Page 56 of A Forbidden Arrangement

“That I haven’t been able to think with you sitting this close. That I can’t remember a single word my secretary just said.” His nose drifts along mine. “Should I tell you my thoughts have narrowed to your lips? How you’d taste beneath me. The sounds you’d make. That it took every bit of restraint not to drag you back upstairs and devour you whole?”

My lungs burn. I can’t pull in air, can’t think. He’s too close, his words too heavy.

Then he eases back, his mouth curving slightly. “Or would that be too corny?”

It takes me a moment to catch up, to pull myself out of the fog he’s left me in. He lifts my hand, his thumb brushing over his name inked into my skin with almost reverent care.

By the time I notice the small velvet box in his other hand, it’s already open.

“What if I told you the only thing stopping me is knowing when you walk in there, every person in that room will be jealous of my wife?”

He slides the rings on one at a time. The diamond catches the light, big enough to stretch from knuckle to knuckle. A thin gold band settles neatly beneath it.

“My entire life, I’ve hated when people coveted what I had,” he says quietly. “But it’s different now. I’ve never had anything this precious. I want them to see it. To see you. To know you’re mine.”

He squeezes my hand once before turning it over. His lips press against my palm, soft and deliberate. The warmth shoots up my arm, settling in my chest. He doesn’t look away as he lifts his head.

“Wear it for me tonight. Let me show you off.”

Heat rushes through me, filling every inch of space until I can barely breathe. My heart beats too fast. Whatever this feeling is, it takes over, wraps around me until it’s all I know. It’s unfamiliar and consuming, but it feels good. I want to sink into it. Let it pull me under.

Xander has never pretended to be a good man. He’s made it clear he’ll do whatever it takes to get what he wants. Even if it means doing despicable things.

Maybe that should scare me, but it doesn’t. The lengths he’s willing to go for me stir something deep inside, something I don’t want to look too closely at.

I meet his eyes. Gray, steady, unflinching. He doesn’t hide. He lets me look, lets me see everything that’s there.

The knot inside me loosens. The one that’s been telling me to run since I saw him that day.

And suddenly, I know.

Whatever happened in that alley before I passed out. Whatever I thought I saw between him and Elliot. There’s something missing. Something I got wrong.

This man will never betray me.

“Xander, why were you with?—”

“Sorry to interrupt, sir.” The driver’s voice cuts through the thick quiet. “We’re here.”

Xander doesn’t move. His focus stays on me, waiting for the rest of my question.

It sticks on my tongue, the words tangled somewhere between doubt and trust.

Noise bursts from outside. Voices. Cameras. A flash of light through the tinted glass. The door swings open, and a man in a tux steps back to let us out.

Xander gets out first, then turns to offer his hand. His palm is warm, steady against mine.

“Ask me when we get home,” he says under his breath. “Whatever it is, I’ll answer.”

He takes my hand and guides me out of the car. The second my heals hit the pavement, I’m blinded by a storm of light. Camera flashes burst from every direction, sharp enough to sting my eyes.

People shout his name. They want him to look their way, to turn that impossible attention on them.

I take a small step back, my body begging to retreat. The whispers in my head come fast, cruel and familiar. They can all see it. I don’t belong here.

My chest tightens until it hurts to breathe. The air feels too thin, the noise too much.

Then Xander’s hand presses to the small of my back. His palm covers the entire space, firm and possessive. It’s a claim, but it’s also a reminder. I’m here because he wants me here.