The twitch on her face is her tell. I know I shouldn’t prod further but I hate that she had the audacity to flirt with James, so let the pits of hell burn on Christmas. I don’t care.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she snaps.
“Oh, would you look at that! Trouble in paradise, little sis? I’m sure you know the saying, once a cheater, always a cheater.”
I hear her guttural scream before I see her launch for me. But what she doesn’t know is, I’ve been taking Krav Maga classes since she eloped with my boyfriend, so I don’t hesitate to pick her scrawny ass up and then throw her to the couch.
“Stop acting like a fucking child,” I say calmly. “I don’t want to hurt you!”
“I don’t care, you bitch!” she screams. “Stay away from my man!”
She launches for me again, reaching for my hair, but I dodge out of the way just as Knox and James rush into the room and immediately break us apart.
“I hate you!” Val screams. “Everyone hates you! Knox hates you! Even James didn’t want you here!”
“What?” I stop and look at James. To his credit, he doesn’t look away.
“He’s just tolerating your fucking presence here but fuck, everyone hates you! They all pity you and that’s why you don’t have any parents! I curse the day my parents adopted you!”
My entire world halts to a stop. Everything in me freezes as Val’s words echo in my head over and over again like we’re in an endless loop.
“What?” I croak.
“Oh that’s right,” Val mocks. “You didn’t know, huh?” This time, it’s her turn to throw her head back and laugh. “You don’t have a family. Your mother was probably a two-dollar whore who probably couldn’t point out your father in a line-up! You’re no one! You have no roots! You’re just a charity case to everyone.”
Every word is a slice to my soul, my mind and my heart. For a moment, I just stand there, not knowing what to do or what to say.
Tears sting my eyes, my heart hurts and my sister… who’s practically telling me that she has never wanted to be my sister, is looking at me like she wants me dead. I look past her to Knox, and he looks despondent and worried. For his wife or for me? I don’t even want to know.
“Nicole…” James starts but I raise my hand, stopping him. I stare right at my sister, her cutting smile hurting more than anything else.
“Well, then I’m glad your parents took me in and raised me as their own,” I whisper. “Watching you grow was the honor of my life but now, learning that you’ve hated me all these years…”
Is that why she’s always made snide remarks about me to everyone who tried to be friends with me or know me?
My God, is that why she took Knox? But they are in love. I don’t even know what to say anymore. I just shake off James’ hand on my shoulder, and with my broken heart in my throat, I turn and do the only thing sensible at this time.
I run.
Chapter 7
“Nicole!” James calls out from behind me, as I run as fast as I can in the snow.
The cold wind feels like bite marks on my skin, and I kick myself for not bringing a jacket with me out here, but it doesn’t dismay me from getting as far away as I can from the cabin.
“Nicole!” he shouts again, plowing through the snow-covered woods, refusing to stop until he catches up with me.
But as hard as I try to escape him, James catches up with me with ease, swinging my body around and wrapping his arms around me, holding me so tightly that I begin to cry.
“Shh, it’s okay, Nicole,” he whispers lovingly, as I shatter in his embrace.
All those vile ugly words that my sister had no qualms in throwing at my face run in a loop in my head. I have loved her all my life and yet those were her true feelings for me. Not only did she know that I was adopted and never told me, but she resented me for it.
“Look at me, Nicole.”
I tilt my head up to look at him, as he cleans my tears away with his thumbs.
“She doesn’t deserve you. Don’t cry over someone who doesn’t see how wonderful you are.”
“She broke my heart,” I confess.
“I know that, sweetheart,” he whispers pained as if my suffering is also his.
I nestle my head in his chest, and just let my sister’s cruel words wash over me and fall at my feet. James keeps his hold on me as he gives me time to process everything that just happened back at the cabin. And once my tears have dried, he pulls my chin toward him with a featherlight touch until I have no choice but to look him in the eye.
“I need to ask you something,” he starts and I don’t miss how the timber in his voice goes down an octave. “Is there any merit to what your sister said?”
“I don’t know what you mean,” I tell him truthfully, my voice cracking in the end.
He releases his grip on my chin in favor of caressing my cheek with his knuckles. And like a moth to a flame, I lean into his touch, needing the intimacy that he’s providing.
“I asked you before, but this is the last time I ask you.”
“Ask me what?”
“Do you love him? Do you still love my son?” he asks with no malice or judgment to his tone.
With my gaze locked on his, I shake my head. “No.”
The small smile that creeps at the corner of his lush upper lip warms my heart.
“Are you mine, Nicole? To fuck and cherish like I need to?”
I lick my lips as I slowly nod, my heart beat suddenly accelerating.
“Yes, “I let out breathlessly.
The soft smile that springs forth on his lips has me melting in place.
“Show me,” he orders as the flare of fire hits his azure eyes. “Show me that you’re mine and only mine.”
My heart kickstarts with his command, as he wraps his hand around my throat and gently slams my back against a nearby tree. With our locked stare still in place, my body instantly shivers with anticipation with the storm brewing in his eyes My fingers go to the hem of my sweater dress and begin to lift it over my thighs, to my waist and chest, until James has no alternative but to release his grip from my throat so that I can pull it over my head. I let it drop to the cold ground, revealing my rose silk chemise beneath. I watch his breath catch in his throat as he takes a step back just to appreciate me. Never in all my years could any man make me feel so cherished and depraved with just one look.
“Take it off,” he orders. “I want to see what’s mine. All of it.”
This time when I go to pull the lingerie off my body, my fingers are less hesitant since I’m all too willing to do his bidding. I add the garment to the pile of clothes on the snow, standing up straight, completely naked except for my snow boots. I’m not sure if it’s the cold wind or his scorching gaze that has my nipples peaked to hard cut diamonds, but I do know that it’s James who is responsible for how wet I am in between my thighs.
Like a lion ready to sink his teeth onto its gazelle, James eats the distance between us and wraps his large hand on my throat again. A wanton sigh immediately escapes my lips when his other hand travels to my slit to verify for himself the effect he has on me.