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I turned now to face him. "I guess the nuns did. But…it's not like there's one person. You're part of a system. You just grow up."
He narrowed his eyes. "Was it a good orphanage?"
I chuckled then. "Define good."
"I don't know, Isha. Were you abused? Were you hurt? Did you have enough to eat?"
"You're wondering if I ever had to hold up a bowl and say, 'Please, sir, I want some more?' It wasn't like that. It was fine." It was a nightmare, one that didn't end when Yas and I had to leave the orphanage and ended up in a state-run home when we became teenagers.
"Have you looked for your parents?" he asked.
I rubbed my hands on my bare thighs. He was making me uneasy. "Why would I?"
"Curiosity."
I shrugged. "I'm not interested. I mean, what would I say? Thanks for not throwing me in a dustbin and letting me die? I know some kids who look. My friend Yasmine and I met when we were nine, and we became fast friends right away. She looked."
"And?"
"And it was a disappointment," I revealed. "Her mum didn't want her and didn't want to see her. She'd been raped and didn't want to keep the baby."
He took my hand in his then and surprised me. "That's tough."
"Yeah. Speaking of childhoods, how was it to grow up on a ranch? It must've been so much fun."
He kept my hand in his, stroking the palm of my hand with a rough thumb.
"I was close to my father. He took me everywhere with him. I think I sat on a horse before I could walk."
"How wonderful."
He traced my nose with a finger, and I shrank from his touch. "Please don't."
"Why?"
I licked my lips, and his eyes were drawn to them.
"I…I cannot do this."
"Do what?"
I got up then, wanting to get away from him, his aura, his magnetism. This man was lethal. I'd never had this kind of attention from a man. I didn't trust it.
"I'm with your brother," I offered lamely. I was so not with Ace, but I needed some defenses against this man.
He laughed. "Darlin', you're barking up the wrong tree. Ace has always been in love with Caitlyn and will always be. You're just a…dalliance."
He might as well have called me a prostitute. I suddenly felt dirty.
"I understand you think that," I whispered. "But you know nothing about Ace and my relationship." And if you did, you'd know that I'm not even a dalliance. When he found out, I would love to be there and rub it in his face.
He came up to me.
"If you're with my brother, Isha, explain why you're soaking wet because of me?"
I felt shock course through me at his blunt words. I grew up rough. I'd heard it all, and yet I cringed. There was nothing sexy about what he'd said. It was…insulting.
"Can we go back?" I asked.
