Page 31 of Ruthless Financier
She blinked and tilted her head as she asked, “Whatwhatlooks like?”
I was getting hard from her glances. If I touched her, I’d want her.
“You, angry,” I said.
She pressed her hand to her heart and said, “I have feelings, ups and downs, and all that.”
Naturally. I cupped her elbow and wanted to go further up as I asked, “So why were you so against love, when you grew up surrounded by it?”
She licked her lips and stared at mine as she said, “I … Commitment can make me weak, and I need to be strong. I’m helping so many more when I’m strong.”
My skin was electrified and I scooted closer. “Were your parents stronger apart than together?”
She froze like she’d been caught. Then she glanced down and said, “No. But they were an exception.”
Every woman I’d met who wanted cold, hard cash had some horrific background and saw money as a means of stability. Leave it to me to find a true lady who was out to save the world.
I said, “I really don’t understand you. I’ve never met someone from a good family who didn’t want to recreate the feeling of being loved.”
She moved and took my hand in hers as she said, “When I was buying my dress for the eighth-grade dance, I wanted to go to the mall. My mom never handled crowds well, and she took off in the middle of our shopping trip. Georgie kept us girls together after my mom wandered away. We waited for my dad to come and get us, buy the dress, and find our mom.”
Hmm. My mother had kept me close, at all times. She’d come to my high school football and baseball games and never missed one. I asked Indigo, “Did it take hours?”
She whispered like she was sharing some deep secret, “He found us pretty fast, and then found mom. We drove home like nothing had happened. But I saw how my mom became overwhelmed and couldn’t handle herself. I can’t be like her.”
“You aren’t.” I kissed her palm.
“I throw myself into work, but honestly, I don’t know what I’d do … I never want to disappoint anyone. And having children changes people.”
“Your sister seemed like a good mom.”
“I’m not her. And I’m scared of depending on any man to fix things for me because I’m incapable of handling them myself.”
“You’re smart and on top of the world.” I traced her skin and saw the goosebumps that followed, so I lowered my voice. “And love, with the right guy, might make you happy.”
She cupped my face like she was memorizing me as she said, “Doesn’t matter, does it? I’m married to you, with a contract that states no cheating and total fidelity.”
I winked. “Because I’m selfish.”
My lips went closer to her as I needed to kiss her, but she pushed back and said, “Tomorrow, when we leave Pittsburgh, maybe I’ll be ready to fulfill my duties.”
Tonight and tomorrow, we worked on trust. I said for now, “Don’t worry about that. Our time will come.”
And then she’d be mine. I was more patient with her than I’d been in a long time, but soon she’d be mine, fully.
Chapter 9
Indigo
Never in my life had a romantic comedy that ended with the first kiss had me on the edge of my seat the entire time.
Until Jacob, who left me panting for more.
Our lives weren’t anything like the movie. Yet here I was, sitting cross-legged, on the edge of my seat, next to Jacob. And I waited for his touch.
But the sexy, muscular man beside me put his hands in the popcorn bowl we shared, and our thighs only touched through our clothes.
I seriously was on tenterhooks for more, for kisses like in the movie that only he could give me.
