nothing I want to remember.”
A tight breath slipped from my lips as my eyes roamed over his impassive face. His expression gave nothing away, but his eyes burned with a different kind of light tonight.
Maybe it was because he had opened up to me, sharing something likely no one else knew. I was holding one of Théo LeRoy’s secrets now, tucked deep in my chest, forever mine to keep.
He tilted his head. “What about you? What are you scared of?”
Him.
Myself.
Whatever was between us.
I cleared my throat, letting a grin curl at my lips. “Nothing. I’m what people are afraid of.”
The corner of his lip lifted. “Ah, the Red Queen has no fears.”
A faint flutter stirred in my chest.
“A queen can’t afford fear,” I murmured. “Not if she wants to keep her crown.”
He said nothing for a long, weighted moment, staring so deeply into my eyes it felt like he could see every secret I had ever buried?…?especially the ones that belonged to him.
“Then let them fear you,” he said, his voice rough and quiet.
My breath caught, though I didn’t dare let it show.
“But you’re the one I protect. Which means they’ll learn to fear me more. I’ll fucking make sure of it.”
I dragged my teeth over my lip, every slow scrape fueling the storm of questions building in my head.
I stepped in closer, voice sweeter, slower. “Do you have any weaknesses, LeRoy?”
If tonight was the night of confessions, I was going to make sure I got what I wanted. Anything to prove that whatever I was feeling, he was feeling too.
His silence pulsed between us.
“One.”
