Devoted to Wicked
Page 6

“Oh.” Karis stared at him with pursed-mouthed contrition before she took a sip of her drink. “So…you stayed with her while he recovered?”
“Yes and no. He died the next day, so I couldn’t just leave her. That’s the thing about my friendship. It wasn’t simply about the benefits. I tried to be truly supportive, lend her my strength until she could bury her dad almost a week later.” When Karis chewed on her lip, mulling his words over, he chowed down on a bite of his meal and took another approach. “What would you think of a man who walked out on a person whose last parent was dying?”
She sighed. “You had to stay. I didn’t realize… And now I feel really stupid. I came by to bring you cookies, you know. I barely know how to bake, but for you I tried. Yes, I was that gaga about you. So when I saw you with her on your porch, hugging her and kissing her forehead, I assumed…”
“I would have assumed the same thing, cupcake, if the shoe was on the other foot. I would have been mightily pissed off, too. But I swear, Madison and I haven’t exchanged benefits since I’ve been with you.”
“It was a traumatic time for her, and sex was probably the last thing on her mind—”
“Well…” He rubbed at the back of his neck, deciding if he was going to be honest, he better be brutally so. “Actually, she…um, hit me up after the funeral. She needed to feel alive, she said. She needed to forget.” He shrugged. “Straight up? I got her off with my fingers so she’d have some relief. I ended it there. Hell, she cried the whole time. But the truth is, after you, I didn’t want her sexually anymore.”
He glanced Karis’s way to gauge her reaction, but she looked blank and unreadable. “Then what happened?”
“Well, I told her that I could no longer be that guy for her but I’d always be her friend. Just her friend. She was disappointed but she understood. Then I set about trying to open the conversation with you again. You put me off for weeks. And no matter how much I begged, my brother wouldn’t help. Then you left for vacation. Here we are.”
“Do you have any more friends with benefits I should know about?”
“None I won’t think twice about ignoring. I’ll even delete them from my phone while you watch, if you want. I’m serious.”
“Why do you think what you do matters to me?” She tried to appear unaffected, but he saw her uncertainty.
“Cutter told me about your mom, about all the selfish douches who have cheated and strayed and abandoned your family. My dad was the same kind of asshole, so I know how hard coping with that as a kid can be. It sucks to look up one day to find your dad gone.”
Karis bit her lip, and behind her sunglasses he could see her emotion. He was getting to her. Reaching her. He didn’t know precisely where they were going, but his every instinct as a cop and as a man told him that nothing right now in his life was more vital than winning this woman back.
“It changes you. I was a kid when my dad walked out. Apparently, he had a girlfriend, and one day he decided that being with her was more important than staying with his wife and daughter. I don’t think I ever really forgave him. And it definitely changed the way I approached men and relationships. I was always looking for the guy who wouldn’t do that to me.” She laughed at herself. “I was looking for Prince Charming.”
“And I didn’t seem like him.”
“That night, I believed you were. I really hoped that you were the guy for me, the faithful one my mother never has found. When Jolie got lucky and fell for Heath, I started letting myself believe it was possible for me, too. Then you felt so…I don’t know, right is probably the best word. Like we fit together or something. Like we belonged, you know? Or maybe you don’t and I’m just babbling.”
“No, I get you totally. I was feeling it, too. So when I was sure Madison wasn’t going to fall apart anymore and she understood our relationship now, I called you. When you didn’t want to talk to me, I won’t lie. I was kinda devastated. But I wasn’t going to give up. I’m still not. That’s why I’m here.”
Karis tucked away another forkful of her quesadilla and washed it back with a sip of her drink. “I have to admit, I’m shocked. I didn’t see myself ever being this close to you again.”
“How did us being apart make you feel?”
“Crappy. Sad.” She hesitated, then finally tore off her sunglasses, revealing the tears pooling in her eyes, just about to spill over the rims. “It hurt.”
“Me, too. And that’s not bullshit. I don’t have any experience with making a woman happy out of bed, but I want to try, see where we could take this.”
A pretty little smile crept up her face, which she promptly hid behind her napkin as she wiped her mouth. “All right. I’d like that.”
“Me, too. Still hungry?” He nodded at her plate.
“Not really. What about you? You’ve only eaten two bites.”
“Fuck food. I’d rather be with you.”
She gulped back the last of her half-melted margarita and left her barely touched plate. “Me, too.”
As they rose, Cage caught Miguel staring. He narrowed his eyes at the smooth waiter when his prying glance followed Karis retreating.
The guy approached him, adjusting the jacket of his starched uniform. “Would you like your food to go? I will be happy to find you a box so you can have your meal later.”
He didn’t like Cage any more than Cage liked the waiter, so the sudden desire to be helpful only made him wonder if Miguel had tainted or poisoned his food. The guy was definitely up to something. “No. But here’s what you can do for me: back away from Karis. She’s not available. I’m pretty sure you know something about the theft of her passport, and I’m telling you now that I’m here for—and with—her. She doesn’t need your ‘help’ and she never will. Fucking get lost.”
Miguel pressed his lips together, seeming to hold in his temper. Cage almost heard the gnashing of his teeth, but the guy collected himself, as if suddenly remembering that he was supposed to deny the accusation. “I stole nothing. I would never do such a thing. I was not aware that attempting to be helpful and friendly would be misconstrued as flirting. Of course I respect our guests’ lives and privacy.”