Page 78 of Theirs to Tempt: The Marriage Claim

The memory sends a pulse of heat through me that only makes this worse.

“You told me you would earn my trust.”

Something shifts in his eyes, and I know I’ve penetrated his terrifying composure.

I swallow against the pressure in my throat. “What exactly did you think I was doing five minutes ago?”

His gaze holds mine. “Trusting us.”

“Yes.” My voice is quieter now. “I was.”

Caleb takes a slow breath.

I turn toward him. “I knew I could stop. I knew I could ask you both to leave me alone. And because of that, I asked you to touch me.”

Neither man moves.

The city glitters beyond the enormous windows, thirty-eight floors below us. All that space, all that light, and suddenly the penthouse feels more confining than the private room at the Retreat ever did.

Lucian rises.

Every instinct I have becomes alert, but he doesn’t approach me. He stands beside the sofa, tall and impossibly controlled, his attention fixed on me.

“I understand that you believe the situations are equivalent.”

A bitter disbelief moves through me. “You don’t?”

“No.”

“Of course you don’t.”

His eyes narrow slightly.

I continue before he can interrupt. “Because you’ve divided my life into categories. My body is apparently mine when you want me to surrender it voluntarily. But where I live? Whether I’m constantly surveilled? Those decisions belong to you.”

The question hangs between us.

Caleb’s expression hardens.

Lucian’s remains almost perfectly still.

Days ago, I might have screamed at them. I might have told them they were arrogant bastards and demanded they get out of my way.

Now I know them better.

I know my anger will not move Lucian Hawthorne one inch from a position he believes is correct.

So I force myself to think past the emotions clawing at me.

“If one of my clients came into my office and told me her partner had decided where she would live, who would drive her, what security she would have, and what parts of her privacy she was allowed to keep, what do you think I would tell her?”

Caleb looks toward the windows.

Lucian doesn’t. “I would expect you to examine the circumstances.”

“I would.”

“Then examine ours.”