Ilse’s stomach tightened with an aching sensation as he straightened away from her.Why didn’t he just kiss her?The thought shocked and mortified her – it was almost like she was complaining!
Noticing the look of dismay that flitted over her face, the billionaire said abruptly, “Let’s walk.” But he didn’t really give her a choice as he took hold of her hand and he started to move.
As their steps automatically fell in sync with the billionaire deliberately matching her pace, everything just became worse, with the jostling crowd occasionally pushing them against each other, and Ilse unable to help but stiffen every time their sides touched.
When they turned around a corner, the billionaire placed his hand at the small of Ilse’s back, and oh, how that part of her body burned.
They walked and walked, and Ilse’s heart just went on aching.
He had not kissed her.Why?
She had asked him to kiss her, but he had not.Why?
Why?
Ilse stole a glance at the billionaire, and she bit her lip at the unfamiliar, rigid lines of his face. He was always wickedly smiling with her, and now he was...not.
She just didn’t understand him, but then no one else in the world seemed to.
In the past weeks, Ilse had been unable to resist reading up about him, and one thing she had learned was how the corporate world viewed Jaak de Konigh as a wildcard of sorts, a maverick belonging to a rare breed with how his wealth was completely derived from stocks he owned in numerous Fortune 500 companies.
He was a billionaire without his own enterprise, a king without an empire. Countless speculations had been put forth in an effort to explain his seemingly intentional choice, but Jaak had refused to validate any of them.
Ilse had thought about this a lot, and she had come to wonder uneasily if the billionaire viewed ownership as a form of shackles.
But if he did think that way...what then?
Did it mean he didn’t care about making her...his?
Ilse stole another look at the billionaire, and this time she couldn’t help scowling. How unnecessarily complicated life had become, and to think she hadn’t ever asked for this!
The billionaire suddenly stopped walking, and when she blinked up at him, he said mildly, “You were looking at me like you wanted to kill me again.”
Because she did,Ilse thought.
“Was it something I said?”
Ilse shrugged. “It doesn’t matter.”
Gazing at her curiously, the billionaire murmured, “I think it does.”
How terribly perceptive of him, Ilse thought darkly, and she knew this was yet another unexpected discovery of him. Jaak de Konigh was close to perfection as any man could be. He had every reason to be self-absorbed, but instead he saw too, too much, often saw beyond what most people were comfortable showing.
“Why didn’t you kiss me?” As soon as the words were out, she wished she could slit her throat for letting such words escape.
The billionaire didn’t answer right away. He hadn’t expected Ilse to be so direct, but then again, he should have. Ilse Muir was anything but predictable, and wasn’t that what had attracted him so in the first place?
When he still didn’t say anything, she said quietly, “You know I have commitments, don’t you?” It was such an impersonal way of referring to Jan, and doing so hurt even though she knew that her brother couldn’t hear her speak in such a way.
“Yes,” the billionaire answered simply. “I do.” And he did. Even when she was so economical with sharing stories about her personal life, Jaak was able to read between the lines, enough to understand that everything she did wasn’t for herself.
“I don’t plan to do anything to make your life harder, Ilse.” Before she could reply, he went on bluntly, “You’re your own person, and that’s what I like most about you. It’s also why you never have to worry about me stopping you from working or telling you how or where to spend your money.”
Running his knuckles down one soft, pale cheek, he murmured, “The only time when I want to be in control of you is in the bedroom—-”
“And yet you don’t want to kiss me,” she couldn’t help point out, hurt confusion underlying her tone.
The billionaire cursed under his breath.Didn’t she realize how hard it was to control himself as it was? Couldn’t she see that he was doing this for her?
