Of course it had.
Because he was a breast man.That’s all it was.Anywoman, in that state, would have sparked the same response.It was simple biology.
Except it wasn’t just biology, was it?
He’d had every opportunity in the last year to find a new mistress.Women flirted with him constantly.Wealth, power, reputation—he had it all.
They wanted the billionaire.The name.The prestige.
They didn’t wanthim.
Jemma had wanted him.Not his money.Not his company.Him.
That was what made her dangerous.
And irresistible.
Damn it, even thinking about her now made his body respond all over again.
Her curves.Her laugh.That sharp wit and the way she could be goofy and sexy in the same breath.The memory of her teasing him, laughing at him,withhim.It had felt real.Grounding.
He cursed under his breath, slamming the shower knob to off.He toweled himself off with brutal efficiency, ignoring the stubborn arousal that refused to fade.
He would not let her undo him again.
Tomorrow, he would take control.
He would bend her to his will.Make her answer to him.Make her feel what it was like to be powerless.To be used.Dismissed.
Just like she’d done to him.
He didn’t sleep that night.His mind spun with questions, unsolved pieces of a puzzle he didn’t yet understand.And beneath the fury, something more dangerous pulsed—an ache for answers.
Chapter 8
Jemma trembled as she stepped into the office.
It was eight twenty-five in the morning.
Early, technically.On any other day, Jemma wouldn’t be here early, but Jasper had noticed the vacant look in her eyes this morning and gently taken over feeding Jayla without being asked.He was such a good kid.So patient with the baby, so quick to help—even when his own heart was still in pieces.
And he’d lostso much.
His mother.His stability.His closest friends.The life he’d known had been pulled out from under him, inch by inch, since the moment their mom had been diagnosed with breast cancer.
He didn’t even know the worst of it.
Jemma swallowed hard.That particular truth—the one she’d buried deep—would go with her to the grave.Jasper wasn’t thinking clearly lately, and if he ever discovered what their mother had done, it would break him.Maybe beyond repair.
She wouldn’t let that happen.
If she accomplished nothing else over the next year, Jemma would protect what remained of her family.She’d already lost her mother.She’d already lost the man she loved more than she wanted to admit.
She wouldn’t lose Jasper.
Or Jayla.
Ever.
