you don’t. You may think you know, but I guarantee you don’t.”
“Then I don’t want to know. Is that better?” She waved her hand at me. “Nothing you can say will change the outcome. The one picture is out and I believe it’s just a matter of time before more of them show up and my identity is published. Secrets as explosive as that are going to be impossible to hide. So I wasted an entire week in fear of the other shoe dropping. That was a mistake. I should have been filming and getting the best footage we could for another season before this whole ticking time bomb thing explodes in my face. If the network isn’t invested in the show, we’ll get dropped in a New York minute.” The frown on her face deepened. “Honestly, though, I’m kind of surprised Dante has waited this long. If his goal is to humiliate and break me, he’s already halfway there. He isn’t going to stop now. Not when this is exactly what he wants.”
“Fuck your ex-husband. He may be hiding, but eventually I will find him and when I do, he will regret all of this. I promise you that.”
She whirled around to face me, so fast I almost got whiplash from it. “I don’t need your fucking promises, Vincent. I don’t need anything—from you.” She hesitated only a fraction before she continued, but it was enough for me to brace for it. “Don’t you get it? You and I are nothing. We are less than nothing. I have far more important things in my life to deal with than your ego. So enough already. Let this go.”
The heat and conviction in her voice could have been enough to convince me she meant every word if it were not for the pain so visible in her eyes. Or the truth that lay in the way she moved effortlessly against me every time I touched her. There were times when actions were far more potent than words and this was definitely one of them.
Although her words did piss me off. She may have thought she was doing the right thing by being harsh, but still I had to exercise an enormous amount of restraint not to blast back.
Instead of arguing, I chose to focus on the connection between us as I reached up and brushed my fingers across her cheek to the lone tear slipping from her eye. “I wasn’t kidding when I told you that day I couldn’t let you go. I still need you and despite everything, you need me too.”
She squeezed her eyes shut and leaned into the palm of my hand. I wasn’t going away and I didn’t believe she wanted me to either.
“Why do you insist on confusing me? I need my life to be simple—straightforward.”
“Bullshit. You are way too complex of a woman for something that basic. Look what you’ve managed to accomplish in such a short time. Cooking school, an eatery in New York City, a television show, and now you’re about to open Zia’s Kitchen here in Vegas. Your life is about as far from simple as it can get and despite the stress that causes you, you seem to love it.”
She shook her head. “Yeah, and that’s why I’m having panic attacks, right? Because I love it.”
I gently cupped her chin and tilted her head until she faced me head on. “Open your eyes, Zia, and look at me.”
“I don’t want to.” She pouted. “And how do you know so much about me? Are you stalking me?”
I deepened my tone and repeated my demand. “Open your eyes.”
This time she said nothing before she complied. No argument. No shake of her head. Just simple compliance that led to her opening dark gorgeous eyes awash in unshed tears.
“There you are, beautiful. The woman I have no intention of letting get away again. The woman who wants what I have to give because having me there to catch and control you gives you a taste of freedom unlike anything else. It’s the balance to your chaos that you seek, even if you don’t fully grasp that concept—yet.”
I leaned forward and captured her lips with mine. A simple coax of subtle pressure that had her opening on a quiet sigh. For once there was no urgency that had us ripping at each other’s clothing. No breathless desperation to fuck. Although it would be a lie to pretend my dick wasn’t hard. It had been since the