Page 31 of Billionaire's Sins

"Where did you learn to speak like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like you are laying out all of your emotions to the world and not hiding a thing." I shoot her a sideways glance. "Don’t you have any self-preservation?"

"Not where you are concerned."

"You’re not making this easy." I curl my fingers into fists. "I should leave you and walk away from here."

"Why don’t you?"

"I should turn around and get out of your sight and never come near you again." I set my jaw

"Do you really want to do that?"

"I should let you lead a life far, far away from me." I roll my shoulders.

"Will you be able to do that?"

"No," I lower my chin, "and that is the problem."

"What are you trying to say, Father?"

"That I have taken my vows, I am bound to the Church, and I will never be available for you as a man is for a woman."

"And yet, you came to the bar, knowing I was there, then proceeded to step in between me and another man, then drive me on your bike—which, by the way, was totally unexpected—and, bring me here…" She nods to the glorious sight of the illuminated bridge in front of us. "A place that is clearly special to you, so pardon me for feeling confused."

"I brought you here so I could get to know you."

"But you just said—"

I raise my hand, "Let me complete the statement. To get to know you as a friend."

"As a friend?"

"That’s what we agreed to earlier, right?" I tilt my head.

"Hmm, the way you burst in on me at the bar, Father, I could have sworn you were jealous."

"Edward," I snap. "Call me Edward when it’s just the two of us."

"Edward." She rolls the word about her tongue as if testing it, and every one of my senses focuses in on her. The sound of my name from her lips sends my pulse racing. This won’t do. I am sitting here, hoping to come to terms with what can’t be. Trying to find a way forward, but it seems everything I do only connives to deepen the attraction between us.

"And I wasn’t jealous," I insist. "I merely saw that the guy was bothering you at the bar and did what anyone else in my position would have done.

"But no-one else came to help me; only you did," she points out.

"Guess, my reflexes were quicker than theirs, hmm?"

"Is that what you’re telling yourself?" she mutters.

"It’s true, though." I set my jaw. "And I forbid you from ever going to a bar again dressed like that."

"Dressed like what?" She glances down at herself. "I’m wearing a perfectly decent dress."

"A dress that’s so short it barely covers your crotch."

"It comes to mid-thigh."