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He heard the faint, dreamy note in those last words. Started to ask more, but she interrupted him.
“Anyway, back to business. What if you donated your father’s estate? Contributed to causes they believed in, and some that you believe in, too?”
He sat back in his chair. She sat up straighter, squaring her shoulders as if readying for a fight.
“I’m not talking about the contract. I’m just pointing out that you seem removed from everything in your life. Let’s take you right now, in this moment, with a wealth few have. Why don’t you find something you care about? Something personal? Donate the estate so you don’t have to worry about it, but do something good with it, too?”
“I had something I cared about,” he shot back. “Now it’s gone. I do the bare minimum, which when it comes to my personal situation, still means millions of dollars every year getting funneled into charities and organizations around the world, not to mention paying some of the highest salaries in the shipping industry. Take the stars out of your eyes, Rosalind. I do more than enough with what I have. Just because I don’t get my hands personally dirty doesn’t lessen the impact I’m making.”
“Perhaps if you were to get more involved, you could find something else you care about.”
“Why are you pushing me on this, Rosalind? Surely, this is beyond your legal duties,” Griffith warned her. This conversation was taking a turn he had never intended. Had not permitted. And yet, she still persisted.
“I don’t know you,” she admitted. “But I see a man who has so much potential, that could be so much.”
“Because I’m rich?”
“It’s not just about the money. There’s this whole other man beneath the harsh exterior, but you’ve got him locked away so deep down inside that I don’t think even you know who he is. Maybe you did once, but not anymore.”
The accuracy of her statement hit home. Anger welled inside him as he stood, his chair scraping against the wood.
“And what about you, Miss Sutton?”
“What about me?”
“Do you know who you are? Or are you simply the woman everyone else wants you to be?”
Her lips parted, closed, then parted again as she stared at him.
“What?” she finally gasped. “I just told you how I went after my career—”
“Yes, at a school your parents pushed you to. A job you accepted because it would make your parents happy.”
The more he talked, the angrier he became. He was a lost cause. But this woman, so full of life, so full of potential, was wasting it all on someone else’s dreams. The anger also helped to restore his sense of control. Anger he understood, an old friend that kept his heart guarded and hurt at bay.
Except once again, she didn’t turn around and walk out. Didn’t capitulate or surrender. She faced him, fierce and furious.
And gorgeous. Gorgeous with her eyes snapping emerald fire and color high in her cheeks. Her determination had drawn him in that day at the Diamond Club. Now it harnessed his anger, fanned the fires of his fury into something hotter.
Her eyes darted down, rested below his waist. The blush deepened as her chest rose and fell. He saw the blink, the sharp intake of breath, the desperate attempt to regain control of her own desire.
Seeing the naked lust in her gaze yanked him back to that edge. But right now, with his blood roaring and his body pulsing, the boundaries didn’t seem like something to avoid. No, he wanted to take her in his arms and hurtle over the edge, wrapped up in each other.
Her tongue darted out, touched her lower lip.
“Sometimes we do things for people we love.” Breathy, husky, her voice wound through his veins, a siren’s song he could no longer resist. He took a step toward her, his body thrilling when she didn’t retreat.
“I wouldn’t know.”
“Surely you must have loved someone once.”
“Once.” He stopped just inches away, stared down into her eyes. “Not something I plan on repeating.”
“When you love someone, you’ll do something for them even if it’s not what you want for yourself.”
He leaned down, left a whisper of space between their lips, imagined he could hear the frantic beat of her own pulse as she tilted her head back. The seduction came naturally, a skill he hadn’t used in what felt like ages, but that was easy to summon.
The desire, however...that was beyond his control. And right now, he didn’t give a damn.
