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He smiled. “I may resemble that.”
She spoke in her sternest voice, though she would never be able to emulate Fernsby properly. “We talked about this in San Francisco. We have our rules.”
“I heard all your reasons why we still need the rules.” Dane raised an eyebrow. “But I’ve changed my mind.”
This was bad, really bad. He could make her lower all her defenses. And then her heart could very well be crushed. “But you can’t change your mind. All my reasons are still valid.”
He pulled out her chair, then snugged her closer to the table when she sat.
If her stomach hadn’t rumbled again, she might have jumped right back up and run out of the room.
“Are they?” he asked softly. Then he took her plate and began to fill it at the sideboard. “Let’s put that to the test.”
She was terrified to ask how.
He gave her a bit of everything she most desired—slices of rare roast beef, a gravy-laden Yorkshire, vegetables, and mouthwatering roast potatoes. As he set the plate in front of her, she couldn’t help breathing in the heavenly aromas, somehow breathing in his scent as well.
He plated roast beef and Yorkshire pudding for himself, and the moment he sat, she dove into hers, because, honestly, she couldn’t wait.
“You’re totally right. This is a very romantic setting.” He waved a hand over the table. “Delectable food, good champagne, beautiful flowers. We’re all alone.” He smiled roguishly. “I just made my move. But I’m not going to haul you close and kiss you again.”
She couldn’t help but wish he would.
He held her gaze like a hypnotist, stealing her ability to look away. “And since I already know we’re meant to be together…” He raised his glass. “The next move is yours.”
If this was a contest, she couldn’t let Dane win. Her heart was at stake. “My move isn’t coming. I won’t give up the perfect relationship we’ve had all this time for a romance that will potentially fail and ruin everything.”
There. She’d said it. Even as her heart cried out with how badly she wanted what he offered, she couldn’t go through another heartache. Especially not a heartache over Dane.
He calmly cut into his tender beef, chewed, swallowed, his eyes on her the entire time. Until finally, he said, “I’m not willing to risk failure either. But since I know we won’t fail, I also know there’s no risk.” He speared a forkful of Yorkshire pudding dripping with gravy. “I have feelings for you, feelings that haven’t gone away for twelve years. I know we need to be together. And I know we can make a relationship work.”
He wasn’t talking about just sex. They knew each other too well for it to be only about sex. Of course he had feelings. But he hadn’t said love. Instead, he’d used the word relationship. But a relationship could mean so many things. Feelings and relationship didn’t necessarily add up to love. It certainly didn’t mean marriage. It couldn’t even be called permanent.
Besides, they already had a relationship that worked.
She could sleep with the billionaire. She could revel in his attention. But it would all come tumbling down eventually. It was the age-old story of the secretary having a fling with her boss. And who ended up out in the cold? Always the secretary.
Dane had made this switch so fast, after only a couple of sexy, heated kisses in a hot tub. He wasn’t a bad man; he was full of integrity. But when Dane Harrington wanted something, he went for it. And when the initial drive was satisfied, he moved on to the next project. She didn’t want to be the next project he left behind.
She didn’t want a broken heart.
She didn’t want to lose the only thing that had any meaning in her life—her relationship with Dane, just the way it was. No changes, no deviations. It was better to keep the beautiful thing she knew rather than risk everything on a fleeting affair, no matter how dazzling, that couldn’t last.
Chapter Twenty
Since I already know we’re meant to be together, the next move is yours.
Dane waited for her to say yes. But everything she felt was written in the strained lines of her lovely face. She didn’t believe a relationship with him could work.
He wasn’t even sure himself. Could anyone be sure? Until he’d met Susan and Bob Spencer, he hadn’t believed it was a possibility.
The only thing he knew for certain was that he couldn’t go on with Cammie the same way he had for twelve years. But what if he pushed too hard and ended up pushing her away? If he confessed all his feelings, that meant he was asking her to declare herself too. Then the pressure was on. Essentially, he’d be putting his heart in her hands, and she’d be expected to do something with it.
