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His eyes stayed on mine, and the fervency there swallowed me whole.
“Are you saying you love me?”
Slowly, his thumbs stroked my jawline. With unwavering certainty, he said, “Yes.”
I was hyper-aware of this moment, of every particle, of his breath, and the way he was affecting mine.
“I never thought love would be possible for me,” I said, attempting to explore my thoughts in a way that he might understand.
“I thought I was too damaged, too hurt to ever be open to that possibility. But—you love me. Even knowing about my family drama and all the reasons you shouldn’t.”
“You’re wrong,” he breathed. “There are no reasons I shouldn’t.”
I was gone.
My heart soared. I laughed. I threw my arms around him there in his lux car with the console keeping us apart. He didn’t give up on me. He’d shown me there was more to him than what I saw on the surface. He’d treated me like I was extraordinary.
The moment was powerful, supercharged, and left us with no other option. Deliberately, with both certainty and vulnerability in his gaze, his lips claimed mine. The kiss sealed the feelings swarming around us.
I didn’t want to stop. I didn’t want to leave the car. I didn’t want anything to shatter this.
But eventually, we went inside. The elevator ride was too brief, with his arms around me and his mouthon mine. Now that I knew how he really felt, kissing was all I wanted to do.
He gave me a final, lasting kiss before grinning and opening his office door.
Three men stood inside. I recognized Ethan with his bald head and no-nonsense expression on his pale face.
Only one of the others was familiar as well. The taller one with dark blond hair who stood with a hand on his hip had been at Gabby and Adrian’s wedding.
The third man was someone I’d never met, though. He was brooding and foul-tempered, judging by the scowl darkening his face. Was he another guard? Was he angry at me for some reason?
Hawk gestured to them. “Thanks for coming, guys. You remember Ella?”
The two men nodded, and the blond one jutted his chin in my direction with an expression I couldn’t quite read.
Did he think it was funny that I was here?
“This is Maddox Hatter and Duncan Hawthorne,” Hawk said. “They were at Sigma Phi Rho with Adrian and me.”
“You were at the wedding,” I said, accepting Maddox’s outstretched hand.
These two were also handsome in their own ways. Duncan was dark in hair and demeanor, while Maddox was merry and almost flippant, as though he were about to do what he wanted, no matter what anyone else thought.
A beast and a bad boy.
“Want to fill us in on what we’re doinghere?” Ethan stepped forward.
“Sure. Everyone, Ethan is the head of my security. Ethan, I’m wondering if you can pull up the questionable feed? I wanted to talk about a few things, but I wanted your opinions on this.”
“Sure,” Ethan said.
He removed a laptop from a bag I hadn’t noticed and placed it on Hawk’s table. From there, he navigated a few screens and ended on a familiar view.
My stomach went rock solid at the footage of me slipping items into my purse.
Hawk’s friends gathered and looked at the feed with rapt concentration.
“Hang on,” Maddox said. “Can you zoom in and play this again?”
