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She leaned past him and shut off the water. “It isn’t your decision.”
“Why do you fight me at every turn?” He took her hands and held them tight. “I’ve never met someone more determined to do things the hard way.”
“I could say the same about you. Look, I’m not trying to be difficult. That isn’t my intention. It just keeps happening that way. We’re just too different, Lucian. You’re beyond wealthy and I’m homeless. You’re an extremely sexual person and I was a virgin twenty-four hours ago. You own a hotel. I clean in one. You’re gorgeous and I’m—”
“Don’t.” he interrupted, his gaze suddenly hard. “Just . . . don’t. What if I told you, knowing all that, I still wanted you?”
Scout put down her bag. This was not going to be a quick thing. “Why, though? You could have anyone you want. I see the way women look at you. It could be so easy. You’re deliberately picking the most complicated person you can find.”
“I enjoy the challenge,” he said, a trace of hollow humor softening his solemn expression.
“Lucian—”
“Stay. Not because I’ll make it worth your while, but because you want to. Stay with me, Evelyn, because you enjoy my company. Stay until you don’t enjoy it anymore.”
“And what about when you stop enjoying my company? People get on each other’s nerves after a while. What we have . . . it isn’t permanent and we both know it.”
“Why can’t we enjoy it while it lasts? I like you, Evelyn. I’m not ready to see you go.”
He didn’t deny that he’d eventually lose interest in her, and that was probably for the best. It was dangerous to start reading more into what wasn’t actually real. She was a phase for him and if she stayed, she needed to be okay with that.
Weary didn’t begin to describe how she felt. She was just so tired, tired of fighting, tired of the endless struggle to survive, tired of denying her feelings for this man. She wasn’t sure what she felt, but it was more than a contractual association. Things were getting personal.
Scout sighed. Here was a man who could afford to hang with friends in the richest social circles of the world and it appeared he was the loneliest person she had ever met. “Okay. I’ll stay.”
He pulled her to him and hugged her. His arms held her tight and she breathed in his scent, which she now associated with everything Lucian—stability, determination, success, and a touch of sadness. Part of her wanted to give him this thing he asked for, because for a man who had everything, she was beginning to believe no one had given him anything in a very long time.
Scout’s clothes were stripped away and she found herself being lowered into the tub. Lucian stripped and climbed in behind her. He held her in the cradle of his thighs and slowly washed away the day’s dust with a soft sponge.
It felt right, sitting there in his arms, letting him touch her. He touched her as if he had a right to. Entitled. That was exactly what it was and she liked it. When Lucian touched her that way it made all her worries take a backseat for a while. She knew she could come to him with any problem and in no time he’d have a solution for her. Trust was extremely difficult for her, but Lucian seemed so dependable, Scout didn’t think it would be hard to trust someone like him. She just needed the courage to surrender. And what’s more, she wanted to know him.
He ran the sponge over her shoulders and water sluiced between her breasts. “Lucian?”
“Hmm?”
“Why am I different for you?”
He paused from washing her. Softly he said, “You see the world differently. You were more impressed by lilies than ten thousand dollars’ worth of designer clothes. I know you respect money and the power it holds, but you see it only as a means to an end. Other people see me as that means.”
There was such a fine line between being bought and what they were doing. “But you said everything has a price.”
“Evelyn, if you could truly be bought I would’ve had you a hundred times by now. You would’ve been at my beck and call. You would’ve dropped your job at the first chance. You certainly wouldn’t let your hurt pride run you out of my penthouse and back to a shelter. You would’ve grinned and bore it because you had been bought off, but you didn’t. There’re certain things about you that simply aren’t for sale.”
Scout picked up the sponge and washed his arms and hands. Beautiful strong hands, so different than the hands she had washed that afternoon. “I don’t have many friends,” she said, not sure where the words came from.
