two tight peaks. Aching. His touch did that. Just that thumb brushing over the back of her hand. She would be in such trouble with this man.
“I realized, looking at every single bit of footage we had of you coming into this shop, over and over, staying up at night watching it, that I am an even worse man than I knew myself to be because I don’t want to give you up.”
“We don’t know if we’re even compatible.”
“We know.”
She couldn’t deny that. She also couldn’t deny that he was a criminal. He wasn’t pretending to be anything else. He just put himself out there, all that raw sexuality, that dominant, commanding personality, and thought she would deal. Could she? She had so much to lose. She knew she did, and the number one thing was her heart.
“You don’t even know my last name.”
“You would be surprised at what I know about you.” His eyes didn’t so much as blink, wholly focused on her, almost hypnotic.
“You don’t know the first thing about me, and I don’t know the first thing about you.”
“You know we would burn together.”
She considered that. A night? Could she walk away from him after a night? Her heart clenched hard in her chest. It hurt. Just the way it would when she left him. She’d dreamt of a man like him. Reality and fantasy were two very different things. She’d seen Fyodor’s face when he’d carried Evangeline out of her bakery. He had the look of a man furious that his woman was anywhere but home. She wouldn’t be in the least surprised to read about a fire burning down the shop in the morning.
These were men in control of their lives and everything in them. She would have to live with the bodyguards, at least until the relationship burned itself out. She had her own life. Things she liked to do that she was fairly certain a man like Mitya would try to nix immediately. Things she needed to do she knew he would forbid. There would be fights. If he cared that much. If he didn’t, it would be worse than if they fought. Either way, she would be the one to lose.
“You’re overthinking.”
“I’m an intelligent woman.” She gestured toward the bodyguards. “Are they always around you?”
He nodded. “They are necessary.”
“If we had a one-night fling . . .”
“One night will never be enough. A thousand nights will never be enough. If you come to me, Ania, it will be a commitment to me. To us. There will be no going back.”
“I sat in a car with you for fifteen minutes.”
He nodded. “You brought me something beyond any price. I thought to give you your life, but I find I’m not that man. So, I’m asking you to think about sharing your life with me.”
“Do you have any idea how unreasonable and insane that is?”
The unreasonable and insane part was that she was considering his ridiculous proposition even for a moment. She didn’t know him. She was a little afraid of him. Mitya Amurov was not the kind of man a woman could wrap around her little finger to get her way in all things. He was the kind of man who gave orders and expected them to be obeyed.
“You’re shaking your head, Ania, and you haven’t given us a chance.”
“How would I do that?” The sane, intelligent part of her screamed at her to shut up and walk away. To not listen to another word coming out of his sensual mouth in that sexy, caressing tone that wrapped her up in the need for that mouth on her anywhere.
“Have dinner with me.”
Her eyes met his. He would be having her for dinner if she went anywhere near him. Turning him down was going to be the hardest thing she’d ever do. She had few things in her life she could call her own. She’d lost her grandparents and mother. Her father was deteriorating rapidly. She knew it was only a matter of time before she lost him.
This wasn’t her time. If she could have had a glorious night with him and walk away unscathed, then she might have gone for it. Okay, she would have. But she knew, looking at him, she would get her heart broken. He was the kind of man she would never be able to resist.
“I would love to say yes, but I know myself, Mitya. This wouldn’t end well for me.”