Ilse hugged herself at the billionaire’s cold tone, but she forced herself to continue, saying quietly, “Some of them describe you as the black sheep of your family.”
Ah.The billionaire’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Are you asking me if it’s true?”
“I’m not saying you are or aren’t something.” Ilse hated how she sounded like she was begging for him to listen, but she knew she would hate it even more if she didn’t try to make him see the truth.
And that was that he was right.
She did want him, had wanted him from the start.
But she also had Jan to think of, and it was for his sake that she couldn’t let any lies exist between them.
She made herself look at him. “I just want to know you more.”
“There’s nothingelseto know.” The billionaire’s laugh was humorless. “I hate to keep disappointing you, babe, but this is it.This is me—-”
“Is it?” Even knowing that she was treading on thin ice, Ilse knew she had to go on. “Every time I look at you, I can’t help but feel that you’ve too many secrets—-”
“Says the woman who’s forbidden me to look her up in any way—-”
“It’s precisely because my life is such an open book,” Ilse answered painfully, “that I needed to keep you from looking me up. I don’t have anything to hide. I don’t have anything to pretend about—-”
The billionaire’s jaw clenched as Ilse’s unspoken but implied words hung in the air. “So you’re basically saying I’m a pretentious motherfucker, a coward who’s unable to face the truth—-”
“No!” Ilse was left pale-faced in horror at the way the billionaire had twisted her words. “It’s not like that at all—-”
But the billionaire cut her off, saying coldly, “It’s exactly like that, and it just shows that you’ve gotten something completely wrong...mevrouw.” All traces of teasing were gone from his voice, and just hearing it hurt because Ilse already knew – oh, she was so painfully sure of it – he was about to hurt her even more.
“I may want you more than any other woman—-”
Don’t say it, don’t say it, stop speaking—-
“But do not think that my desire for you makes you irreplaceable—-”
Ilse’s chest squeezed at the contempt in his gaze.
“Because it does not.”
And there it was,she thought numbly.
He had hurt her, and she knew, just by looking at him, that he had only started.
“Reading about me doesn’t qualify you to psychoanalyze me—-”
She was tempted to laugh, and she probably would have if her heart hadn’t started aching so badly.
“That you could even think you do when you’re nothing but a—-” He broke off.
But it was too late.
Ilse held herself very still. “Go on,” she heard herself say. “Finish it.” She had thought he was different from the others, but in the end, his true colors had been the same as theirs.
The billionaire wanted to smash something at the soft, neutral tone of Ilse’s voice.
Fuck.
He hadn’t wanted this. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. She wanted him, and he wanted her. It should have been that uncomplicated. So why the hell did she have to ruin it by pretending his family had anything to do with their desire to fuck each other?
“Finish it,mijnheer,” Ilse said tonelessly.
