Page 96 of The Billionaire's Secret

"I’ll do whatever the bloody fuck I want." I dig out my lighter and hand it over to Homeless Guy, who promptly pulls out a cigarette and lights up.

24

What flowers are kissable?

Answer: Tulips

Victoria

I did. I had said 'yes' to him.Oh, hell.

I stare at my reflection in the mirrored surface of the elevator doors. Saint towers next to me, his frame dwarfing mine, his shoulders taking up too much space, his presence drawing in all of the oxygen in the enclosed space. I take a breath and my nose fills with his scent—dark, edgy, packed with pheromones that find their way unerringly to the source of my emptiness… My empty core.Hell.

"Is that a ‘No’?" he asks.

I should say the word. Tell him it’s all off. That I don’t care what he’s found out, that I don’t give a damn about the Mafia and their hold on me. I should escape from this trap that’s closing in on me, leave everything and everyone behind… Take on a new name, move to another city, another country… But where could I go?

I don’t have a passport. The Mafia took that from me after I reached England. Even the possessions I left behind in his suite belong to this character that I am playing.

If it were only me, I wouldn’t hesitate to leave, but Nina's life is at stake. She is in their clutches. If I do anything wrong, she’ll pay the price. How could I bear that? I can’t let anything happen to her.

I have to find a way out of this… Have to do what is needed without giving away the last bit of my pride.

"No."

"Excuse me?"

I turn to him. "You heard me. The answer is ‘No.’"

He stares at me, then spots of color burn on his face. His jaw tics. A nerve pops at his temple. "Say that again."

I angle my body, plant my feet firmly into the floor and face him. I look him in the eye and repeat, "I wouldn’t marry you if you were the last man on this earth."

His eyes gleam and he peels back his lips. A dense cloud of anger rolls off of him. It slams me in the chest and I gasp, take a step back.

He lowers his chin. My nerve endings crackle.

Shit, shit, shit. What have I done?I am fighting something inevitable here… I mean, I only meant to show him I’m not a pushover. It’s the only way to hold onto his respect… Not that he has much of that. Not for much of the world, and definitely not for me. The only person he seems to have an ounce of caring for…is the person who calls him at the most inopportune times, the one for whom he seems to drop everything and run. Is it a woman?

What do I care who it is? What matters is that he is here, trying to steamroll me into doing what he wants and… I am not going to be taken for granted. Not like this and not by him. So I need his help…but damn it, I hadn’t imagined the attraction between us either. He wants me, if for no other reason than to fuck me… As long as I manage to foster a smidgeon of that interest, I’ll be able to reel him in… I hope.

The strap of my bag slides off my shoulder before it thumps to the floor between us.

He kicks it aside.

"Hey, that’s the only one I have."

"Fuck that, I'll buy you a shopful of bags," he leans in close, "and fuck you for what you do to me, Gigi."

He drops his head until his lips are positioned a millimeter from mine. Close enough that I can make out the lines radiating from the edges of his eyes. Close enough that I can see the little scar that nicked the edge of his left eyebrow—why hadn’t I noticed that before? Close enough that—he swipes out his hand. I flinch. The next second the elevator lurches to a stop.

"What was that?"

"What do you think?"

I turn to find the stop button blinking. My eyes bug out… "You…youThe hell did I say?.."

"Paused the elevator? The least I could do to convince my errant bride, hmm?"