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“And I know you felt that way, so why would I feel... I was afraid. I knew it would hurt your parents, and I knew it would hurt you. I knew it would...hurt me. To be in this conversation. To feel the sting of your rejection. I knew. So yes, I didn’t come out and say it. But you must understand why.”
“I...”
“Is it so hard for you to bend?”
He didn’t understand bending. Only standing tall or breaking. And he refused to break.
“Yes,” he said, his voice rough. “It is impossible.”
“An acknowledgment of the truth doesn’t have to be bending. It can just look like acceptance. Or so I am learning.”
He paused for a long moment. “I am well aware of the fact fantasy serves no purpose. I am a believer in reality. I...thought. You are right. The force of my...”
“You can say it’s denial.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Oh. Well. Denial about your denial—that really is something.”
“Twins, Morgan.”
“No one is more surprised about that than I am,” she said.
“I’m not surprised,” he said. “I wish I could be. And I know that... I know that this is another part of why I...why I could not entertain the idea that they belonged to me.”
“Why aren’t you surprised?”
“Did no one tell you, agape? I am a twin.”
Her eyes went wide, and she turned her head sharply. “I didn’t know that.”
“You really had no designs on his money, did you?”
“No. I told you that. I really didn’t know who he was when I first met him in the bar. I thought he was outrageously handsome and I was charmed by the fact that he didn’t immediately try to sleep with me. And even after he’d gone out with me a couple of times, when I told him that I was a virgin he... He seemed to respect the fact that there were reasons I had not... This isn’t about me. I did not know you were a twin.”
“I was,” he said, and he determined that he would not be speaking about Athena. Not now.
“I’m sorry...”
“Now you will tell me about you,” he said.
“You know about me.”
“Apparently I do not.”
He’d called it a boat, but it was a yacht. A sleek vessel fashioned to look like it was moving fast, even while moored in the harbor.
“I’ve never been out on a boat before.” She looked pale and wide-eyed and he was regretful of that.
He had frightened her.
He did not wish to frighten her. He was driven now by the need to get her away from here. By the need to have her to himself.
“I have medication for seasickness on board.” His gut went tight. “I do hope you won’t find yourself indisposed.”
Because tonight... Tonight he would have her. And tomorrow they would speak. There were many things to discuss. But tonight, she would be his.
“Who’s going to handle your car...”
