“I don’t understand. Why would you do such a thing?”
He shrugged. “I had to try and fix the problem somehow.”
“Because that’s your job. To fix things.” It wasn’t a question.
“It always has been,” he answered simply. “Since the day my father died, I’m all that stood between Dantes succeeding or going under.”
“Well, I’m not some business you have to rebuild. You don’t have to fix things for me,” sheinsisted. “I’ve been taking care of myself for a very long time now. Idon’t need you to step in and assume the job at this late date.”
Strongly stated. Maybe a bit too strongly. “Just out of curiosity...” He cocked his head to one side. “Have you ever needed anyone since you turned eighteen?”
He caught the faintest of quivers before she stiffened her chin. “No.”
He lowered his voice to a caress. “Or should I ask, have you ever wanted anyone?”
“Don’t do this,” she whispered. “It’s not fair. Iwant permanence, not temporary.”
“Not a string of foster homes.”
She conceded the accuracy of his observation with a small nod. “Growing up I always felt I had to change who I was so I’d fit in, that being myself wasn’t good enough. Irefuse to do that any longer. Iwon’t pretend to be something or someone I’m not, not any longer.” She tugged at the ring he’d given her. “This doesn’t belong on my finger. Not until it’s the real thing.”
He stopped her before she could remove it, closing his hand over hers. “Leave it there for the time being. Iforced you to work for me. Caused dissension for you both at Timeless and at Dantes. The ring will help protect you. It may even right a few wrongs.”
She hesitated. “What’s the point? It has to come off sometime.”
“But not yet.” Not until he’d had time to come up with a resolution to their problems. “Listen to me, honey. There’s a very good possibility that our engagement will give you the opportunity to reestablish a relationship with the Fontaines. They’re less likely to blame you for leaving them if they believe I forced the issue. They could be part of your life again. You might not see your father as often as you would if you still worked for TH. But at least they won’t be angry with you any longer.”
“Do you really think so?”
Stark longing filled her expression, ripping him apart. “Give it a chance and see,” he suggested roughly.
She teetered on the edge of temptation. “How long do you expect me to keep up this charade?”
“For as long as it takes.”
“But it’s a lie,” Francesca protested.
“Is it?”
A single tug had their bodies colliding in the sweetest of impacts. Sev wrapped his arms around her. The mere touch of her body fomented a reaction unlike anything he’d ever felt with another woman. He’d assumed theacuteness of their passion would ease after a few weeks, that eventually they’d both become sated and the sexual intensity would diminish. It hadn’t, and from his perspective, neither of them was close to sated.
A tremor swept through her, one so slight he’d have missed it if they hadn’t been fused together from hip to shoulder. He recognized that shiver, felt it each time he pulled her into his arms, and it never failed to excite him. It betrayed a sensual helplessness, one reserved only for him. It whispered her secret to him, teased him with the knowledge that with one touch, her defenses would fall before his advance.
“Let me in, sweetheart.”
She gripped his shoulders, pushing even as she yielded. “We’re through. Whatever existed between us is over. It ended the minute you forced me into this devil’s bargain with you. Putting a ring on my finger to protect me doesn’t change that. You put business ahead of our relationship and that’s the end of anything personal.”
“You know that isn’t true.”
He swept a hand from the base of her spine to the nape of her neck. Her shiver became a shudder. The give of her body ripened into a heated abandonment, one that silently incited him to deepen their embrace. She wanted him.She might resist it, but nothing could stop the combustible reaction whenever they touched. Not personal preference. Not logic or intellect. Not even her hurt and anger at the hideous position in which he’d puther.
The dragon’s breath of The Inferno incinerated both reason and intellect, and left behind a single urge. To mate. To step into the fire of that joining and allow the flames to consumethem.
He lowered his head, his mouth hovering above hers so their breath became one. “I wish this weren’t happening when it’s clear you don’t want it. Iwish I could do what you ask and let you go. But I can’t.”
“You don’t have any choice,” she asserted. “Do you really think that after all you’ve done I could ever trust you again?”
“I’m not asking for your trust.”
