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“Go away,” she said.

“No,” he said, reaching out and grabbing her arm. “I’m going to put you in a car, and I’m going to call Alex.”

“Alex knows I’m here.”

“Does he?”

“It might’ve escaped your notice, Adonis, but I’m not a child anymore. Alex doesn’t tell me where to go or what to do. I can protect myself.”

“That is debatable.”

“You left us. And you have nothing to do with me anymore.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. Because you abandoned us. Like we didn’t matter. All because you want more money.”

“Is that what you think?”

“Yes.”

“Then you really never knew me at all.”

He turned away from her then, because he was going to walk away. He was going to leave her to her foolish mission. Except then he felt her delicate hand on his shoulder.

It was like a bomb went off in his head. He knew himself. It was that bridge too far. That one step over the line.

They were both acknowledging this. The want. She’d touched him, and there was no way to pretend he didn’t want her. He wasn’t a man of endless self-control—or any self-control. He only ever exercised it when it came to her.

Now that was over.

This was the point of no return.

If he turned around it was over. For both of them.

He did.

She was so close, he could smell the sweet scent of her.

The dress wasn’t her. Not at all. It was letting a potential buyer know exactly what was on offer. But he didn’t need that. He had been able to see her before she had ever put this on.

“Whose fault is that?” she asked.

“Undoubtedly mine,” he said, looking openly at her mouth.

“Do you let anyone know you?”

“In some rooms, agapi.”

There was a little shiver of fear in her eyes then. As if she sensed the shift in tone. The shift in what was happening between them.

“Are you really looking for someone to take your virginity tonight?” He needed to know exactly what was happening here.

“I was thinking about it.”

“And what exactly do you think that will entail?”

“Well, from what I understand, when a man likes a woman very much…”