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She pulled free, wrapped the robe about her, stood up and put the coffee table between them. Disappointment spiked sharp though his body, though he had no right to it. She had her arms folded, the silk pulled firm across her breasts. Her nipples were tight beads. Ripe to taste again.
“You’re a control freak and I don’t like it.”
He shrugged. “It’s how I am. You knew that.”
“Not here. Not with me.”
“Just because the door’s closed, just because this isn’t the usual Saturday date night, it’s still the real world.”
“If this was the real world, I wouldn’t be here. I don’t let strangers buy me, fuck me.”
Hearing the obscenity from her mouth made him groan out loud. “What do you want from me?”
“I want you to let go.”
“Baby, there isn’t anything being held back.” Except the one thing that would seal her opinion of him in a casket.
“Liar. You know how to give. God, you know how to give. You just don’t know how to give yourself.”
He sighed, this wasn’t fun. Her over there, wanting to debate him. Him over here on the defensive. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Yes you do.”
She didn’t know what she was asking, but the look of determination on her face, the double knot in the belt of her robe, told him she was closed for business unless he changed the product on offer.
What would it be like to let go with her? Shoot his control full of holes and let instinct take over? Except his instinct veered towards aggression, and that was as unacceptable now as it had ever been. He didn’t trust himself not to hurt her. He’d promised not to.
“I can’t.”
“You expect me to believe that. You don’t want to.”
“You’re right. Wasn’t I enough for you?”
She softened, her shoulders dropping. “You’re the most generous lover I’ve ever had. But you don’t play fair.”
“You didn’t get the memo. Life’s not fair.”
“But in this room, with me, now—it could be. Just for a little while.”
He closed his eyes against the temptation, sank into the suede.
“I trust you.”
He barked a laugh, opened his eyes to find her standing in front of him. “You know I’m a liar and you think I’m a pirate. Why would you trust me?”
“Because of what we’ve already done. Because I know you too.”
“You only think—”
“Shut up.”
She said it with such force it surprised him into closing his mouth, swallowing the sentence.
“You’re a man who’s made his own world. A world of prestige and power out of raw materials most would have struggled to build anything with, and you brought your brother al
ong for the ride. But to get where you are now was expensive. It cost you deeply. It made you controlling. It made you scared to let go.”
“It didn’t make me any—”
