by Liz Maverick
“Yes,” he said, relief plastered across his face. “My father set it up. He told me I was lunching with a potential investor. She was the daughter of a business acquaintance. The father forgot to show up.” Jack’s eyes glittered with anger as he pronounced forgot with great sarcasm. “She made advances. I had to be delicate trying to explain that I…that I was in love with someone.”
I think I stopped breathing.
“I was too delicate. She didn’t care. I pushed her off in the end. I promise you. Cassandra, it was like a nightmare, realizing that Anna saw something that was both true and incomplete. Yes, something happened that shouldn’t have happened. No, I didn’t start it, I didn’t want it, and I stopped it, but it was too late for Anna to know that. Cassandra, I can’t sleep. I can’t sleep! There’s still glitter everywhere, reminding me of you. It’s on my skin. It won’t come off. It haunts me.”
That guy’s in love with you.
And I’m in love with that guy.
I just didn’t know how to tell him that and now it was as if I was letting him swing in the wind. You’re not going to have another chance, Cass. He’s putting it all out there. My heart pounded, but I just couldn’t. That old feeling came over me; I wanted to say something cold, turn and go so I could be 100 percent sure I could never be hurt again. I wanted to run.
Suddenly he dumped all the gifts back in his bag, petals flying in the air, and cradled my face in his hands. “I made a big mistake with you ten years ago. I let you and everything that you represent go. I chose what I thought I was supposed to choose, and I lost myself. Finding you again has been like remembering how I want to live. I told you that night that I’ve always been in love with you, and I know you didn’t believe me but it is the truth. We’re older now, we’ve had more experiences, and I still look at you and wish you were mine, except now the feelings are deeper, richer, and I can see a future. Merde, these aren’t the right words! Come back to Paris and stay with me. Work with me on the hotel. Let’s see if I can give you a reason to stop running. Cassandra, if there is any chance—”
I grabbed him behind the neck and pressed my mouth to his, answering him with all the passion I felt in my heart. “You’ve already given me a reason.”
*
“I could get used to this,” I sighed. This being billion thread count sheets, never-ending room service and an equally infinite number of orgasms à la Jacques.
The Marchand brothers and Mr. Brooks bought the hotel chain, and after completing business in Siena, my boss insisted I take a month off work. Sure, Jack and I could have traveled around somewhere in Europe, but we decided to spend our time contemplating the interiors of that one suite in the Fleur de Lys. Mostly the bed.
Best vacation ever.
Jack propped himself up on one elbow, his sweaty body still tangled in mine, a very satisfied grin on his face. Yeah, I could definitely get used to this. Unfortunately, the month was nearly up.
“What on earth just made your smile disappear?”
“I’m going to miss this. I’m going to miss you,” I said. I had to go back to the States and train Anna to replace me before I started working on the hotel team. Some part of me was afraid that once I left, the magic would be lost.
Jack rolled away, reached under the bed for something and came back with yet another Cartier bag; I was already wearing the diamonds studs he’d brought to Italy. I bit my lip. “A girl could get used to this,” I said, giving him a disapproving look.
“It matches the earrings,” he said with a shrug.
Oh, man. A Cartier necklace was no small gift. “Jack, you don’t have to keep giving me presents. You know I’m not like that.”
“Just open it, Cass,” he murmured with a soft smile, his toes reaching to touch mine.
I unwrapped the gift and opened the box, my heart pounding in my chest. Not a necklace. A ring. A huge, gorgeous, glittering diamond ring.
“Two weeks to rewrite history…a month of vacation…it’s not enough. I’m thinking years and years. Je t’aime, Cassandra. Je t’aime.” Jack reached out and took me in his arms, rolling us over so he cradled me beneath him as I clutched the ring in stunned silence. “What do you say?”
There was only one thing I could say. After all, we know what we know. “Oui,” I whispered, pulling him down toward me for a kiss. “Absolutely, positively, one hundred percent oui.”
*
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About the Author
Bestselling, award-winning author Liz Maverick is a novelist and adventurer whose projects have taken her from driving trucks in Antarctica to working behind the scenes on reality TV shows in Hollywood.
Liz’s previous works include Cosmopolitan’s Book Club pick What a Girl Wants, the USA TODAY bestselling Crimson City series and Wired, a Publishers Weekly Top Book of the Year. Liz currently lives in Brooklyn, New York, and on lizmaverick.com.
Sexy, contemporary romance stories
for today’s fun, fearless female.
On sale March 10, 2015
Her Last Wild Ride by Abby Green
Exposed by Zoey Williams
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ISBN-13: 9781460382530
Hot and Bothered
Copyright © 2015 by Liz Edelstein
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