Page 71 of Her Selfless Warrior (Omega Sky)
“Oh no, you sure got that right, I didn’t know that then. Back then, I thought it was normal. I didn’t realize I was just cannon fodder for Harris. No, that’s not right, I was kind of like his hostage to keep Nonnie in line. Whenever she did something that he deemed unacceptable he’d take it out on me, and she’d immediately come back and heel like a good little doggie.”
“And this was Beatrice Allen’s mother?” Kostya asked incredulously. “I’m having a tough time picturing this.”
“Yeah, well, believe it.”
He noticed that her breath was coming faster. She was twisting the handle of her clutch.
“What kinds of things did he do?” Kostya bit out the question.
Lark cringed, then jerked backward, her shoulder hitting the car door.
Shit, this was not the time for any kind of aggression.
Kostya held out his hand, palm up. “I’m sorry, Honey,” he said softly. “I didn’t mean for that to come out so harsh. Do you want to talk about your time with your grandmother and Harris?”
Lark took a deep breath and then rolled her eyes. “Don’t mind me,” she said as she clasped his hand. “Just normal childhood trauma. No big deal.”
She was good, her eyes were actually sparkling.
“I’m pretty sure you owe me a meal,” she quipped.
“Honey, we can skip the restaurant. We can go back to your hotel room and order room service, or we can go back there and you can put on jeans and sneakers and we can eat at McDonald’s and then go for a walk. And whatever we do, you can talk about your childhood or about all the other dresses you had to try on before you settled on this perfect red one. It’s all up to you.”
Lark started to giggle. “You’re a goof.”
“That’s me, one goof at your service.”
“Seriously, the moment you mentioned seafood and wine, my taste buds have been doing cartwheels. You can’t deny me this.”
“Honey, I don’t intend to deny you anything,” Kostya purred.
