Unbind My Heart by Maddie Taylor Read Free Book Online Page A

back at it. 
    “You were telling me how you ended up here in San Antonio.”
    “You’re persistent, I’ll give you that.”  She paused and took a healthy swallow of her wine, liquid courage, he assumed.  “The only family I had in the states was my dad’s sister.  She took me in and raised me until I was fifteen.  I went to boarding school for a while after that, hated it, then went to live with other relatives until I left for college.” 
    Turning her attention to her meal, she was obviously done.  Jonas chuckled. 
    “Lexie, that was not a long story.  I think you left out some pieces.”  He began stroking the back of her hand with his long thumb, soothingly, gently encouraging her to open up.  “Regan mentioned that you were a gymnast and did some modeling.  Tell me about that.  She said you were very good and won some competitions.”
    Lexie frowned. “Were you in an interrogation unit in the Army?  You’re very good at coaxing out information from reluctant enemy combatants.  I certainly was forthcoming the other night at The Club.”  She took another big swallow of wine.
    “You’re hardly my enemy, sweet Lexie.”
    She looked up at him in surprise before her eyebrows gathered in and her mouth turned down in a soft moue.  “I’m sorry, Jonas, I didn’t mean to snap at you.” 
    “It seems I hit on a sensitive subject.  Was it the gymnastics or the modeling?”
    There was a lengthy pause.  Jonas could see she was mentally arguing how much of herself to disclose.  Her reluctance had him intrigued, and he was now determined to learn all of her secrets. Maybe not tonight, but eventually he’d get there.
    “I can see the debate team is hard at work, Lexie.” 
    “Yeah,” she huffed a little laugh.  “The voices again, well actually, they’re just thoughts.  They're the angel and devil sitting on my shoulder, like in the cartoons.  My life wasn’t so great after my parents passed, and I don’t like to talk about it.  Besides, every dating article I’ve ever read says you should never talk about this kind of stuff on a first date, at least not if you want a second.  I was kind of hoping for a second.”  Her face suffused with color as she grimaced, muttering under her breath, “I can’t believe I just said that.”
    He laughed, amused by her unintentional revelation.  “Don’t put too much credence into dating advice.  I like to go with my gut, which is telling me that we have a connection.  I feel it, and I think you do, too.” 
    Sensing her continued reluctance, he added, “I promise you can trust me not to judge or condemn.  Most of us have a few skeletons in the closet, especially those of us in the lifestyle.”
    “But I’m not in the lifestyle.”
    “Not yet, but we can reserve that discussion for date number two.”
    She smiled shyly, appearing pleased that he was looking beyond tonight.  After another moment of hesitation, she nodded, and deciding to take the plunge, she started her story.  “I went to live with my aunt after my parents died.  She was a gymnastics coach and owned her own gym.  She was really quite good and had several success stories, but she was driven and looking for a star, an Olympian.  Surprisingly, that turned out to be me, or so she thought.  She put me in tumbling classes immediately and I was soon competing locally.  By the time I was thirteen, I medaled four times in the Junior Nationals, earning a silver medal in the all-around and gold on the floor exercise.  She saw Olympic gold in her future and the dollar signs that come with having a medalist emerging from her gym.  Then, when I was fourteen, I had a growth spurt—a death knell for a gymnast.  In one summer, I grew four inches, gained weight and got these.” 
    She waved her hands at her nicely rounded chest.  Of course, Jonas’ gaze followed.  Although not of mammoth proportions, she was well-endowed.  The clingy material and coolness of the room had