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He tucked a knuckle under her chin. Her cheeks had reddened even more, but she stared back at him with a boldness which only made the hunger he thought he’d tamed flare anew.
‘Why are you so worried about saying the F-word?’ he asked again, even curiouser now as to why she wouldn’t want to answer the question. ‘Are you training to be a nun?’
She didn’t reply, her lips flattening into a thin line.
‘Because, I have to tell you, on last night’s evidence I fear you have chosen entirely the wrong vocation,’ he mocked, still enjoying her temper too much.
He brushed his thumb across her lips again, unable to stop himself from touching her as she continued to glare at him defiantly. His thumb drifted down to caress the pulse fluttering in her collarbone like the wings of a trapped bird as he revelled in the awareness in her eyes, which she couldn’t disguise.
‘I have my reasons,’ she said evasively, stepping away from his touch again. ‘I need to leave.’
The fury surprised him as she turned to go, but not as much as the wrench in his chest.
‘Oh, no you don’t.’ He grasped her wrist. ‘You’re not leaving until you give me a straight answer.’
What the hell was she hiding from him? And why? She wanted something from him—they all did. Eventually. So why wasn’t she asking for it?
She tugged her hand free and rubbed her wrist. ‘Fine, you want an answer. Here’s one. You asked me why I changed my name. As if you didn’t know!’ She spat the words, her own temper rising.
He wasn’t buying that diversionary tactic a second time, though.
‘Obviously, I do not know, or I would not have asked.’
‘Because you had me blacklisted,’ she said, the pain that flashed across her face shocking him into silence, not least because it made the wrench in his chest throb. ‘I couldn’t get a job anywhere in journalism as Lizzy Devlin after that night.’
‘What the hell are you talking about?’ he said, genuinely perplexed, trying to remember what he’d actually said to his executive assistant the next day. He’d acted in haste, he remembered that, but he’d only asked Daryl to ensure their paths would never cross again. His kinetic, livewire response to her had rattled him. Her virginity and his complete loss of control in that damn office had rattled him even more. Not unlike his response to her tonight. But he would never have punished her in that way for something which he had eventually acknowledged was as much his fault as hers. In truth,morehis fault than hers, given her lack of experience, whatever her intentions.
‘I was summarily fired the next day,’ she said, her anger now tempered by a sadness, a sense of injustice, which had the wrench in his chest widening. ‘Without a reference and without any severance pay. And, when I tried to apply for other trainee jobs, I never even got a reply let alone an interview. I finally figured out why when a recruiter I applied to and who wouldn’t take me on told me in confidence I should consider changing my name. That “powerful forces”,’ she continued, doing air quotes as the sheen of emotion glowed in her eyes, ‘had made Lizzy Devlin unemployable.’
He had never been one of those men who could be manipulated by a woman’s tears—after all, he’d had no trouble at all withstanding Misty’s big dramatic moment when he’d informed her their affair was over. But when Lacey blinked and the sheen disappeared from her eyes, it occurred to him there was something a lot more unsettling about a woman who refused to let the tears fall.
‘I wanted to be a news reporter and you took that away from me.’ Her tone lost the edge of temper, loaded now with accusation and injured pride. Something he could understand. After all, his father had once taken great delight in injuring his pride and making him aware he meant nothing to Alfred Cade other than being a means to an end. ‘And I never understood why,’ she said, the anger all but gone now, to reveal the hurt beneath. ‘What did I do that was so terrible that made you want to punish me? That made you think Ideservedto be punished?’
You made me feel, too much.
He locked the thought away. Because it was ludicrous. She hadn’t made him feel, she’d made him want her too much—that was all. So much he hadn’t stopped to think, hadn’t used any of his usual finesse. She’d looked at him with that dewy approval in her gaze all evening, lapping up his conversation, being smart, cute and disarming... And all his smooth moves with women had deserted him until they’d ended up in a grubby little office with him pounding into her as if his life had depended on it. And, when he’d discovered she was a virgin, his incendiary reaction had only shocked him more.
‘Does that answer your question?’ she demanded, the harsh edge returning and yanking him back to the present.
Her face was lit now by the dawn. The artful make-up of last night, the elaborate hairstyle, were gone. But somehow it didn’t make her any less beautiful, and suddenly he could see that girl again—in the tilt of her eyes, the naked emotion, the forthright expression.
But, when she turned to go this time, instead of anger all he felt was regret. So when he reached for her again, his touch was gentle, his voice even more so.
‘Don’t...’ he murmured.
She stared at him, her expression carefully remote, but still he could see the hurt.
‘Don’t go,’ he said, before she could tug herself free. He tightened his grip on her wrist. ‘I want to apologise.’
Her brows shot up. He had stunned her.
The truth was, he’d stunned himself almost as much. Even when he was in the wrong, he never apologised. Because he refused to show a weakness. But this one time, he couldn’t seem to stop himself.
He’d let her take the blame for everything that had happened five years ago. Because it had been easier than examining his own behaviour, his own shocking reaction. But it was way past time he addressed that, or how was he going to handle the need now?
He still wanted her. One night had not been enough. And he intended to have her. Because he wasn’t scared of his reaction any more. However volatile his response to her, it was purely physical. But, if the goal was to get her back into his bed, he needed to repair the damage he’d done. Luckily, he was an extremely goal-orientated guy.
‘What for?’ she said, the suspicion in her eyes crucifying him a little.
