Page 74 of Sweet Sin

So quiet, and so strange.

I’m still not feeling hungry, but the food tastes oddly good. Nourishing. Strengthening.

“So…” Leif finally says. “I guess I’m the loser.”

“Loser for what?” Kelly asks.

“We’re playing the silent game, right? First one to talk loses?”

She smiles at him.

“Just not much to say,” Falcon says.

I nod. “I agree. The past couple of days are still hard for me to process. It’s like they weren’t real.”

“They’re real all right, Vannah.” His gaze lingers on me.. “I swear to God no one will ever harm you.”

His words are raw and deep, and they cut into me, but not in a bad way.

Because I know I would do anything for him as well. Falcon Bellamy, ex-con, my parolee, and damn…

It may not be love. Love is pretty, sweet, nice. This isn’t any of those things. It’s something much deeper and more profound.

I’m in…

Love is the only word I know.

What else do you call the combination of lust and need and desire and passion bordering on obsession?

The only word available is love.

But it’s so much more than that.

Miles McAllister once told me he loved me.

I didn’t believe him, and I know now I was right not to.

Five years earlier…

“I’ve waited long enough for you, Savannah,” Miles says.

“I won’t. I won’t be married off.”

“That has no bearing on the issue. My father and your father made a deal.”

“This is the United States of America. You can’t force a person into marriage here. It’s not legal.”

Miles rolls his eyes. “You’re so naïve, Savannah.”

I glare at him. “Why do you want someone who doesn’t want you?”

“This doesn’t have anything to do with whether I want you or not. It’s what’s best for my family and yours. Besides…I…love you.”

The word “love” catches in his throat. It’s a damned lie, and we both know it.

From the conversation we’re having, we should be alone.

But we’re not.

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