Page 124 of A Dangerous Proposal

“Get off me weirdo.” More scuffling noises. “Are you really? I didn’t think you approved…”

“Pfft. Have you seen the things I’ve done in the last six months? Or the things James’s family does?”

He heard a sigh. “Not the smartest thing I’ve ever done—falling in love with a man who can’t love me back.”

“Falling in love… Real. True. Love… isn’t a choice, Mads. As for him not loving you back… I’m not so sure you’re right about that.”

“I swear sometimes I feel like I’m going to burst when I’m with him. It’s pathetic.”

“Are you sure it’s not lust?” Cami teased.

“There is definitely lust… a lot of lust.” Madison huffed a sad laugh. “But I’m head over heels in love with him.”

Alex’s grip tightened around the edge of the couch, his knuckles going white.

Madison is in love with me.

He attempted to grasp the thoughts swirling in his mind at her revelation, but all he could focus on was a deep, lacerating edge of something he couldn’t identify.

It shouldn’t matter that she loves me.

It can’t matter.

He’d warned her. Laid out the terms of their arrangement in stark, unforgiving detail. He had been clear. This wasn’t a love match..

And yet, now that he knew, he craved it, desperately wanted to hear the words again.

It was fucking unfair, and he knew it.

He didn’t care.

Alex couldn’t give her those words—words he didn’t believe. But his entire being was now consumed with making her say them again.

This time when she said them, he wanted to see her beautiful face.

He’d always thought of love as a construct people used to control and manipulate the people in their lives, but Madison wasn’t like that. She wouldn’t say it if she didn’t believe she was being truthful.

Her words to Cami swamped him with feelings he didn’t have the first fucking clue how to navigate.

She’s proud to be my wife. Proud?

The weight of the word, the meaning behind it, nearly brought him to his knees.

No one had ever looked at him the way she did. Like he was worth something more than he ever believed himself to be.

It wasterrifying.

Alex didn’t evenknowhow to love someone the way she deserved to be loved.

He could never be that for her.

I should stop this before it goes any further, before she gets hurt. Pull away. Push her away. Remind her of who I am.

But the thought of losing her warmth, of losingher, sent something sharp and painful slicing through his chest.

Alex exhaled roughly, his body tense, as he ran a hand through his hair. He might not be able to tell her what she wanted to hear, but he could show her.

He could worship her body. Make her feel everything he couldn’t say…

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