Page 41 of Hidden Heir, Italian Wife

He couldn’t help the angry curse that burst out of him, or the way his hands curled into fists. It was a damned good thing Odelia was all the way across the city by now.

“It was me she wanted to hurt. She was using you to do it. Of course, you belong.”

“Uh, no,” she said on a humorless laugh. “Let’s be honest about that.”

“I am being honest. Aside from Odelia, did anyone else make you feel unwelcome?”

“No, but…” She gave him a pensive look. “You didn’t tell me who you were when we met. Yes, I could have looked at your card, but you weren’t up front about all of this.” She waved at the sumptuous comfort of the Presidential suite. “Was that because you thought I might have heard something about you? That I might be a gold digger?”

“I’ve had my share of encounters with people attracted to my wealth and name,” he admitted. “It was refreshing that you saw me as a person.”

“And you knew you’d never see me again, so what did your full identity matter?” Her voice husked and her brow pulled with injury.

“It wasn’t that cold-blooded, Bree. I had caused my family a lot of pain. I was still trying to make up for that. I was due in Naples that afternoon to close on a property that Nico and Dom were competing to purchase. I stayed with you. That felt very selfish.” He ran his hands on his thighs, conscience still pinched. “I could tell you were a bigger distraction than I could afford, especially when Nico texted that Dom was moving in on us. I was standing there realizing I’d failed my family by sleeping with you, so I didn’t ask for your number. But you could have looked at my damned card.”

She dropped her gaze, unrepentant, her jaw remaining set.

“I accept that you were hurt and angry tonight. And by my behavior that day. Fine. But I’m committing my life to you tomorrow and I need you to do the same. You can’t pull off that ring just because a stranger is rude to you.”

“I’m afraid to trust you,” she said in a low voice, twirling the ring.

“Same,” he said bluntly. “But we have to try.”

“How?” she asked with a pang of hopelessness in her voice. “Where do we even start? All we have between us is sex.”

“Then let’s start there.”

***

“W-what do you mean?” Bree asked with trepidation.

Jax tugged his bow tie open, then drew it from his collar and set it flat across her knees.

Her heart arrived in her throat, pounding hard. He couldn’t be serious.

“No?” He was watching her very closely. “You know I’d never hurt you. Don’t you?”

Not physically, no, but he had already turned her inside out over different things. His engagement for one. To a woman he hadloved. What he’d been through was still making her ache for him, but it also heartened her. A man who had stood up for someone else wouldn’t want to force her to do anything she didn’t want to.

It was still terrifying to draw her hands down from where she’d instinctively tucked them into her neck and offer them.

“I don’t know how…” She tried pressing her inner wrists together, but he guided her into crossing them.

As he wrapped the silk and pulled it tight, binding them, her heart pounded harder.

When it was done, she gave a testing wiggle. He felt to ensure it wasn’t so tight it would leave marks. His fingers settled on the pulse in her wrist.

“You’re scared?”

“Yes.” Her mouth was dry.

“Really scared?” He stroked his touch up the sensitive underside of her bare arm. “Or nervous and turned on?”

How did he know? Her nipples were stinging behind the cups of her bodice. She bit her lip. “The second one.”

A slow, wicked smile formed across his lips.

He stood and drew her to her feet, then cupped her face and kissed her.

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