Page 115 of Savage Ambition

“If you want.”

“Does that mean you want that?” Shaw asked directly, his voice steady despite the vulnerability in his eyes.

I ran my thumb across his knuckles, deflecting the question I wasn’t ready to answer honestly. “What I want is to introduce you to all kinds of pleasure, Shaw. Things you’ve never imagined. All you have to do is say the word. There’s no desire of yours I would ever deny.”

Fear flickered across his face, replacing the curiosity. He pulled his hand back. “I’m not saying that’s what I want. I was asking because I don’t know much about your work life beyond my own experience as a paying customer.”

The retreat stung more than it should have, but I took comfort in the fact that it wasn’t an outright denial. “That’s by design. The less you think about it, the better it will be for you.”

When he still looked unconvinced, I continued. “What you need to understand is that you’re unique because I want you as Dante, not Dragon. You’re the only reprieve I get within those walls to remember there’s more to me than being an obedient sex worker.”

Shaw smiled wanly. “I guess that’s something.”

“It’s everything,” I corrected. “Do you have any idea how rare it is for me to feel like a person instead of a commodity? To want someone because I choose to, not because I’m paid to pretend?”

His expression softened, and he reached for my hand. “I want you to be free.”

“I know.” The simple acknowledgment of his wish hurt more than it should have. Freedom was a fantasy I couldn’t afford to indulge in too often. Not when Raphael’s safety depended on my compliance. “But until that happens, these moments with you are all I have.”

He squeezed my hand, a gesture so gentle it made my chest ache. “Then that’s enough for me right now.” It meant more than I expected that he hadn’t pulled away from me, even after finding out about my callous treatment of Melissa and Jace.

I refocused the discussion on what had kept me awake all night. “Did you meet a man yesterday?”

The way his body tensed told me everything before he spoke. “Your dad.”

“My adoptive father,” I corrected, the distinction vital to my sanity. “What did he say to you?”

When he hesitated, I pressed harder. “Answer my question.”

“He warned me,” Shaw said, his voice flat in a way that troubled me. “Did he punish you for not doing anything with Jace?”

“No, Jace was the punishment.” It had seemed strange at the time, but now it made perfect sense. Salvatore had never intended for me to service Jace. He’d orchestrated the entire scenario to get to Shaw. To find my weakness. My voice hardened. “What did Salvatore warn you about?”

I waited, watching him gather his thoughts, his teeth worrying his bottom lip in that way that always made me want to kiss him.

“That you were his,” Shaw said after a long pause, the words coming out as if they hurt him. “And if I didn’t remember that, he would punish you. Hurt you.”

“He’s such a bastard.” White-hot rage coursed through me, not for the typical threat against me but for dragging Shaw into my nightmare. “What did he do to you?”

Shaw shifted, looking away, his fingers picking at a loose thread on his jeans.

My voice was gentle but insistent, masking my building panic. “Tell me what he did to you.”

“He tried to intimidate me,” he said with a shrug that was a little too casual.

When he pulled away from my touch, alarm bells rang louder in my head. “There’s more to it than that.”

“What are you worried he did to me?” His question was careful, testing boundaries.

“That he got physical with you.” The words tasted vile on my tongue. I’d seen what Salvatore did to people who crossed him and touched what he considered his property. I’d helped clean up the aftermath more than once.

“He didn’t hurt me.”

I couldn’t relax, not when Shaw’s eyes kept darting away, not when his body language screamed that there were horrors lurking in his silence. “What are you hiding?”

“Why do you think I’m hiding something?”

“Because I know what he’s like, damn it!” My voice sounded too loud in the small room.