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“No,” he says in a hard tone. “If I agree to something, I’ll go through with it. I agreed and I wasn’t only Lane’s friend back in high school, but I was also yours. Lane and I weren’t that close, but we were friends.”
I scoff. “Fine. But one thing I want to make clear about this crazy arrangement is, that you are doing this for Lane. We were never friends. We were never anything. You hated the fact that your parents agreed to have me stay in your home. My presence was a nuisance and an inconvenience.”
He walks up to me. He is so close I can smell the hint of his expensive cologne. My breathing picks up. His expression darkens. “Was it?”
“Was what?” I challenge.
“Was it an inconvenience when I tasted you?”
I never thought he would bring it up. I thought he forgot about it and probably wouldn’t even remember what I looked like without my clothes on.
How many women has Kalum had since then? He is rich, gorgeous, and can have any woman he wants. Compared to the women Kalum is used to, I know I don’t compare to any of them. Lane was the only man to ever make me feel pretty. He would always tell me I was pretty and that he loved me. For a girl like me, that was enough.
What is he trying to prove by bringing up the past? This is not high school. He followed the path his parents laid out for him, and they made sure I was nowhere near him.
The memory of how easily they all cast me aside and threw me out plays in head. The memory of me rolling my suitcase down the sidewalk on my birthday scared and alone.
“Don’t bring up things that are not important.”
He steps closer with less than an inch between us, the heat of his body mixed with his scent permeating all around me. Every breath I take is mixed with the heat and scent of his.
“Look at me.”
I meet his gaze holding it for a beat. His nostrils flare and his lips are set in a hard line. The energy crackles between us like a whip.
I’m glad LJ is with Camila. I can hear their voices behind me as Kalum and I stand toe-to-toe, staring at each other. Our pasts seeking answers to things left unsaid.
31
KALUM
Her anger makes my cock harder than steel, and all I feel like doing is taking her to the main bedroom in this enormous house and showing her how much I want her. How much I crave her. I thought being away from her all these years would change the way she affects me, but I was wrong. It’s worse. I want her more than the air I breathe, but I can’t touch her. It is wrong in so many ways. I keep reminding myself she is mourning the death of the man she loves.
I wish that little boy was mine. I imagine he was ours, that he looked like me or maybe both of us, but then I come to my senses. I don’t want a wife, and I don’t want children. When the time comes, because my family’s legacy depends on it, I’ll take a wife. But for now, I’ll have meaningless sex when I want and how I want.
Aura is not the woman I can take to bed and tell her to leave when I’m done. She is the kind of woman you marry. There was a time I wanted that with her, but it wasn’t in the cards. And time is a fickle bitch. It passes, and you would think time heals all wounds. But it doesn’t. When you least expect it, it consumes you like a blazing fire, burning your waking thoughts and taking the air from your lungs.
I cannot have feelings for the woman in front of me. She belonged to another man. A man who trusted me to make sure she is safe. Lane Turner’s parents want to take his legacy from her and sell it to the highest bidder. They will make sure she doesn’t see a dime. They want her penniless. Exie has tried to convince them to leave her alone, but her control is slipping.
People from my world are ruthless, and when they want something, they will destroy whoever and whatever to take it. They will do anything to make her sell it, or they will destroy it. Right now, it is her against the world. I’m the only one who can save her.
My eyes travel down her shirt. Her nipples are hard against the soft fabric of her bra. She feels it. The same way I do.
Her eyes follow the path of my gaze. “Some things never change, do they?”
“The fact that I want nothing more than to slide my tongue between your legs and reacquaint myself with the taste of you. I’m a man, Aura. I like to fuck. That will never change.”
“I’m not the same girl you had cleaning your room when she had no other choice. I’m not the girl you can sweet-talk with your charm and good looks to get her to lose her head and fall for your lies.”
I chuckle. “You had a choice to say no when I was making you come on my tongue. You sure as hell didn’t say no then.” I lean closer. “And I bet you wouldn’t say no now.”
Thwack!
Heat spreads over my cheek. She slapped me hard. My hand instinctively wraps around her wrist in a solid grip but not hard enough to hurt her. My eye twitches from the sting, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.
Her eyes flash. “Fuck you.”
“That can be arranged. Tell me when and how you want it.”
