Then there’s the other thing. The money. I feel like a gold digger for even bringing it up, but it is what brought me here. And I’m pretty sure Augusto would agree, I’ve put my life in danger by being here. I deserve the payment I was promised.
“What about the money?” I ask quietly. “The offer you made. I don’t feel comfortable taking it from you now, Augusto, but I do need it.”
Augusto doesn’t answer right away and, for a minute or two, all I can hear is my own heart beating.
“It’s yours Erin,” he says finally and quietly. “You’ve earned it fair and square. But if you decide to be mine, like I want you to, you won’t need it.”
My head turns like a magnet being pulled against its will. “What do you mean?”
With his gaze anchored out the window, he angles his body toward me, grounding his feet to the floor. When he turns toface me, his lids are heavy with promise, his lashes casting shadows across his cheekbones.
He grinds his back teeth, regarding me for a short, loaded moment.
I need to know what he means because money always has strings.
“If you’re my woman,” he rumbles, a note of unquestionable possession underlining those last two words, “you won’t want for anything. You’ll have a place to live, either with me or just for you and Paige in the beginning. You’ll have a bank account, a charge card, a driver, security. Anything you want, Erin. It will all be yours. If you’ll be mine.”
I stare at him.
He isn’t blinking.
I think I’m going to die.
Oxygen deprivation.
My breath has done a total runner.
He narrows his eyes.
Then something whacks me in the back and I cough.
“You okay? You turned real pale.”
I finish spluttering and stare back at him. “Ya think?”
He pulls back slightly. “What is it?”
“None of what you just said could possibly be true,” I rush out. “And even if it was, I couldn’t possibly accept it. It’s ludicrous. I’m a strong, independent woman. I take care of myself and my daughter. I don’t need a handout from anyone. I earn my money, I?—”
Augusto’s hands come down on my shoulders. “Erin, stop… You’re spinning.”
I gape at him. “Of course I’m spinning. Men should be locked up for saying shit like that. It’s… it’s…”
“It’s what?”
“Too… nice,” I say, wide-eyed and breathless. “Too gallant. And too… hard to believe.”
He juts out his jaw and looks a little pissed. “Erin, have I treated you like a commodity, or someone who’s less than?”
I stare back at him, the truth settling over my skin like a warm caress. “No.”
“You’re just on edge because of the situation we’re in right now. As soon as this is over you’ll be able to think straight. Like I said, you don’t have to give me your answer now, but I wanted you to know where my head’s at.”
My spine softens but my head is still battling to understand. “Augusto…”
“Erin…”
I shake my head. There really is only one way to ask this. “Why me?”
