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Sophia had failed to meet those conditions as a child, and it had cost her her parents’ allegiance Yet it see the very public nature of Sascha Duncan’s defection "It hter because Sascha is her genetic offspring"
Max gave a humorless smile "Funny--Nikita’s about the coldest woman I’ve ever met, but she was probably a better mother than mine"
It was an open door And the lost, painfully lonely part of her wanted to walk through that door so desperately that she found the words "Your mother was inadequate?"
"She hated me," he said, his tone austere, as distant as his expression "Truly hated me I don’t knohy she carried me to term, because I’m certain she wanted to kill lied cop the vulnerable child he must’ve been She couldn’t But she did understand a truth that "real" Psy weren’t supposed to understand "It hurt you," she said, atte, to hold on to his trust No one had ever shared such a private thing with her out of choice It made her heart turn oddly heavy, a thick ache in her chest
"She died when I was fifteen" Words that sounded calh "And the hell of it was, I iven me up to foster carewhen I was hoh his hair at that moment, and it seemed to act like a spray of cold water He blinked, shook his head "I don’t knohy I’ you this"
She didn’t know either, but she hoarded thehad ever been able to reach or erase Everything in her wanted to return his gift in kind, to tell hih, but trust was such an unfamiliar territory that she floundered, the words stuck in her throat
And Max blew out a breath "Must be the sea air, bringing up old lanced at his watch "Looks like it’s ti Sophia, this J who kept short-circuiting Max’s defenses with her gift of listening with a total and absolute focus, was less Psy in her h she was reserved, she did join in the conversation--dominated by Clay and Tally’s two adopted children, Jon and Noor
It made Max’s protective instincts relax to see theued him most was that Sophia ate the sweet crab flesh he put on her plate--though she’d ordered a simple fillet of fish in white sauce for her ownon her face to betray whether or not she enjoyed the taste of the crab, but she didn’t reject any of his offerings And several ti at hio
He’d glimpsed that same look on her face when he told her about his mother That was a truth he’d never shared with anyone--that he’d told her, a woman, a Psy, he’d barelyto pull back, to raise a wall of fore, she was too sames
And, the fact of the , he didn’t want to keep his distance from Sophia Russo No, he wanted her from the lush beauty of her mouth to the ripe curves of her hips, to the unadorned honesty that had slapped him sideways ht as they exited the elevator and headed down to their apart holoved hands and--driven by the deterh the veil of her Silence--seeing a sudden, gaping hole in the web of her logic
"Yes?" She spoke again before he could respond "Did your friend confir when she was found?"
He hadn’t realized she’d picked up on that short conversation he’d had with Clay when they’d gone for a walk along the pier following dinner "He said the boys who found her were adamant she didn’t speak No suspicious scents at the scene either"
Taking out her keycard, Sophia unlocked her door, the movement a fraction too fast Max’s instincts uncurled in anticipation--she was trying to get away from him, which meant she already knehat he’d just realizedand she was sensitive enough to his moods that she’d picked up the tension that had turned his id
He tried to catch her eye, failed "I have a question"
She pushed open the door "We can talk toet some rest"
Max wasn’t about to let her escape "Have you ever," he said in a low murmur, "tried to touch someone with a natural mental shield?"
Sophia froze "No, such people are rare" And none of the have you known I had one?" A dark, intense question