“Yeah, I noticed.” He chuckled. “Maybe we need another topic.”
Marianna smiled. “Why? We’re already naked.”
He palmed her breast. “But we’re starting over, getting to know each other. You think I’m an easy fuck just because I work for you, rich girl?”
“I hope so.” She laughed a little. She traced the muscles on his chest. “But I’m not going to be rich anymore. When I spoke to my lawyer, she said I’d probably come out of this with nothing at all if there’s any evidence that my father was involved. The house, the money he left me—all that will be seized.”
“I’ll take care of you,” he said, his voice firm.
He had spoken those same words in her kitchen in Miami. This time, they meant something different. Marianna braced herself against the urge to fall into that again. But he must have felt her reaction.
“I don’t want to run your life. I just want to be a part of it,” he said, coaxing her with his hand. “I promise.”
She bit her lip. Simon propped himself up on his elbow, his eyes darker. “This is us, Mari. Whatever you want. We’re going to get it right this time. That means taking care of each other. But you have to trust that I’ll be there for you. Forever, or as long as you’ll have me.”
“Until you’re off at a job, dodging someone else’s gun?” She smiled a little.
“No,” he said. “Remember, I’m getting out of that part of the business. I’m moving over to lead the IT department, to surveillance. Cameron already talked to the board about it.”
She tried to tamp down the flutter of hope that was bubbling up in her. Everywhat if, every exception clamored inside her, protesting. What if Simon really was different? Could she believe that her trust wasn’t misplaced this time? But her heart had already made the choice. Her heart trusted him.
“Was that forever talk a proposal?”
“No,” said Simon, smiling. He raised himself over her, rolling her on her back, his growing erection stoking the want between them again. “I’ll do it right, probably on my knee with a ring and a bunch of other shit. When it’s time, when we’re not coming off a scare that makes me desperate to touch every part of you, to remind myself you’re safe. But I want there to be no mistake about where this is headed. It’s forever this time.”
“So I live off your money?”
“For now, unless that’s what you want for longer,” he said. “You could start another business or just take it easy, think about what you really want next. Then you can use my money to do it. Whatever it is, I just want to do it with you.”
He was driving his point home with his hips, slowly moving against her.
Marianna frowned a little. “How very traditional of you, Simon.” She held his face. “But there are things that I want more than your money.”
He smirked. “Says the woman who’s never been without money for a day in her life.”
“Then we’ll just have to agree to disagree on this point,” she said. “I need you to give yourself to me, and I need to give myself to you. I want someone who wants me. Just me.”
He nodded slowly. “Then show me, Mari. Show me everything that we can be.”
“I will, Simon,” she whispered, touching him, reminding herself this was real. “I promise.”
