Sandy's POV
The words slipped from my lips before I could stop them. "Are you hoping someone had hurt me?"
Charles went completely still. His breathing stopped, and something flickered across his face that I had never witnessed before. Raw. Unfiltered. Vulnerable.
My pulse hammered against my ribs as I watched this crack appear in his armor. The man who never revealed anything suddenly looked exposed.
"What is this?" His voice came out broken, barely above a whisper.
His hand moved to cradle the back of my head, fingers threading through my hair with desperate gentleness. The warmth of his palm seared into my scalp. He drew me closer, and the careful way he touched me made something twist painfully in my chest.
"I searched for you like a man possessed." His words brushed against my mouth, hot and shaking. "Do you honestly believe I would want you harmed? Sandy, how could you even think that?"
