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I’m hurt. Really hurt by his bluntness. And I want to escape—to evaporate. Anything to get away because I can’t cope with the look in his eyes. I can’t believe what I think I see.
He holds his hand out to me. ‘Talia.’
Pressing my lips together, I shake my head and fist my hands at my sides.
‘Please. This is a life-threatening situation of another sort,’ he whispers. ‘My world is empty as hell without you already, Talia. Take my hand and let’s do this together.’
‘This?’
‘Do the rest of our lives.’ He steps forward and wraps his hands round my cold fists.
I don’t pull away. I can’t. He walks backwards, his gaze not leaving mine, taking me with him. Unerringly leading me to his bedroom. I can’t resist him. Tears fall from my eyes and I can’t wipe them away because he still has hold of me and I need him to let me go.
He twists a little just as we enter his room and kicks the door shut. ‘Talia—’
I avert my gaze from the bed. ‘You don’t have to say anything. It’s fine. I’m fine.’
‘Well, I’m not,’ he says gruffly. ‘And you’re lying.’
‘Dain—’
‘I didn’t listen to you last night because I couldn’t face it,’ he interrupts me. ‘I couldn’t admit—’ He breaks off recalibrating himself. ‘I didn’t answer honestly because I was shocked and I was scared.’
‘Of me?’
‘Yeah. And of my feelings for you.’
I stare at him, my heart pounding. ‘And what are those?’
He cocks his head as he did that night in the gondola. The smallest smile curves his mouth but there’s regret in his beautiful eyes. ‘You infuriate me. You’re annoyingly independent and ferociously capable. Sometimes I just want you to let me help you because I enjoy helping you, but you don’t want to rely on anyone because you were hurt and that saddens me, but I get it because I was too.’
But his smile widens as his words come stronger and faster. ‘You’re loyal to a fault and you’ll do anything for people you love, even if it isn’t in your own best interests, and that generosity melts me. Your wit makes me laugh and keeps me on my toes because you don’t put up with my arrogance and entitlement. You liberated the playfulness I’d forgotten I had, and I rediscovered the joy of spontaneity and silliness. And the sex I’ve had with you is the best of my life. I’ll never sleep with anyone else. You bring all the feelings out in me, Talia. I can’t stop any of them, but especially not the biggest and deepest. You hold my whole heart in your beautiful, clever hands.’
He breathes more heavily and lifts our hands between us. ‘You could crush it. You could end me. But...’ he clears his throat ‘...I know you won’t because you’re a kind, loving person. And amazingly you love me.’ His grip tightens on me. ‘But you need to know I love you too, Talia,’ he confesses. ‘How can I not love you?’
I can’t move again. It’s awful to be so paralysed, so afraid, but I am. I want to believe him but it’s taking its time to sink in because it’s just unbelievable... I can’t believe him.
‘I’m not like any of those people at your party,’ I whisper, unable to stop my insecurities escaping. ‘They’re all cultured and elegant and well educated. I don’t even have formal barista qualifications, let alone a degree—’
‘Neither do I.’ He shrugs and then chuckles. ‘My grandfather died and I skipped study and went straight to work and learned everything by experience. Same as you. We both work hard. We’re both curious. We both want the best for everyone around us...’
That’s true.
‘I never wanted any of those people. I never wanted anyone the way I want you. And it’s only you I’ll ever want. The night we met, you pushed a universal override on every defence I thought I had. And you were never blinded by the superficial things that surround me in a way that’s sometimes suffocating.’
‘Your poor-little-rich-boy trappings?’
‘Trappings is right. I was a fool. I thought my value depended on the success I made of my family company.’ His smile is rueful.
‘It was the one stable thing you could control.’
‘Right,’ he mutters. ‘But the night we met you saw something else in me.’
‘I thought you were a stripper,’ I mumble.
His smile explodes. ‘And for you I can be,’ he purrs. ‘Any time you want. But only ever for you.’
Warmth spreads inside and what little grip I have left on my emotion slips. ‘You were gorgeous. And funny.’
