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“The only reason we’re not together is because you don’t like my ca
reer. Can’t you just get over that already? Accept me for who I am and what I do, like I did you?”
“Like you did me? What did you have to accept?”
He narrowed his eyes, his face like a thundercloud. “I’m a possessive man, Aurora. Do you think I liked sharing you with millions of men the world over? You were on the cover of a bloody bikini magazine. Every time I raced, that photo of you would be flashed up in my bio. You are the object of every red-blooded man’s sickest fantasies, and I never said a damned word because I recognised it was my problem to get over.”
The air seemed to screech with pain. Aurora blinked. “You should have told me you felt that way.”
“And what would you have done? Quit?”
She bit down on her lip. “I did quit.”
“Not for me,” he responded thickly, with an insistent shake of his head. “Not because I wanted you to. You quit when you were ready to. Like I will retire when I am ready to.”
“That might be in five years time,” she ground out with a thin veneer of patience.
“Yes. I know.”
“I’m sorry, Leo. I can’t wait around for you to retire or die trying.” She pushed at his chest and paced the length of the deck. Her wet, bare feet left little footprints in her wake. “Loving someone isn’t always enough. The way we love each other, and who we are, only serves to make us miserable. I’m better off with Alec, and you’re better off forgetting you ever knew me.”
“I wish I could,” he said darkly. “But you are imprinted on the fibres of my soul. And I don’t want to forget you. I don’t want to acknowledge that with all we have, we cannot make this work.” He watched her slender frame as she moved back and forth across the stone floor.
“I thought you would always hate me because of how I left you?” She demanded, throwing the words he’d said to her back in his face.
“So did I. It turns out, I got over that. I’ll tell you something else, Aurora Jones. I don’t intend to leave this wedding without you by my side, so you’d better get used to the idea.”
She stopped pacing and stared at him. “You can’t be serious?”
“I have never been more serious about anything in my life.”
“You left me six months ago. You told me to move on. I did. I have.” She sucked in a deep breath, her heart bursting in her chest. “Exactly when did you have this epiphany and decide we should be together?”
“Six months ago,” he stated firmly.
She felt as though someone was slowly electrifying her. From the tips of her fingers to the soles of her feet, her body began to shake. “What?”
“As soon as I walked out the door I knew it was a mistake.”
“But…you didn’t call me.”
“No. And you didn’t call me.”
She shook her head slowly, her eyes were wet with unshed tears. “This is completely unfair. You can’t just… do this to me. Again! I was over you. Then I wasn’t. Then I was. And now you’re trying to mess my life up… again.”
He closed the distance between them, his eyes running over her body and face, eating her with his stare. “Do you love him?”
“Alec?” She frowned. For the briefest of moments, she thought about lying. But that wouldn’t be fair to anyone; least of all Alec. “No.”
He had guessed as much, but having it confirmed was the sweetest thing he could have hoped for. “Does he love you?”
“No,” she said with almost complete confidence. She lowered her gaze, unable to meet his eyes. “I don’t think so. It’s not serious.”
He pressed his lips to hers, taking her by utter surprise. He pushed her against the wall of the house, using his leg to separate hers, holding her wrists prisoners in one hand. He kissed her until her toes tingled and her breath was forced. He kissed her until her muscles were weak and her body sagged. Were it not for the wall of the cottage and the weight of his body, she would have collapsed in a heap at his feet.
Her insides were churned by desire, as she felt everything she was and wanted slip into place.
“Do you want this?”
