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“Do you really think that?” she asks sadly.
I study her face. There’s no mask, no smooth finish hiding her emotions. Cady looks at me, makeup wiped clean so I notice the almost invisible eyelashes, the splash of freckles, the shadows under her amber eyes.
She’s beautiful like this. “I don’t want to,” I tell her honestly.
“I told myself that’s why I agreed to come with you, but it’s not true.”
“Why are you here, then?” I demand. Maybe I should sit with it, pace around the room. Because having this conversation lying beside her in bed, knowing what we just did, knowing what I can’t wait to do again, is impossible.
Cady lied to me, and I still want to kiss her senseless.
“I’m here because my friend needed a favour, and I wanted to help.” Cady drops her gaze again. “Which was a complete shock to me, that I was capable of being a friend.”
I want to believe her. I want to believe her so badly, but the fact she’s here, in enemy territory…
She wants to buy the same property as my father. That doesn’t make her an enemy of me. I am but a minion of my father’s, doing what he wants, with no choice in the matter.
I could give her numbers, and snippets of conversation, but things are progressing. The deal is in motion. There’s not much I can say that will change the outcome for her.
But there might be things she could tell me that could change the outcome for Sandflower.
No. No.
I’m not that person. I’m not my father.
“How long have you been after the island?” I ask, before I can stop myself. “No, don’t tell me. I don’t want to talk business with you. No business.”
“I’m sorry I had to tell you, but I didn’t want you to hear it from your father.”
“Well, you just blew my brains, so you know I have to forgive you.”
Cady gives a laughing gasp and smiles. “You really don’t,” she says.
“If I want you to do it again, I do. And trust me—I really want you to do that again.”
I wasn’t sure what I expected her reaction to be, but it’s not Cady sliding over and into my arms, fitting as neatly as a key into a lock.
I roll onto my back, enjoying the feel of just holding her. The scent of her hair, the soft touch of her hand resting on my chest.
“I hope this won’t make your father more upset with you,” she says softly.
“Like I give a damn.”
Cady smiles. “Such a rebel.”
“Don’t you like bad boys?”
She has a faraway look in her eyes that makes me wonder about her history with bad boys. “I like nice men,” she says softly.
“I’m nice men,” I tell her.
Cool fingers stroke my cheek. “You’re a very nice man, Maximus Steele.”
37
Cady
Iwake to Max lying flat on his back, snoring softly. I’m not draped over him like I was yesterday, but I am close enough to touch.
