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“Why are you in here?” I demand as my head starts to swim from his cologne. “Did you come to talk to me or did you come to ogle my P.A.?”
He regards me thoughtfully. “The only woman I’m guilty of ogling is my wife.”
I was wrong; hiring Rose wasn’t the threat.Thisis the threat. His proximity, his words, his scent. That sinful, intoxicating look in his eye.
“Misha—”
“Especially in that dress,” he murmurs, letting his gaze slide over my body with admiration.
I chose a soft cotton slip dress this morning, the same as I’ve been doing every day since I came home. It’s clingy but comfortable, and simple as could be. With the way Misha is devouring me, though, you’d think it was made of lace and whipped cream.
“Stop it.”
“Stop what?” he asks innocently.
“Looking at me like I’m a snack that you’re about to gobble up.”
He grabs me suddenly and seats me right onto my new desk. I’m not sure how he managed to get my dress up so fast, but his hand is on my inner thigh. I can feel desire choking out my willpower.
“Misha,” I whimper, “this is not the deal.”
“Fuck the goddamn deal,” he growls. “You’re my wife. If I want to fuck you until you’re screaming, that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
With those words alone, I can feel the heat pooling between my legs. I can feel the desire melting my skin until every nerve ending sizzles.
I want him so badly that I’m tempted to forget about all the reasons I moved down to this room in the first place.
He slips off one strap of my dress and cups my naked breast, squeezing my nipple gently. A low, guttural growl escapes his lips as he bends his head down and presses his mouth to my neck. I should push him off. Iwillpush him. Just as soon as I…
“Rose looks nothing like you,” he assures me. And there’s so much conviction in his words that I find myself leaning into them. Trusting them, even when every cell in my body is screaming at me to do the exact opposite. “Because what you don’t realize is that I know every inch of you, Paige, and there isn’t a single person in the world who comes close. She doesn’t have a birthmark on her neck, right here.” He kisses the spot and strokes it with one soft, teasing fingertip. “She doesn’t have a perfect spray of freckles on her shoulder, right here.” Another kiss. Another touch. Leaning back, he presses his forehead against mine so his face is all I can see. “She doesn’t have the gentle lift at the corners of her eyes that you get when you smile, or the swish in your hips when you’re dancing to a song in your head and you think no one is watching you. She’s a pale imitation. You are the original, Paige Orlov. You are perfect. And you fucking belong to me.”
I feel my whole soul shudder at his words.
For a man who claims not to be capable of falling in love, sometimes, he gives a pretty good imitation of it.
But I can’t let myself hope.
I know if he kisses me, my crumbling willpower will be completely destroyed. There will be no salvaging it. I’m fighting a lose-lose war in my head as his lips edge closer, and closer, and closer.
Push him away…
Forgive him…
Shove him off and slam the door in his face…
Take him to bed and show him how much he’s come to mean to you…
A second before his lips touch mine, I push him off me and bolt across the room as if my life depended on it.
“No,” I gasp. “I can’t do this. I won’t. Separate lives, Misha. That’s what we agreed on.”
“That’s not what I want, Paige,” he says, his silver eyes trying to split through my resolve. “That’s never what I wanted.”
My attempt at a response is drowned out by a sob. I swallow it down and try again. “I’ve already made the mistake of loving a man who didn’t think I was worth marrying, and look how that turned out. I’m already married to you, too, so that’s my fault for falling for the same trick twice. But I won’t make the mistake of loving you, Misha. It’s too hard. And in the end, it’ll just leave me alone and empty.”
He takes a step towards me, but I stop him with a raised hand. “Misha, please…”
I expect him to ignore me. In fact, I’m hoping he does ignore me. Because that will prove that he wants me enough. That he cares about me enough. That’ll prove that he’s willing to fight for me.
