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She hadn’t looked at me yet, distractedly greeting Yuri, who formed a kind of barrier between us. But now her beautiful face rises, partially shielded by huge sunglasses. The mouth I kissed and taught to take me is open in an expression of surprise.
“You?”
“All of you, out,” I command because she’s the one I want to talk to.
In my peripheral vision, I see someone I believe to be her agent protesting. Yuri says something to her, but even so, she still asks Zoe if she wants to be alone with me.
“It’s okay, Bia,” she says, staring at me.
It’s the first change I notice. In the past, she would have looked at the floor, embarrassed.
I don’t move, even when I hear the door slam.
“I must assume, Mr. Lykaios, that you are my new employer.” The voice is still soft, but filled with assurance. “If you’re worried about how much money you’ll lose because of the damage to my face, don’t worry. I’ve been to a surgeon, and nothing has been broken. Only myskin is . . .”
“Who did this, Zoe?” I take a step forward, but before I do anything crazy, I put my hands in my pockets. She is a married woman.
What the hell is happening to me?
“I don’t think it’s a contractual clause to divulge every detail of my life.”
Unable to control myself, I move closer to the point where I can almost feel the heat of her breath. But it’s not desire that dominates me now; it’s anger from seeing her hurt.
Mad with myself and with her because nothing I planned has gone as expected, I attack.
“Do you really believe that? You should take a closer look at the contract then because, for the next five years, you belong to me, Zoe Turner.”
Zoe
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
I hopeI’m being a good actress. It’s hard to pretend that his nearness isn’t shaking me when, in fact, my heart is beating almost painfully.
It’s not about the reasons we shouldn’t be together nor even about how he dumped me back then—by having that woman hand me an envelope of money—that comes back to me now, but everything we experienced in our one night together.
His kisses and the way his body moved over mine. Thick thighs asking for passage between mine. Demanding, powerful muscles against my softness.
The dark blue gaze looking for me in the gloom of the night we shared.
“I didn’t sell myself to you when I signed the contract.” I force myself to speak and realize he’s focused on my mouth. “If I’d known you were behind it, I wouldn’t have accepted.”
“I doubt it. No one would simply give up such a large sum.”
Damn you. He knows I’m bluffing. Even if I did know he would be my employer, I couldn’t walk away from it. My parents’ house has already been mortgaged twice, and the amount of money I spend on the hospital room and the nurses to stay with her 24/7 is obscene.
I’m not complaining. No sacrifice is too big for her andDad, but it means that, from the start of a negotiation, I had to accept basically any and every job that came my way and traveled non-stop.
He’s staring at me, and I don’t back down, but admiring his beauty makes me aware of what I must look like. As if he can read my thoughts, he asks, “What happened to your face, Zoe?”
“Domestic accident.” No way am I going to tell him that it was the result of my marriage breaking up. No one needs to know the level of disrespect my ex-husband reached.
Just yesterday, I went to a divorce specialist. After hearing the whole story of my short relationship, he advised me to try an amicable solution if I really want to avoid scandal, despite what happened two days before. This means I still have to meet with Mike to work out the details.
I’m staying in Boston for a few more days, so with my Dad and Bia present—plus the lawyer, of course—we’ll have what I hope will be our last conversation before we sign the papers. My lawyer, Robin, tried to arrange a meeting in his office, but Mike claimed he couldn’t make it because of work.
Mom is also home and under home care for the month. Whenever her health improves, the doctor allows her to go home temporarily to help her feel she’s living as normal a life as possible.
“Does your domestic accident have a name?”
