Cut Too Deep (23 page)

J
etlag wouldn’t allow Miller to sleep, nor would the haunting information he acquired about Hadley on the memory drive he discovered while in Thailand. He would have to tell her who he was soon. She gave him her trust. It was a gift that would easily be taken back if she found out. He worried the truth would send Hadley running.

His determination to protect her meant ensuring her safety before confession. How had her name, Hadley Natalia Rosanov, ended up on a list of women who’d been sold into the sex trade by the same ring Theresa fell into? The transactions weren’t dated and he feared whoever purchased her had yet to claim her. Miller would never let those fucking men near her.

For nearly two months, Miller had listened to the cries of women coming and going against their will. He’d heard flesh on flesh as the guards man handled and abused those woman into compliance. The loathsome sounds of men taking turns on soft creatures that had been restrained and forced into submission penetrated his ears as loudly as if he were still in the room next door.

He gazed down at his lamb with a fierce sense of protection, realizing he hadn’t been the wolf after all. She’d made him softer and awakened the gentler side of him that he’d laid to rest after Theresa. Only now a genuine pack of ruthless predators pursued his lamb. Whatever the stakes, he would save her from the carnage those beasts planned to instill on her, even if it meant losing her.

Miller shook his head, clearing the troubling thoughts, and smiled as he remembered their first meeting. He’d been sitting on a bench in the park reading when the brown-eyed girl in pigtails skipped by. He watched her stop to sniff the various wild flowers, only to crinkle her nose when their scent didn’t meet her expectation. She then moved to a row of tiger lilies, studying them intently. Her fingers brushed along one of the petals. She lifted the petal, folding it toward the center. When she let go, a faint smile touched her lips. Her eyes swept the grass. With an enchanted smile, she plucked a dandelion from the grass and closed her eyes on a wish. Her smile widened. She brought the fluffy bulb of the flower to her mouth and blew its seeds to the wind. He recalled her bright eyes, wide with wonderment as she watched her hopes drift out of sight on the breeze. She was a pure ray of sunshine.

The girls he knew were too preoccupied with social events to wish on dandelions. A good thing, considering Giovanni wasn’t interested in girls. He was still happily under the impression they carried cooties. Although he had to admit, he found this girl fun to observe. She was different, and he continued to watch her curiously. He smiled as she pulled dandelion after dandelion from the earth, spreading a thousand seeds throughout the park. Apparently, she had a plethora of stored wishes.

As the girl bent down to pick another dandelion, three boys approached her. “Hey, Rusky, wishing on weeds won’t make your daddy quit drinking.” Giovanni recognized the threesome who terrorized the neighborhood regularly. They lacked the intellect to bother him, and in time left him alone. That, and Giovanni was substantially bigger than they were.

The girl cowered as one of the boys reached out and pulled roughly on one of her pigtails. Giovanni’s blood ran cold. He’d seen enough. “Let go of her hair, Anthony.”

The group turned to face Giovanni wearing matching scowls.

“Why do you care, Gio?”

“Because I’ve been taught that boys shouldn’t pick on girls.” Giovanni stood and marched toward Anthony until they were toe to toe. Anthony narrowed his eyes, but Giovanni could feel the fear radiating from him. “I think it’s only fair that if you’re looking for a fight, I be allowed to take her place.”

“Whatever. You’re such a freak. Why do you always talk like an old man? It’s creepy.” Anthony turned to his friends. “Let’s get outta here.”

When the group retreated, Giovanni and the girl exchanged a glance. Terror reflected in her wide eyes, and, in that moment, he vowed to watch over her and see to her safety.

The pressure in Miller’s chest forced him from the memory. His heart pounded thick and heavy like a bass drum. He knew the entire gruesome fate Hadley suffered shortly after moving away from the neighborhood. He’d been robbed of the ability to keep his promise. No one kept her safe or looked after her.

Miller shook his head if only to clear the anger momentarily. His failed promise to Hadley kept him from giving up on Theresa, and now it had come full circle. The heavy burden hadn’t been lifted, but he’d been granted a second chance to shield Hadley from anymore evil. He wouldn’t fail this time.

Hadley stirred in his arms but remained asleep. After lying awake for several more hours, Miller’s eyes finally closed, but only after he considered the irony of his trip. He’d left New York intent on finding someone he loved, and he had—only her name was not Theresa Jensen.

Sunday morning, Hadley woke from the most peaceful night’s sleep she could ever remember having. There were no nightmares from the past reminding her of where she came from. She also awakened in the arms of the man responsible for her undisturbed night of rest. Miller soothed her.

There were mountains of unanswered questions between them. Hadley knew his reasons for traveling to Thailand, but why he’d been detained continued to be a mystery. She knew who he’d been searching for, but did he still want to find Theresa? And, more painfully, did he still love his wife? Why did he wait so long to contact her after returning home?

When she turned in his arms to face him, the questions fled her mind. He was here with her now. Miller was beautiful with insanely long black lashes that kissed his cheeks. Even in sleep, she noticed the indentation in his cheek from his dimple. She eyed the scar on his chin and couldn’t resist touching it. With the tip of her index finger, she lightly traced the jagged skin, starting from the middle of his chin downward and slightly to the left. Miller didn’t wake while she continued until the skin returned to normal below his jaw. Despite what Miller told her, the scar had a story. For men, all physical scars were an elaborate tale to brag about, even if embellished, unless of course they were attached to a painful memory. Only then were they deemed uneventful.

His body jerked beneath her. “Hadley, Hadley.” Miller didn’t wake, but the pain in his voice worried her. Hadley hoped last night’s revelations weren’t the source of his discomfort. Wide awake and in dire need of caffeine, Hadley left Miller to sleep and headed to the kitchen. Only moments later, Hadley heard him walking in her direction.

They swapped nervous glances, the pull between them strong. Hadley bowed her head shyly.

“Hi.”
Oh, my God. I’m so lame.

“Hi.” His teasing smile only flustered her more. “I woke the second you left the bed.”

She blushed.

“Um… I was going to make coffee.”

“I’d love coffee.”

To avoid the awkwardness, Hadley turned her back on him and went about brewing a pot. Miller glanced around her apartment, noticing the barre on the wall in what should be her dining room. With hardwood floors, the rectangular space was perfect for it, but he had to wonder how the woman exuberant enough about dancing to install this in her home would turn down an apprenticeship with the finest ballet in the country and settle for a job with his cousin.

“Do you want cream and sugar?” Miller sent her a look of disgust. Hadley giggled. “Right, Miller Genetti doesn’t indulge in things of such a sweet nature.”

In an instant Miller filled the space in front of her, his lips mere inches from hers. The air between them charged instantly.

“You’re of a sweet nature, and I’d happily indulge in you.”

His dark stare sucked her in. She was a goner. Miller smiled devilishly, that damn dimple teasing, and planted a gentle kiss on her cheek. “Black coffee is fine, thank you.” When he stepped back, Hadley finally managed to breathe. She felt slightly disappointed the anticipated kiss didn’t happen. She wondered if their confessions last night weighed on him, or if he decided he wanted his wife back. Before she could think too long about it, she felt him. Miller reached out and caressed her cheek. “Nothing’s changed, Love.” Hadley lifted her gaze to a pair of intense eyes. “When I kiss you, you’ll never see it coming.”

“Oh.” She bit her lip and turned away, pouring two mugs of coffee.

Miller took his mug and sat on one of the bar stools, checking messages on his phone. When finished, he looked up to his browned-eyed beauty sucking on a spoon. He averted his gaze to avoid dirty thoughts involving her mouth. His eyes flashed to the tub of Nutella in her hand.

“That is hardly a proper breakfast, Love.”

Hadley giggled.

“No, but it’s yummy.”

Miller stood up.

“Get dressed!”

Hadley tossed the spoon in the sink.

“Why? Where are we going?”

“I’m taking you to breakfast. Get dressed.”

She gave him a challenging look.

“I just had breakfast.”

“Coffee and chocolate are not breakfast.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Well, I am, and the only way I’m having chocolate for breakfast is if I lick it off your naked body. Your choice.”

“I’ll get dressed.”

While it was the anticipated response, Miller wondered what he would have done had she chosen to stay in.

The flashy steel-gray sports car parked in front of her building chirped. Hadley knew immediately it belonged to Miller. Very few people could own something so ostentatious. She was actually surprised it hadn’t been stolen or stripped overnight.

“What is this?”

His chest swelled. “It’s a
Maserati. Do you like it?” While she adored how he boasted boyishly about his car, that hadn’t been her intended question.

“It’s gorgeous, but I saw you in a Mercedes. I assumed it was yours.”

Miller’s face twisted into an expression of complete distain and she giggled.

“Love, I’m one hundred percent Italian male, I would never own German engineering. The day you saw me, my trip was last minute and my driver was off. I phoned a service to take me to the airport.”

“Oh, well my apologies, Mr. One Hundred Percent Italian Male. I didn’t intend to insult your ego.” Her tone was playful.

His follow up laughter came from deep in his chest as he opened the passenger door.

“Apology accepted, my Brown-eyed Girl.”

Hadley sunk into the seat, her mind in too hostile a place to marvel the luxury of the vehicle. When Miller joined her in the car, her distress pricked his skin.

“What’s wrong?”

She toyed with the hem of her shorts. Miller assumed the standard female answer of ‘nothing’ was coming and mentally prepped for how to counter it.

Hadley sighed.

“My mother used to sing me to sleep with that song. Bedtime was the cause of many arguments in our home. My father didn’t understand why I needed her at bedtime, why they couldn’t simply send me to bed. He hated that I needed her for anything. Ironic, since I needed her at bedtime because he was the source of the nightmares that made sleep difficult. My father was my own personal boogie man.”

Miller bit back bitter words when he saw her melancholy frown. She lived with enough anger. He cupped the back of her head, and then he thanked her before moving his hand to her knee.

“For what?”

“For not closing up on me, for not telling me it was ‘nothing’, and for trusting me.”

It was her usual reaction, to close up, but her anxiety was nowhere to be found when she was near him. Trusting him was effortless. She thanked him back with a lovely smile.

“Why do you call me love?”

Miller ignored that she intentionally changed the subject.

“It’s an endearing term. When I think of the word love, I think of you. Why do you ask?”

“I don’t know. I guess I thought with all your Italian manhood you would choose Bella or something.”

Miller winced. Bella, said with an accent and a certain look, guaranteed sex. He would never tarnish his feelings for Hadley by using a word he used to charm countless women in his past. She deserved better.