Chapter 24
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FOUR
Maxim
“So um… Should we talk about Lettie?”
I’d gone into a flow state, my hands on Sia. I bathed her, and her warmth in my hands brought out something carnal in me.
Especially seeing her scars.
I hadn’t been able to properly see them on the cameras I’d placed in her room. The footage must have been too far away. I’d also seen her in a bathing suit but missed them then as well. I figured makeup or some other kind of concealer must have been the culprit for that. She clearly didn’t want people to see them.
I ran the water over her flushed shoulders, trying not to think about the people who hurt her. I fully intended on looking into each individual who could have ever laid hands on her.
“Maxim?”
Trying to stay present, I focused on caring for her now. I wet my lips. “I spoke to her briefly this morning. I wanted to confirm her status, I suppose.”
Normally, I’d be annoyed she was wasting a rare visit at home with some douchebag. Everything with Sia distracted me though. She seemed to be the only thing that could distract me.
This made her dangerous, and though I was aware of it, I couldn’t help the draw I had to her. She was as addictive to me as the spilling of fresh blood during my work. I enjoyed my work. It kept me busy. It kept me in control.
Being with Sia tested this daily, but again, I couldn’t resist for some reason.
I felt this harshly as I ran a washcloth over her body. Seeing each scar of hers up close tested me in new ways. This girl had clearly been through a lot.
“She’s another reason I got up,” I admitted, and Sia turned. I nodded. “Probably best she not see you coming out of my room. I wanted to get ahead of that. I called her after seeing she wasn’t home this morning.”
This had been what Sia was really addressing with her question about Lettie, and it disgusted me hearing myself say how proactive I’d been about keeping my daughter in the dark.
It was almost as bad as what happened last night and what was happening now. I shouldn’t be bathing a girl nearly half my age, her soft ass against my cock…
But I was so hungry for Sia Reynolds. Her taste awoke the demon inside me last night and forced me to lie to my daughter this morning. I told her nothing about what happened last night between myself and her friend.
I watched what I said play across Sia’s face. Her nod was curt. “I see.”
I braced her shoulders. “I’m not sure how to handle this.”
I wasn’t. I should have been the responsible one last night, told her no. I could have stopped this at any time, but I’d chosen not to.
In Sia’s silence, I continued to bathe her. I watched goosebumps form on her brown skin, her breaths ragged. Tiny shudders moved her delicate shoulders. I sighed. “You’re just so young, malyshka . I probably should have been more responsible last night.”
The words barely left my lips before she turned again. A frown overtook her full lips. “So now you’re looking at me like a kid?”
“Hardly.” That was the last thing I saw her as. I shook my head. “I just mean…”
“I know what you meant. I’m too young for you, right? Sophomoric?” She started to get out of the bath, the water sloshing.
I got her by her shoulders and returned her to my lap.
“I just mean too innocent.” That was putting it mildly. My expression hardened. “You’re too pure to be with someone, well, someone like me. A man like me.”
My fingers ghosted along her cheek. Doing so was both dangerous and foolish because I wanted to do more.
So much more.
The way she reacted to my touch only sent the urge into overdrive, but I resisted. I allowed her to meld into me but did nothing more. Her eyes opened. “I’ve been through plenty,” she said, and as if to emphasize the point she glanced down at one of the cigarette burns on her shoulder. She covered it with her hand. “Seen plenty of shit.”
She obviously had, and I forced down my anger again. I covered her hand. “I know you have, but you don’t know who I am. I’m also not a big fan of lying to my daughter.”
I wished the lie was my biggest reason for staying away. I honestly didn’t know what Lettie’s reaction would be but I did know my daughter and I had a great relationship. We had an open one, and if I explained the situation to her, she’d be shocked but would ultimately come around. Would the situation be ideal for her? No, but she’d listen and would be receptive. She would because we communicated and respected each other. She also loved me and knew I wouldn’t jump into anything lightly. She knew I wouldn’t if something didn’t matter to me…
If I didn’t care.
My jaw moved. “It’s just not a good idea.”
Sia really didn’t know the type of man I was and wouldn’t. She didn’t need to.
“All due respect, Maxim, you don’t know who I am,” Sia said, surprising me when she turned the tables on me. “I don’t like lying to Lettie either, and if things continue between us, I won’t support that, but as far as who you are and who I am, you really have no idea. I’ve already been corrupted and it was long before you so you couldn’t possibly do more.”
She’d no doubt been through a lot. I mean, the evidence was there in my hands.
I stroked her arm. “Sia…”
I wasn’t able to put the barrier between us up the way I wanted to when she turned around, straddled me.
I growled. “ Malyshka… ”
Sia knew exactly what she was doing. She was testing the limits of my control. Especially when she stood in front of me. The water dripped from her tiny curls. Her snatch was so wet, her smell lethal…
Fuck.
I was gone when she put a leg up on the tub. She exposed herself right in front of me, and I closed my eyes. My hands fisting her ass, I buried my face between her legs. I did nothing more. I didn’t trust myself.
“Please, Maxim,” she begged, and that was all it took for me to spread her legs, for me to drink from her sex and pretend I was any kind of man who should be taking anything from her. I dragged my tongue between her pussy lips, tasting how pure she was, how perfect. I made myself forget that she wasn’t the only one who had scars. I wouldn’t let her see my own, refused to.
I barely saw them myself anymore.