Page 27 of The Bargain (Dalton Family #2)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Sofia

“ D on’t do this, Sofia.” His voice is soft, a gentle prod.

“Don’t do what?” It’s not a coy question.

I don’t know him well enough to know what he’s thinking.

Right now, I’m starting to question my previous thought that I know myself that well, either.

He still confuses me. He’s generous, so very generous, but isn’t anything too good to be true, too good to be true?

What if my father counts on him, and then we break up and he pulls the plug?

I don’t think that’s Ethan, I don’t, but this is my father we’re talking about, not me.

“I’m not doing this because you’re his daughter,” he says.

“You’re simply the vessel that allowed me to see him and his business more clearly.

I like him. I was interested in him. I just didn’t understand why he’d run himself into so much debt.

Now I get it. Grief is a wicked beast, and he’s on the other side of that brick wall now. ”

“It feels like it’s about me. And I have very confusing feelings about that. It’s special for you to want to be there for me and him, but it also feels a little like your money is another person in this relationship.”

“My money is a part of me, and what good is it if I can’t build new things with it? Or share it with those I care about?”

“See?” I poke his chest. “This is what I’m talking about. I don’t need you to share your money with me.”

He catches my finger. “You’re going to have to get used to my money. You’re essentially living with me in Paris, remember?”

My lips part in surprise. “I—hadn’t thought of it like that.”

“I have. And I’ve never had a woman share my home. I kept Anna at a distance for a reason. I’m pulling you close because you don’t feel like she did to me.”

“What does that mean?”

“You’re different.”

“I don’t know what that means.”

“You will. I’ll show you, but just remember.

Money doesn’t define me. Nor does it decide how I treat people, but it damn sure does how they treat me.

They make assumptions about me, like you are right now.

Like you have from the day you met me. I’m into you, Sofia.

All in , but I need you to stop letting my money be a wall between us. ”

“You’re different. In every way.” His hands settle on my shoulders. “And I’m asking you to stop obsessing over my money. Start by being confident in your worth. Do you really think I’d put my name on the line for your designs if I didn’t believe in them and you?”

“We’re not talking about me. This is about my father.”

“Is it? Because it started with you thinking Zoey was personal to me, not professional. For the record, it’s now both.

As for your father, I’m ready to root for him.

And if that means I give you the money so you can get him going, we’ll do it that way.

However, if we could get him to see beyond our relationship, I think I could be of help to him to reach his full potential.

But he won’t feel good about that if you don’t.

He’ll feed off you. And before you respond, I met with him before I ever knew you.

I flew to Denver to talk to him. I was serious about doing business with him. ”

Emotions well in my chest, and I bury my face in his shirt. What do I do? How do I handle any of this?

He cups my face and tilts my gaze to his, his touch warm and his gaze piercing.

I melt with his touch over and over again, and I’m suddenly not sure what my biggest fear is with him, aside from heartbreak.

“I’m crazy about you,” he says, his voice gravely, as if this is a confession from somewhere deep in his core.

“ All of you. Everything I know about you, including your love for him. I beg of you, just see where this goes. Stop placing so much pressure on yourself and me.”

He’s right. That’s exactly what I’m doing.

“We feel good to me,” he adds, “damn good.”

“Yes. Yes, we do. I keep doing this to us. I’m sorry .”

“Don’t be sorry. We’re working through all of this.

We’re figuring it out. And as much as I want to take you back in that bedroom and spend the rest of the night naked and under your sheets,” he catches my hand and guides me down to the couch, “we need to talk about your father. I got an intimate look at his business, and I have experience with similar models. With his new distribution deal, he needs money and support quickly. He knows this. He’s going to be desperate for an investment.

We need to talk to him sooner rather than later. I need to talk to him.”

“How do I do that? I haven’t even told him about us.”

“We have a couple options. You don’t tell him right now at all.

I call him and offer him the funds and a fair deal.

I pair him with a business associate that will guide him and help him grow to a new level of success.

At the same time, we continue on to New York City and Paris, and when we get back, he tells you all about his newfound success. ”

“But then he’ll find out about us and feel like I deceived him.”

“He won’t find out. You’ll tell him. However, you decide it’s best to tell him, be it the whole truth or pieces of the truth, you can leave out the timeline, if that helps.”

“He knows me. He’s going to know now and then that I’m holding something back. I need to just tell him now.”

“I respect that, and believe me, I value that in you, Sofia, but I believe his situation is critical. If he reacts emotionally to our connection, will he make an irrational decision?”

I consider that, really consider that hard, and it’s hard to be objective. “I don’t know the right thing to do, Ethan.”

“Why don’t you call him and just ask about his investor? See where it stands. Find out what we’re dealing with. And we can stay an extra day or two, if we need to, in order to handle this.”

“You’d do that?”

“Yes. Of course. My family might be a hot mess, but we’re flying to New York, not directly to Paris, for a reason. I don’t want them to be a hot mess. You agreed to detour with me. I’ll stand by with you here until we get your dad in fighting order.”

“Thank you, Ethan. That means a lot to me. You helping him means a lot to me.”

“If I invest, it’s not help. It’s important you understand that. It’s an investment.” And then, as if he’s read my mind, he adds, “It exists outside of us.”

It’s everything I needed to hear, and I press my hand to his powerful thigh, lean into him, and plant a kiss on his jaw. It’s the first time, outside of sex, I’ve dared to show such affection.

He groans softly, folds me close, and cups my face. “You’re tempting me when we still need to talk business, when I really want to spread you wide and taste you all over again.”

I can feel the heat rush to my cheeks and the clench of my sex.

“Ethan,” I whisper, and he runs his thumb over my lip, his mouth brushing over mine, his tongue just barely teasing mine before he says, “You are going to be the end of me, woman.” He sets me away from him, his voice roughened up but somehow all business.

“You need to call him. Find out what the situation is that we’re dealing with. Him. Then us.”

In that moment, I’m trembling with how much I want him, certain it’s him who will be the end of me, not the other way around. Or maybe, we’ll be the end of each other.