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She only stared at him in answer, and just when he thought she would keep giving him the cold shoulder, he heard her say, “I know that.” Her voice was low but tremulous, and her face seemed to have whitened even more.

“I’ve always known it,” Serenity whispered. “But it doesn’t make it hurt less.” And as soon as she uttered the words, she knew then. The hurt wouldn’t go away for as long as she could see Willem.

She jerked to her feet, muttering under her breath, “I have to go.”

Willem stood up abruptly as well. “Where are you going?”

She didn’t answer, only turning around to walk away, but the billionaire swiftly held her back, his fingers wrapping tightly around one wrist.

“Let me go.” She didn’t look at him as she spoke.

His grip tightened. “We need to talk.”

She shook her head vehemently. “There’s nothing to talk about.”

“There’severything—-”

She whirled around, crying out, “I just want to forget you, okay?” She no longer cared if Melanie or Shane could hear her. She no longer cared about lying. She just wanted things to be over so it would stop hurting.

“I want to move on.” She was hysterical in her pain, and she could no longer stop herself from talking. “I want to forget I ever fell in love with a heartless bastard like you.”

A muscle started ticking in his jaw.

“I want to start fresh, find someone else—-”

Willem’s blue eyes turned icy.

If Serenity had been in her right mind, she would have known what that gaze meant. But she wasn’t.

“Someone who will welcome my love andkiss me back—-”

Willem heard nothing else.

He only had to hear Serenity talk about another man kissing her, and his vision had gone completely black.

He hauled her to him, and as she stumbled against his chest with a shocked gasp, he drove his fingers through her hair, gripped her head back, and slammed his mouth down on hers.

“If you ever dare kiss someone else,” he rasped against her lips, “I’ll probably strangle you.”

Her eyes were wide on his as he spoke, and when she parted her lips to answer him, Willem didn’t give her a chance to say a single word by driving his tongue deep into her mouth.

Passion exploded between them, and a shudder racked his body as he heard Serenity whimper in a mixture of shock and confusion.

For one moment, Willem was unable to move as well, his mind reeling at the sheer intensity of the kiss.

But then Serenity whimpered again, and he was no longer able to control himself.

His fingers tightened its grip on her head as he thrust his tongue in and out of her sweet, warm mouth. His other hand moved down, stroking her back until he reached one plump cheek. Squeezing her bottom hard, Willem used it to push her closer to him—-

His erect and throbbing cock came into contact with her soft pussy.

Serenity moaned against his lips, and he kissed her harder even as he started grinding his cock against her sex. He knew he should stop, but he couldn’t. He knew he was making it worse, but he no longer cared.

All that mattered was to make the kiss last forever—-

Someone knocked on the door.

“Mrs. Raleigh is on her way back,meneer.”