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“Celina?” Diego asked with concern.
We’re wrong for each other, she thought with certainty as she stared into his eyes. Framed by blue sky and sunlight, Diego had never looked more impressive. He was the most handsome man imaginable. But he had a position to maintain. Hundreds of people worked for him across the world. He was in all the society magazines. They called him the world’s most eligible bachelor. What would he want with damaged goods like Celina? The Duke of Monte Caliente was the darling of society. How could she stand at his side? How could she ever explain to him what humiliation felt like, or that she never wanted to suffer it again? She should do what she’d always intended and make the break between them clean and fast.
“There’s something I have to confess,” she admitted.
“This is beginning to sound like your sign-off,” Diego commented. His tone was faintly amused as if he couldn’t imagine anything she had to say could shock him.
“Blood and Thunder changed my life,” she admitted.
He frowned. “And almost got you killed.”
“I almost got me killed,” she argued. “You saved me.”
“And you saved countless others,” he insisted. “But that’s not what this is about, is it, Celina?”
“I owe you so much.”
“Cut the bull,” he snapped. “I owe you so much, but I don’t want your gratitude, and neither does the team.”
He was waiting for her to say something, but she couldn’t find the words to counter his argument. It was always the same when happiness was within touching distance. She had to frighten it away. It was how she’d always avoided disappointment in the past. “This was all part of my plan,” she said.
“What was?”
“This—you, me, all of it.”
“Well, of course you planned the mission,” he agreed. “It might have been reckless, but everyone knows you acted with the best of intentions. And as far as the tech side went, your planning was meticulous.”
He began to smile, and she guessed he was remembering the micro-transmitter and where she’d hidden it. She felt no pride in that. All she’d done was her job. “I planned to sleep with you,” she said bluntly. “I wanted to know what it would be like.”
Diego considered this. “I don’t see anything wrong with that. You didn’t expect to come back alive, and you wanted to experience some good sex first.”
“And you’re okay with that?”
“I seem to be,” he confirmed dryly.
“But I was cold-blooded about it.”
He eased his position. “Am I supposed to be shocked?”
“I thought you might be…offended,” she admitted.
“Do you think you’re the first woman to approach me for sex?”
Her cheeks fired red. “No, but I’m pretty sure I’m the first to involve you in a mission that could have killed you.”
“Oh, please,” he exclaimed with a sound of amusement. “I’m in the danger game. It’s what I do. Your mission is my trade. Polo is my passion. My tech empire is a bonus.”
“But you were key to my plan,” she insisted. “I had so little time to persuade you to launch a mission that I went full-out.”
He curved a faint smile. “I’m pleased you chose me.”
“You’re content to be a tick box on my list?”
“At the top of it, I hope?”
“You’re not taking this seriously,” she complained.
“Because I don’t believe you acted selfishly.” He sighed patiently. “If there was a prescription for love, we’d all be following it.”
