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He let go of her wrist.She sprang away from the bed.
Jaw locking, he rose, too.“Are you keeping more secrets?If so, tell them to me, now.”
“What do you want?For me to make some big confession to you right now?”She backed away.She really, really wanted to confess all to him.Wouldn’t it feel great to share her burden with someone else?But she was so afraid to make another mistake.“What will you do?”Naomi asked.“What will be your big plan?Hmmm?If I were suddenly to confess to you—to say that Hudson was hurting me.That he pulled out a knife on our wedding night.That he put it to my throat and then dragged it down my body and told me he could do anything he wanted to me.That he punched me in the stomach over and over and laughed when a seizure had me shaking and shuddering on the bed.”
All of the color seemed to leave Eb’s face.His eyes narrowed to slits of fury.“What?”
But she kept speaking, rolling right along feverishly because she almost could not stop right then.“He wanted me to beg, and I was sure that I was going to die.But even as the seizure had my whole body shuddering, I knew that I had to fight back.So maybe…” She licked her lips.“Maybe I grabbed the knife he’d dropped.Is that what you want me to say?Maybe I was able to reach it.”Her heart pounded.“What would you do if I told youallof this really happened?And that maybe I had to take the knife and stab him?IfI confessed to stabbing Hudson, what would you do?Would you immediately rush to Detective Anderson and the DA?Would you personally shove me in a cell?”
He stalked toward her.His eyes glittered at her.“Is that what happened?”His hands tightened into hard fists.“Tell me.Tell me the truth.”
“What would you do?”Because if he turned on her…
The cops will be back at my door.The detective with the angry eyes who hates me.The DA who wanted to lock me away.She could lose her freedom and her life.All by putting her trust in the wrong person.
Been there, done that before.So maybe she needed to slow down.To put some needed distance between them before she made another mistake.“I have to shower,” Naomi said before he could answer her question.“I need to get dressed.I need to find out who torched my house.”
He stopped advancing.
“We spend the night together, and you think I’m going to wake up and make some big, dramatic confession?”Naomi let her eyes widen.Shit.I just did that very thing.Mostly.“I swear, that detective grilled me once for nearly twenty-four hours straight.I didn’t break then or during any of our other marathon interrogation sessions.I kept to my story.I’ll repeat it for you now.”Don’t you dare slip up just because you’re thinking this man is some kind of hero, Naomi!Just because you woke up and felt safe and protected and you thought about having mind-blowing sex with him.Get it together, woman.“I had a fight with my husband.I left in the middle of the night because I needed air.I went for a long walk with my dog.I got lost outside.The property stretches and stretches and I’m not familiar with everything.Especially in the dark, things get confusing.I got confused.When I finally got back, when I came in the guesthouse…” She looked over at the bed.“I called out for Hudson.He didn’t respond.I found him dead on the bed.”
“Here’s another scenario.”Eb remained rooted to the spot.“And it includes therealstory that I think you just gave me minutes ago.Only that story doesn’t include all of those ‘maybe’uses that you were throwing around.”
She swallowed the lump in her throat and lifted her chin.
“Hudson was bigger than you.Stronger than you.He had training provided by the government that would mean he knew how to inflict maximum pain.He could cause you so much pain that you would be begging him to stop, and while he was doing that, he would not even leave a mark on you.”
A shiver slid over her.“Guessing you had that same training?”But Hudson had left marks on her.Her stomach had bruised from the punches.
“I had more.”
She backed up.Notwhat she needed to hear.
“Don’t.”Low.Rasping.“I will not hurt you, Naomi.You never need to physically fear me.”
“I’m going to shower.I’m not running from you.”Her chin kicked up even more.“Just trying to get clean.”She whirled away.
“Some sins can’t be washed away.”
His words had her stilling.
“Hudson was bigger than you.Stronger than you.You fought.You were seizing and he wasn’t helping, and you were afraid…so you grabbed a knife, and you stabbed him.Maybe your hand jerked.See what I did?I just used the word ‘maybe’ for you.Here, let’s do it again.Maybeyou didn’t intend to kill him, but you can’t control yourself when the seizures hit, can you?”
I did exactly what I intended to do.Her control was back.The temporary weakness or insanity or whatever it had been—that was averted, for the moment.She looked back at Eb.“I am glad he’s dead.Take that statement however you want to take it.”With those words, she marched into the small bathroom.No dramatic door slamming.Instead, Naomi just closed the door softly behind her.Her gaze slid to the mirror.To her reflection.She stared into her own eyes.Didn’t flinch.“I’m glad,” she whispered again.
The shower had turned on.He could hear the water thundering out.
Eb wanted to be in that shower with her.Not going to happen, of course.So what if he’d woken up, aching for her?
Twenty-four hours.He hadn’t even been back in her life that long.
She didn’t trust him.
She didn’t want him to fuck her.
And she doesn’t know that I came to this town intending to fuck her over.
If he had his way, she’d never know that particular truth.