Paradise Found: Cain (Paradise Stories Book 2) (29 page)

“Cain,” I muttered, the conviction of the warning wasn’t strong enough.

“I’m not going to lie, Sofie. I want you. I want to make love to you in the best way,” he sighed, closing his eyes, as if it would block out what he’d just put in both our minds.

“I’ve missed you, my sweet temptation. I’ve missed your body.” His eyes opened and beamed down at my breasts. “But I’ve missed you more.” Dark orbs instantly focused on me. I’d stopped breathing.
Were we really going to do this?
I wasn’t certain if the words came out of my mouth, or I merely thought them, but he answered me.

“I’m not going to go there,” he said, releasing my thighs long enough to tug his shirt over his head from the back of his neck. It was a sexy as hell move, and I pulsed again. My body, ever the betrayer, was screaming for Cain’s.

“I’m not going to take advantage of you,” he said, lowering himself over me. His legs shifted so one rested between mine and the other slipped outside my hip. His warm chest braced half over my exposed breasts, but his arm slid around my waist, tugging me to twist and face him. He inhaled my neck, nuzzled my hair then secured me against him. The flat of his chest protecting the curves of my breasts; the length of his legs holding me firmly to him.

“I’m waiting for you to come back to me,” he breathed under my ear with a tender kiss. I closed my eyes at the action and gave into the will to relax. His confession of his history and his admission of his feelings made me feel, for the first time, I was getting a glimpse of the real Cain Callahan.

“You’re still his wife?”

I stared in disbelief, as the rough voice of Atom Callahan slithered over me. I was in the teacher’s assistant office in the science building. Atom’s imposing body braced over the desk and dark, beady eyes focused on me with absolute hatred. His knuckles were folded and balanced his large stature erect, while he towered over me, ready to strike. He had once been a fighter, and I assumed being light on his feet was the only reason I didn’t hear him enter the office. He must have crept soundlessly over the smooth industrial tile.

I still hadn’t answered him when he continued his verbal attack.

“You must have golden pussy. Real top of the line, graced by the gods above, to lure him away from his dream.”

I blinked once, willing him to disappear; yet knowing he was real in front of me. He hadn’t moved, but his muscles were flexing under his shirt and veins bulged through his thick forearms. His structure was so similar in build to Cain’s; only Cain was taller, younger, softer. Only the tiniest bit, but it was still evident the son wasn’t like the father.

The night before he’d shown me. Massaging me to relax, then holding me in his arms, he asked nothing of me. He simply denied his physical attraction in place of an emotional one. His kindness and revelations the past week had opened the dam and the flood was pouring toward me. The wave of destruction that Cain could dispense was unstoppable, if he walked away from me again, yet I found myself being drawn to him once more. His admission of his father opened up a faucet to understanding him.

“I’m sorry?” I questioned, as I cleared my throat, uncertain how to respond to such a brash insult.

“He had plans. Dreams,” his voice rose, while he struggled to contain the anger. “He was going to be a champion again. Prove his worth. All his labor and work has not been in vain. But you? You had to come along and tempt him away from it. Seduce him, somehow.” His eyes roamed my body, causing me to shiver unpleasantly. It was as if his assessment of me proved a point. He couldn’t imagine how my slim body could have attracted the powerhouse Cobra. Cain was attracted to more than just my body, I liked to think.

“I don’t …”

“Don’t speak,” he snapped. I was about to explain that I didn’t see how Cain’s dreams had anything to do with me, but Atom’s command startled me into silence.

“Now he claims he wants to quit. QUIT!” he shouted. “I didn’t raise quitters.” He paused. “Even Abel has turned out to be a true Callahan, in his weak attempt to rise above himself.” He scoffed at his younger son’s ambition to prove he not only could fight but also could win. “He says he wants to settle down and try something different.” Atom’s eyes flamed with angered disbelief, as if running Cain’s gym and teaching others his technique was a disservice.

We hadn’t discussed Cain’s fight plans, so I had no idea he wanted to leave the circuit completely. I’d only seen him twice in the last month and a half. I had no idea he was stepping down. Building his gym and training new recruits was important to him. I remembered his face both when he showed me the empty warehouse and once it was completed. Dreams change. The gleam in his eye told me his future was Malik and Razor, and the prospect of developing those men. He wanted to pass on what he knew, not keep it to himself.

“Settling down is what you do with a wife,” Atom continued, breaking into my thoughts. “You settle. You give in. Give up on your dream.” Atom appeared to no longer be talking about Cain. His voice took on a tremor, and his eyes widened, as they darkened. His fist punched the top of the desk for emphasis.

“Mr. Callahan,” I began, trying to remain the rational one, while I trembled with fright. His nostrils flared at the lack of control in my voice. He smelled my fear.

“If Cain wants to do something different with his life, I don’t see how that’s my concern,” I continued. Raising my hand as I sensed his early protest, I carried on. “Nor do I see how it’s yours. Cain is a grown man and capable of making his own decisions, regardless of having a wife.”

Atom’s eyes narrowed at me, as if he was dissecting me. He was slicing me into pieces.

“You’re that girl, aren’t you?”

“What girl?” I swallowed.

“The one at the inn. The one in his room. I didn’t see it before. I didn’t recognize you. With your clothes on,” he snapped. The insinuation was there. Either I had been a slut, or I had trapped Cain.

“He married you.” His voice took on a sense of disbelief as if he recalled some memory. “But it wasn’t legal.” He paused. “I told him to take care of it.”

I continued to stare at him. I hardly believed it myself most days, but it had been legal. Apparently, it had been very legitimate, even without us living together. This wasn’t the time to express my frustration at the original lack of honesty Cain betrayed to me, however.

“Divorce him,” he snapped, his teeth clenching with a slight crunch, as if to emphasize the severity of his bite. He’d chew me up if I didn’t. He’d devour me.

“I tried,” I exhaled, giving in a little to the pressure of Atom’s glare, while I stood across from him, still using the desk as a weak barrier between us.

Atom stared at me long and hard. The sensation of his teeth pressing into me, as if the sting of his tongue would not be enough, overwhelmed me. He’d tear into me if it were the only way to infuse his venomous poison. His eyes questioned me, so I answered him.

“Cain refused.”

The explosion of his fist on the desk startled me enough that I stepped back. Already distinctly aware that I was weaker than Atom Callahan, I didn’t wish to display how frightened I truly was of him. He could crush me with one blow of his hand. His eyes proved he was determined to squeeze the beat out of my heart, if he had to.

“Try again,” he demanded. “You’re killing his dream. Women do that,” he added. While I wasn’t convinced I had anything to do with Cain’s decision, I did feel a twinge of guilt. He had moved to Preston and opened the gym where I lived. There had to be other areas with better prospects of attracting fighters, better places for living the lifestyle he was used to than a historic university town in the Silicon Valley.

“What will you do, Mr. Callahan, if I don’t?” The question sounded braver than the person asking it. “Kill me?” I questioned, glaring at him. My eyes were not as hard as his. In fact, I imagine mine probably plead with him. “I have nothing left, Mr. Callahan. You’ve already taken my parents.”

“You still have grandparents,” he hissed. The strike was quick and unpredictable. He wouldn’t go after two older innocents, I questioned instantly, but I remembered just as quickly whom I was facing. This man would stop at nothing to win. He had dragged his own wife down, beat his son, belittled another, and sent his daughter away as a child. He had actually pitted his children against one another. He had no concern for others, only himself. I wasn’t even convinced he loved the son he was claiming to protect. He loved what the son did for him, not who the son was.

“You will divorce him,” he threatened.

“No, I will not.” I don’t know where the strength came from. He’d just threatened my grandparents’ lives, but I wouldn’t do as I was told. I was always good, did what was asked, but in this case, I couldn’t.

I was saved from bodily injury when a fellow TA entered the room cheerfully in mid-rant about some students. She stopped when she saw the frozen look on my face and the back of a large man leaning over the desk.

“Sofie?” she questioned, her own voice a squeak of fear as she assessed the situation.

“Hey, Vera. Mr. Callahan was just leaving.”

He pressed off the desk with a dramatic shove, straightened his shirt with a smooth hand down the chest, and spun on poor Vera. She didn’t know what hit her when those reptilian eyes glared at her. I watched her body go rigid with the effect. She didn’t even move as Atom came close enough to knock her over, with the slightest brush of his presence. He didn’t touch her, though, and the spell was broken the second he passed her.

Sucking in a breath of air, Vera gasped: “Who was that?”

I sank to the desk chair, weak knees giving way, as my whole body began to tremble. I covered my face to calm myself and hide my embarrassment.

“That was my father-in-law.”

The tunes were on and the adrenaline pumping. I was taking my frustration out on the bag, like it was my last fight. Right hook, left hook. Right, right, left. The rhythm was automatic, my arms moved without a conscious effort. Fists slammed into the taut leather. Sweat beaded down my body. Muscles ached in an effort to control my thoughts of Sofie.

She’d stayed most of the night, curling into me until the fire flicked out after a timed shut down. She was almost naked. Her thin underwear and my jeans were the only barriers that separated me from being inside her. She shivered and tucked her arms in tighter, mumbling that she was cold. I wanted to pick her up and take her to bed. Our bed. The one we shared when she was here and where I thought we’d be learning everything we could about each other. It was an empty space without her. Void of her warmth and her laughter, I didn’t like to sleep there. Many nights I’d go into the room that was originally hers, in hopes to breathe in the sunny fragrance she had. Just as the scent was fading, she was creeping back into my life again. Or so I hoped.

She dressed in the early morning, and I let her leave. My only hope of closeness was to continue hugging her, drawing her into me before she left. I was afraid to put my lips on her. Once the connection was made, I worried I’d lose control. I’d take what I wanted, and I couldn’t risk it.

I was punching the hell out of the bag when a hand clapped me on the shoulder. Lucky for that person, he ducked as I swung around, arm in mid-cut.

“What the fuck?” I yelled over the music hammering in my ears.

A thick finger pulled the wires and the ear buds released.

“You have a visitor, boss man. A lady friend,” Malik said, wiggling his eyebrows up and down, in mock tease. He was fortunate I liked him or I’d have pelted him for interrupting me. I couldn’t imagine who would be visiting me, as I no longer had lady friends like Malik implied. Huffing my way to the lobby, I stopped short in my office.

“Hello,” she said, leaning against my desk, her toned legs crossed at the ankles, her teeth worked her lower lip.

“Sofie?” My eyebrows rose in wonder. It wasn’t like I wasn’t happy to see her. I was ecstatic, but I didn’t expect it. I couldn’t have predicted that I’d see her again so soon.

“I had a visitor today,” she said softly, as I stepped closer to her. Smelling like a sweaty mess, I took a step back almost as quickly. Rank from the workout, beads of moisture rolled down my forehead, and I brushed them off with gloved hands.