Chapter 57: Don't.

MARIA

"Talk about what?"

"Your past." The words left his mouth like a whip, sharp and loud in the otherwise silent, almost dark room.

She flinched away from him as the word left his lips, recoiling at the flashes of imagery that went through her mind, evoked by those two words.

Her past.

His eyes darkened at her reaction. Where lust had once been, wariness and a certain hardness now took root. "Don't, Maria."

Well, she guessed she should be glad that he was now calling her by her name and not the annoying 'sorceress', although with the tone he used, sounding somewhat exasperated, she wasn't really sure she liked him calling her name in that moment.

"Don't what?"

It was crazy how the night had taken such a sudden turn. A few minutes ago, she'd been eating at his mouth like she didn't have another day to live and now it was like a bucket of ice had been poured over her, extinguishing all traces of desire in her.

"Don't try to run away from this." He warned in a surprisingly even