Cain's Salvation (Passion in Paradise - The Men of the McKinnon Sisters) by Sarah O'Rourke Page A

hating himself
for the anguish he saw swimming in her eyes. 
    “After you got done with me, so was I ,”
she shrieked.  She was angrier than she’d ever been in her life, the
emotion pouring out in a tidal wave.  “A favor, Cain?  Really? 
Is that what you call it?  Telling the woman you swore you’d love
forever to move on with her life and find somebody else while she was busy
planning your goddamn wedding?  That was a favor?”
    “I made a mistake.  A huge, fucking
mistake, Faith,” he whispered as he watched her tremble in front of him.
    “No, I did!  I’m the one that made
an incredible fucking mistake, Cain.  I gave you everything.  My
heart.  My body.  My innocence.  That was my mistake.  You took those gifts and threw them back in my face through a
letter .  You didn’t even spare the time it took for a phone
call.  You just wrote it down like you were making a laundry list,” she
sneered at him as the first teardrop slipped down her cheek. 
    “I knew if I heard your voice I’d never
be able to let you go,” he admitted, his voice raw and cracked with
emotion.  “I wouldn’t have had the strength.  Faith, if I could go
back, I’d do things differently.  Just let me explain…”
    “Fuck you,” she spat at him, wrapping her
arms around herself defensively.  “I don’t want to hear about your
regrets, Cain.  I don’t want to hear from you at all.  You’ve been
home a month !  If you had something to say to me, you could have
said it long before now.  Now, it’s too damned late to explain . 
I no longer wanna hear it.  It no longer matters!”
    Oh, it mattered to her.  Only a
fool would mistake that.  She was hurting and infuriated, but she wasn’t
indifferent.  Taking a step toward her, his eyes narrowed on her shattered
face.  “If it’s too late, why are you crying?” he questioned in a low
voice.  “Why are you shaking like a leaf in the wind?”
    He was invading her personal space, and
Faith took another two steps away from him, stopping only when her back met the
wall. 
    And the bastard just kept coming. 
    “I think I know the answer already,
sweetheart,” he said softly, slowly following her across the miniscule
office.  Barely big enough for the desk and file cabinet it contained, the
room didn’t offer either one of them very much room to move. 
    Her mouth went dry when he paused in
front of her.  Faith could feel his warm breath fanning her cheek when he
dipped his head and put his mouth to her ear.
    “You still love me, Faith, every bit as
much as I still love you,” he whispered, inhaling deeply as he spoke.  He
was careful to keep his arms at his side, his hands clenched into tight fists
to keep from reaching for her.  “If you can deny that, then I’ll walk out
of this place and you’ll never have to see me again.”
    “Don’t,” Faith pled, turning her face
away from him.  “Don’t stand there and lie to me, Cain.”
    Jerking his head up, he sought her
eyes.  “Look at me,” he insisted, waiting for her to meet his gaze. 
He had to make her believe him.  “I’m not lying, Faith,” he said when she
finally turned her eyes to his.
    “No one that loved me could ever have
done what you did,” she returned faintly with a sad shake of her head. 
    “They could if they believed they’d
changed so much that they’d end up destroying you,” he countered truthfully,
his eyes boring into hers as he willed her to believe that much at least.
    “Then the joke is on you, Cain.  In
your sacrificial bid to save me, you destroyed me anyway,” she whispered
painfully, looking at him with eyes that still shined with her tears. 
Swallowing hard, she straightened against the wall.  “Now, step back,” she
demanded through clenched teeth.  He was too close, robbing her of the
ability to think clearly.  She was much too close to throwing herself
against him and doing something truly stupid – like begging him to make love