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“It’s beautiful,” she had whispered, shivering. Seeing she was cold, even in the warm night, he’d put his jacket over her, and together they’d looked out at the lights of the city, scattered islands and moonlight over Guanabara Bay.
Then he’d paused, his hands still around her. He felt a tropical breeze blow against his overheated skin. Their eyes caught in the moonlight, and feeling like he was in a dream he’d lowered his mouth to hers.
Kissing Emmie at the top of Mount Corcovado, with Rio sparkling like stars beneath them, he’d felt dazed, drugged with desire. They’d wordlessly returned to the waiting sedan and their hotel on Ipanema Beach. The whole time, his brain was shrieking that he had to stop this, that it was madness, that if he didn’t stop it would destroy the best relationship he’d ever had.
Because after nearly a year and a half together, they’d become more than boss and secretary. Working together, day and night, sharing setbacks and triumphs, he’d come to consider Emmie a friend, and those he let even slightly past his guard were few.
But when they’d reached his hotel suite, she’d lifted her violet-blue eyes, hazy with desire, and licked her swollen lower lip.
“Kiss me,” she’d whispered.
And he’d been lost. He didn’t care that he was her boss. Even if it destroyed him and burned his entire fortune to ash in that moment, he would still have taken her. As the warm wind blew from the open balcony, twisting the curtains, he’d possessed her as his own and, discovering her virginity, known such pure and perfect ecstasy he thought he might die in her arms.
And in some ways, he had.
Emmie had disappeared the next morning, after she’d gotten the awful phone call from her father. He’d expected her to return after the funeral, but instead, she’d called him and said she was never coming back.
And since Rio, Theo had had no interest in other women, no matter how beautiful. What supermodel, what mereactress, could possibly compare to the glory he’d known in the arms of his secretary that forbidden night?
The night they’d conceived a child...
Now, Theo’s gaze lingered on her bare pink Cupid’s-bow lips, falling unwillingly to the swell of her breasts overflowing the modest neckline of her sundress. His body was taut with desire.
And yet Emmie wanted to refuse him her bed? She wanted to push him into the arms ofother women?
“Whatever your reason, it can’t be you don’t want me,” he said hoarsely. “I know you do. Just as I want you.”
Emmie shifted in her chair. The shade from the pergola’s foliage left patterns of light and dark against her skin, the curve of her cheekbone, the sweep of her lashes that seemed to tremble before she turned away, looking out at the Manhattan skyline.
“Wanting you isn’t the problem,” she said finally.
“Then, what is?”
Rising to her feet, Emmie turned away, walking toward the clear railing of the terrace’s edge. She looked out onto the view of Central Park and sun-drenched blue sky. Rising to his feet, he followed her.
“Emmie,” he said softly, coming up behind her. “What is it?”
She whirled around. “I’m afraid, all right?”
“Afraid?” He was bewildered. “Of what? Of me?”
“Afraid...” Emmie lifted her gaze, her lovely face anguished. “If I sleep with you again,” she whispered, “I’m afraid you’ll break my heart.”
“Break your...?” Theo staggered back, his brow furrowed in shock. That would have to mean... “You can’t be saying that you...love me?”
“I know, right?” She looked away. “What kind of fool would that make me?”
He exhaled in relief. She’d scared him for a second. Relieved, he gave a low laugh. “We both know you’re too smart for that. You’re practical. Modern. You don’t do feelings. You’re like me. Plus, you know me too well. Remember what you said when I first asked you to work for me?”
She didn’t join his laugh. “I said pigs would fly before I could ever love you.”
“So,” he tilted his head, “how could I ever break your heart?”
Emmie looked down at her flip-flops.
“No matter what you might think right now, Theo, we both know you can’t commit to one woman for long. You can’t bear to be tied down. There’s no way you could be faithful to one woman for the rest of your life. And no matter how practical I might be,” she said softly, “I can’t be the lover of a man who won’t be true.” She looked up. “The only way it won’t hurt me is to never sleep with you again. If we can just be partners. Friends.”
Theo stared at her, his whole body thrumming with emotion. “You think I can’t be faithful?”
