“Don’t know any other way to be.” I give her a friendly smile. “Wait right here while I get some towels.”
I don’t wait for her answer, merely stride off to the laundry room and grab some fresh towels out of the dryer. When I return, she’s standing in the same spot where I left her.
Wrapping a towel around her shoulders, I begin to dry the water from her arms. “Doesn’t feel like August anymore, does it?”
She shakes her head and water drips from her hair. Her hands go to her head, fingers pulling at the band of elastic holding her hair back.
“Let me help you,” I offer.
Her light brown hair tumbles down, settling around her shoulders and falling over them, too. I can’t help but stare at her. She’s so damn gorgeous.
“If you’re done staring at me, I could use a towel for my hair, too,” she says.
I shake my head, holding out the second towel I had grabbed. “Not done, but here you go.”
She leans her head to one side, the ends of her hair curling. “You’re not going to apologize?”
I could flatter Evangeline in this moment. Tell her that I think she’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my life. But words won’t work with her. Words don’t work with me. Only actions.
“No.”
Smiling a little, she finishes drying her hair and hands back my towel. “I think I’ll keep the other one until I can change.”
“You can wear one of my shirts.”
“That’s too intimate,” she says softly.
“I want to be intimate with you.” Taking the towel she’s still wearing around her shoulders between my fingers, I tug her closer. The scent of rain and a floral shampoo invade my senses. “Not just for sex, either. I want to get to know you.”
“Sex seems a whole lot safer.”
I cock my head to one side. “You’d be okay with a benefits-only type of relationship?”
She shrugs.
“What if I don’t want that with you?” I say slowly.
“What if I can’t give you more than that?” she counters, her jaw turning stubborn.
Letting go of one of her shoulders, I stroke my fingers over her cheek. She flinches a little, her eyes blinking rapidly. “Was this his favorite spot to hurt you?”
“One of them,” she says evenly.
“My mother has a scar here.” I trace an imaginary line from her temple to her chin. “Courtesy of my father.”
Her eyes widen. She licks her lips. “How long did she…when did she leave?”
“Sixteen years later.”
Unable to take the look of horror on her face, I turn her away from me and begin to rub her shoulders. They are so tense and knotty that I’m surprised she can lift her arms at all.
I dip my head, placing my mouth close to her ear. “She couldn’t leave him before then. He threatened to destroy her visa and passport.”
“She’s not American?”
“Mexican.” I work my fingers against her muscles, concentrating on making them relax. “When he would leave, he’d take them with him. Then I came along.”
“Penn didn’t want children. He said if I got pregnant that he would force me to get rid of…it. That with enough money, he could get rid of all his problems.”
I can imagine the conversation. The threats…the manipulation and mental torture. Impotent rage fills me. “Did he…did you…fuck, Evangeline.”
She sways against me. “No, but I was late once, and he drove me to a fancy clinic in Charleston. They gave me a pregnancy test. When it came back negative, they gave me a prescription for more birth control pills and sent me on my way.”
“No one said anything, noticed anything?” I ask, although I already know the answer. An image of Evangeline fills my head, her face pale and her eyes full of terror.
“No.” Another deep sigh. “I think he was disappointed.”
“That you weren’t pregnant?”
“That he couldn’t force me to get rid of anything.”
I have no words for this. No words of comfort. There isn’t a curse word strong enough to vent my anger for her. Fighting the urge to cross myself, I take a deep breath and attempt to remain professional. The last thing she needs is for me to show my ass.
“It’s what he did to me all along. Anything that mattered to me was cut out of my life. Didn’t matter if it was something as simple as my first pair of pointe shoes, or my entire family. Friends. Church. He didn’t like the competition for attention.” She turns slightly to look up at me. “Now do you see why I’m so hesitant to become involved with anyone? Penn took everything away from me. I refuse to let that happen again.”
“I don’t want to take anything from you, except your time. I want dinner. Conversation. We can start slow.”
“While I’m flattered you want to be around me so much, it’s scary. Penn was too much for me. He was—”
“I’m not him,” I say flatly. “My dad abused my mom and me for years, Evangeline. The last thing I would ever do is lay a hand on another person.” I still have nightmares about my past. Still can’t get rid of the memories. The scent of blood. The sight of it on my hands. How heavy his body was. My mother pleading with me to help her.