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He wasn’t wrong. One only had to look at the state of their government to see that.

Caesar Augustus, after all, had achieved his current position through leveraging his vast personal fortune.

He’d used it to raise armies and buy loyalty, and now, though he’d nominally returned power to the Senate after the civil war, no one questioned his supremacy.

“I see,” she murmured.

Felix’s gaze dropped to her lips, then slid over the rest of her body before quickly moving away. He uncrossed and re-crossed his arms, shifting from foot to foot.

Those little movements—those trifling hints of unease—gave her a tiny kernel of an idea. A brazen, shameless, preposterous idea. But one that could potentially be her last hope.

“What if there was something I could offer you that you want even more than dominion over Ostia?” She sat straighter on the bed, giving her back a slight arch. “Something money can’t buy?”

His gaze flicked up to meet hers once more. “I’m listening.”

She knew Felix had desired her once, and in recent encounters, she sensed his attraction remained.

She noticed the lingering glances, the moments where his aloof mask splintered.

Perhaps it was time to use that to her advantage.

But it would have to be managed carefully.

She couldn’t allow him to have her without being completely certain she would get what she wanted.

Lucretia rose to her feet. In the small room, that movement alone put her within arm’s length of Felix, where he still leaned against the wall.

He tried to back up, but there was nowhere for him to go, which resulted in him flattening himself against the wall.

She allowed her mouth to curve into a smile. “Don’t worry, Felix. I’m not armed this time.”

A hint of color came to his cheeks. “You hardly need a knife to be dangerous, but you are downright terrifying with one.” He swallowed. “Tell me what it is you believe I want.”

She moistened her lips. Even that small movement drew his eye. “Me. That’s what you want, what you’ve wanted for several years. Am I mistaken?”

He swallowed again, as if his mouth kept going dry. “You are not.”

A flare of triumph lit within her, but she kept it subdued. She hadn’t won yet. “So, on those grounds, I believe we can come to an arrangement. You want me. I want you to stop targeting my business. Need I elaborate further?” She kept her voice mellow, with just a hint of sensual promise.

His mouth opened, his breath coming faster. “Are you really suggesting…what I think you’re suggesting?”

She nodded.

“Say it. So there’s no…confusion.”

Lucretia stepped closer to him, until just the fabric of their clothing brushed. “I will give you carnal access to my body, in exchange for a truce. If you want to expand to Neapolis or Genua or Olympus itself, I won’t stop you. Just leave me in peace in Ostia while you do it.”

He drew in a ragged breath. “Carnal access…indefinitely?”

She chuckled. “No.” She considered for a moment, calculating how much sexual access to her body was worth. “A week.”

“A month,” he countered swiftly. Despite his flustered state, he was ever the negotiator.

“Two weeks. Do we have a deal?” She pressed her body against his.

A groan rumbled in his chest. His hands skimmed down her body, coming to grasp her hips. Despite the mercenary nature of her proposal, heat sparked where he touched her. He frustrated her to no end, but she liked his hands on her.

“Lucretia,” he whispered. “I want you, yes, but I don’t want you like this.”

She turned around, pushing her bottom into his hips. “Like this, then?”

His fingers tightened on her hips, gripping her so hard it was almost painful. “Dis, woman. You’re going to kill me.”

“Tell me this isn’t worth a truce.” She could feel him hard against her, and the sensation sent a shiver through her. She’d forgotten the unique delight of feeling a man’s arousal, thick and insistent, pressed into her, and the pleasure of it came flooding back.

“Lucretia,” he rasped. “I want you freely, or not at all.” Despite his words, he didn’t relinquish his grip on her hips.

“If you’ve ever lain with a slave or a courtesan, you have no grounds for such nobility.”

“Well, I haven’t.”

She half-turned, as far as she could without breaking his hold on her. “Then who have you lain with?”

He somehow managed to meet her gaze evenly, despite the lust swirling in his storm-gray eyes. “No one.”

Surprise made her go rigid, and he released her. “What do you mean, no one?” she demanded.

He shrugged. “I’ve been busy.”

“Busy,” she spluttered. “So you’ve never…with anyone?”

“No.”

“That’s impossible.”

A half-smile quirked his mouth. “I assure you, it’s not.”

“Your father never…never took you to become a man?” It was common, almost universal for a father or older brother to take an adolescent to visit a courtesan when they reached a certain age, to initiate them into the ways of the flesh.

“I don’t think bedding a prostitute is what makes one a man. Besides, my father died when I was nine,” he reminded her. “And my stepfather cared more about making sure I knew how to ride a horse. As opposed to any other kind of riding.”

Lucretia took a step back, surveying him as her mind recalculated what she thought she knew about him.

She had never really contemplated how Felix spent his nights, but she had subconsciously assumed that as a bachelor, he made free use of Ostia’s hardworking population of courtesans.

The thought that he might be celibate— virginal , even—had never entered her mind.

“So when you tried to flirt with me five years ago…you wanted me to be the first.” Something strange and warm lit within her that he’d thought of her that way. It suddenly put his interest in a different light, made it seem more meaningful than simple lust.

His lean shoulder rose and fell in another shrug. “I found you very beautiful, and I wanted to sleep with you. It was no more complex than that.”

“Have you approached other women since?”

He hesitated a moment. “I suppose not. As I said, I’ve been busy.”

“So I’m…” The only woman you’ve ever wanted to sleep with? She cut herself off before she voiced those words, her mind still working through the implications. For all this time, while he had been working to undermine her, he had been…lusting after her?

His jaw tensed. “I have been quite successful in setting aside any inconvenient feelings. Don’t make the mistake of thinking this gives you any power over me.”

“You are so determined to be in control of everything,” she murmured. “It must be quite lonely.”

“Not really,” he said. “Piles of money are excellent company.”

She snorted, then broke into a chuckle. A moment later, Felix joined her in a full-throated laugh. It was the first time she had ever heard him truly laugh. The sound was rusty at first, as if rarely used, but soon grew rich and deep.

Out of all the ways she had envisioned this strange day ending, laughing with Felix had to be the most unexpected.