for a year.”
“You’re not a Rex girl anymore.” He set his phone down on the counter and gave me his attention again. “It’s already been handled.”
A knot formed in my stomach. “What does that mean, exactly?” When he didn’t reply, I pressed, “Hadrian. Tell me.”
He ran a thumb across his chin. “When I transferred the money into your account I also settled with The Rex.”
“Settled what?”
“You were never going back to The Rex, Sterling,” he said calmly. “I wouldn’t have allowed it.”
“Excuse me?” I screeched. “You wouldn’t have allowed it?”
“Before you get upset, let me explain. Even if you left here and decided not to stay the six months with me, I couldn’t stomach the thought of you working at The Rex. So, I paid them not to take you back even if you wanted to go.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“No. I’m not.” His phone buzzed again, but before he could reach for it and dive into his text conversation, I grabbed it and held it behind my back.
“May I have my phone?” he asked in amusement.
“In a moment—after you explain things to my satisfaction.”
“Speaking of satisfaction—”
“Hadrian,” I snapped.
“Sterling,” he mocked. “I always get my way. You should know that by now.”
I bared my teeth in an angry snarl. “I am not a chess piece you can maneuver.”
“I don’t maneuver.”
“No?”
“I tactfully manipulate.”
“THIN. ICE.”
His hand reached out to settle at the curve of my hip. “If you didn’t want to stay, I would’ve let you go. It would’ve killed me, but I would have. I can’t handle the idea of other men—of you with them.”
I understood his possessive vein, but Hadrian couldn’t make my choices for me.
“You need to promise me something,” I said.
“What?”
“Moving forward, if you want me to do something, just ask. Don’t go behind my back and pull my strings like some puppeteer.”
“Just ask,” he repeated. “That’s all it would take?”
I nodded.
“Sterling?”
“Yes?”
“Will you kiss me?”
Before I could respond, he dragged me closer so that I was pressed against him. My arms reached up to loop around his neck, and I played with the hair at his nape. I stood on my toes, attempting to reach his mouth. “You’re a fast learner.”
When his mouth covered mine, I lost all rational thought. His arms tightened around me and it felt like he’d never let me go. I lost my desire to remain a separate entity, in spite of my hopes for the future.
Hadrian Rhys had scrambled my psyche, pulled apart my soul, and rearranged it to fit tightly into his.
We made it as far as the living room before he had me naked and bent over the couch. A Shetland tempest was nothing compared to us. We were cataclysmic, like an unstoppable storm.
When we collapsed to the floor, spent and shaking, Hadrian grabbed a woolen blanket and covered us before pulling me tight against him.
“Has it ever been like this?” I asked dreamily, my fingers stroking his chest. “With anyone else?” I closed my eyes and breathed in the perfume of pleasure in the air.
“No. It’s never been like this with anyone,” he said softly. “And I knew it the first night we spent together.”
“Knew what?”
“I knew you were different.”
After we recovered, we showered. We took our time, lathering each other’s bodies, lingering with our touches and kisses. Then we laid in bed, facing one another as the rain beat against the balcony doors.
My hands wandered over his skin, lingering on his scar. His other fresh wound was bandaged again after our shower, but the pain of it hadn’t slowed him down at all.
“Do they bother you? My scars?” he asked, his brogue rumbling like looming thunder.
To answer his question, I pulled back the covers so I could see him. And then I pressed a kiss to his healed mark before snuggling into his embrace.
His fingers plowed through my damp hair. I closed my eyes and gave into his pampering touch.
I slid my leg between his, angling to get closer, and when I did, I sighed in contentment. His fingers circled my neck, reminding me that I hadn’t worn my necklace in days. Come to think of it, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen it.
“Have you seen my necklace?” I asked.
“Aye. It’s in my bedside drawer.”
“How long has it been there?” I asked. “I don’t remember losing it.”
“You didn’t lose it. I took it off of you on the yacht while you were asleep.”
I smiled into his shoulder. “Of course you did.”
“I kept telling myself that I only wanted