Page 52 of This Wild Heart

Anya gave me a quick look. “Oh, we haven’t even really?—”

“Three million dollars,” I said.

I didn’t know how much Anya was getting from her trust. She’d never told me, and honestly, it didn’t fucking matter. This was a place where restraint wasn’t necessary.

Her cheeks flushed a pretty pink, her mouth opening gently. “Parker,” she whispered.

I slid my hand over her shoulder and squeezed. “Vida is amazing, and so is what she’s trying to achieve. I might only catch a ball for a living, but it affords the opportunity to take part in some really incredible projects, doesn’t it?”

Her eyes went glossy, and she glanced down at her lap to gather herself. Then she reached around her shoulder and removed my arm from behind her, sliding her fingers between mine and settling our joined hands on her lap. Her fingers were trembling.

Milicent turned around to talk to the camera guy, Dave, I think was his name.

Anya leaned in to whisper close to my ear. “You don’t have to do that.”

Using my free hand, I gently pushed a piece of hair behind her ear, letting my thumb slide down the graceful line of her jaw. “I want to.” My thumb trailed over to her bottom lip, and I brushed it back and forth. “I forgot to tell you that you look beautiful, didn’t I?”

Eyes a little dazed, Anya nodded.

“What an idiot I was,” I murmured, studying the slope of her cheekbones and the thick fan of her lashes. “The sight of you almost stopped my heart, golden girl.”

Her eyelids fluttered shut, and for a moment, I forgot where we were. That we weren’t alone. That this wasn’t real.

It was just her and me. And I wanted to kiss my wife again more than anything I’d ever wanted in my entire life.

Click.

The sound of the camera broke the moment, and I let out an unsteady exhale.

“I think we’re done here,” Milicent said smoothly.

Anya and I pulled back, and I ran a trembling hand through my hair. “Right,” I said, and fucking hell, it sounded like I’d chewed rusty nails.

Anya gathered herself first, standing from the couch and shaking Milicent’s hand. “Thank you so much. This was great.”

“Thankyou,” Milicent said. “Shoot me the name of Vida’s nonprofit. We usually do highlights on Tuesdays.”

“Of course. She’d be so appreciative.”

Like a dumbass, I sat there, trying to pull my head on straight and get my hard-on under control. Dave and Milicent let themselves out of the house, and I stood slowly while Anya ran a visibly shaking hand over her mouth. Her eyes cut over to mine when the door closed.

For a moment, neither of us said anything.

The air was thick with unspent tension, and its build was blinding, like the walls were closing in on us, closing in on the fantasies I’d been sitting in for days, lifting the hairs along the back of my neck.

I wanted her. It pushed past the limits of reason and logic and that fucking restraint that I’d been trying so hard to master the past ten months. But this wasn’t about numbing out or distracting myself from an ugly truth. It was need. It was want. And oh, how I wanted her. Something to take the edge off the pain. Anything she’d give me.

My hands curled into fists at my side, and with her gaze locked in on that tiny, helpless action, Anya’s chest rose and fell with unsteady breaths, eventually tearing her eyes off my hands, dragging them up my chest to my face.

Thoughts of simple, easy business arrangements went out the fucking window when she looked at me like that. Like if I slid my hand between her legs, I knew exactly how I’d find her.

Wet.

Ready.

Perfect.

“What do you want, golden girl?” I asked in a ragged voice.

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