One Night: Sizzling Attraction: Married for Amari's Heir / Damaso Claims His Heir / Her Secret, His Duty. Annie West

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СКАЧАТЬ “When my dad ran a con and things went well, there was a lot of sitting back and enjoying the spoils. Of course I didn’t realize that’s what I was doing. But you know, we would have weeks of going out to dinner every night. And they sort of made up for the weeks where we hadn’t had food at all. Weeks spent with my dad smiling and laughing and...being with me. Yes, that was decadent to me.” She looked down at her hands. “As I got older I realized exactly what we were doing. And I struggled with it. But my father is a con man. And he does a good job of spinning a story. He did a good job of spinning one about us. About what we were doing. About how we were just working like anyone else. The people we stole things from were too rich to notice what was missing. And if they did notice, then they deserved it for being stupid enough to let us get hold of it.” She repeated her father’s words, almost verbatim. He always said them with a smile. As though he were partly joking. As though none of it were real.

      Just make-believe. A game. A game that happened to be a crime. A game that happened to be immoral. But a game nonetheless.

      “I see,” he said, a strange light in his eyes.

      “Like I told you. He’s small-time. What he did to you is the biggest job he’s ever pulled. At least as far as I know. If he has money like that, other than yours of course, stashed anywhere he certainly never told me about it. And considering he seemed more than willing to let me take the fall for this and leave me without money...”

      “You truly do not have it.”

      She shook her head. “I don’t. I never did. I helped him get it but...I don’t have it.”

      “I believe you,” he said.

      Her stomach twisted. “So much for family. So much for decadence, too.”

      “So would you say I’m your first taste of decadence?” he asked, his voice positively wicked now.

      Heat speared her stomach, blooming outward, flooding her cheeks. “You know you’re the first man I’ve been with.”

      “Yes,” he said, his voice rough and gentle at the same time. “And I am intrigued about that. Would you care to elaborate?”

      “Well, I had never had sex before. Then I met you. And I had sex with you.”

      He angled his head and leaned in, biting her lower lip. The sharp shock of pain faded quickly, ending on a sizzling burst of pleasure that flowed through her entire body. “That is not what I meant.” There was something that looked a lot like humor in his eyes, and she wasn’t really sure what to do with that.

      But she liked it.

      “Sex seems like an awful lot of stripping. A good con woman doesn’t like to remove her masks. I know I don’t. So I was never in a hurry to get that close to anyone. I mean, I could have been with someone if I’d wanted to. But I would’ve been playing a role. And that never sat well with me.”

      “And with me? With me in the hotel room, back in New York. And with me now? Are you yourself?” He leaned in, pressing a kiss to her jawline. “Or are you still wearing a mask?”

      His gaze met hers, his dark eyes boring into hers, and she had to look away. “I don’t know. I have no idea who I am. I’ve spent every day of my life playing a part. Even the waitress...the version of myself that was supposed to be good. Supposed to be honest—that was a role. I was only pretending to be normal. Slipping on the costume. But at the end of the day I would take it off and...I just felt like me again. I didn’t feel different. I’m always pretending.”

      “And with me?”

      She took a deep breath, her heart thundering hard. “That’s what terrifies me most.” It was the truth. And she didn’t know why she was admitting it. Didn’t know why she felt compelled to offer him the kind of honesty she’d rarely even given to herself.

      “What? What terrifies you, cara mia?”

      “That the day we made love in New York was the most honest I’ve ever been. With myself. With anyone.” She swallowed hard. “I’m not sure I liked her.” She said the last part slowly, heat assaulting her cheeks.

      “And why didn’t you like her?”

      “Because she...” She was starting to feel stupid talking about herself in the third person. “I...I slept with you. And I didn’t even know you. And I liked it.”

      “And that’s a problem?”

      She looked down, her voice muted. “For a lot of people, yes, it would be.”

      “It isn’t for me.” He shifted his position so that he was sitting next to her. “I spent too many years wanting things. So I don’t now. I take. I have. I don’t want.”

      “I do. That’s pretty much all I do.” That was true, too. Another thing she wasn’t certain she should’ve shared.

      “Not anymore. Not with me. I can give you anything you want. I can give our child anything they might want. Anything they might need. And I will do the same for you. I promise, with me it will only ever be feast, Charity. You will never have to live through famine again. I swear it.” His voice was fierce, his dark eyes intent on hers. “I can give you decadence. You will never want for it again.”

      She wanted to take him up on that promise. She wanted to sink into it. To sink into him, to cling to him and make him promise never to let her go.

      It was then she remembered that he’d never promised her fidelity. And he had never promised a relationship. He was only promising things.

      And he had gone out last night.

      He might have slept with someone else less than twenty-four hours ago.

      The idea made her skin crawl.

      “You went out last night,” she said, conscious of the insecurity in her tone.

      He paused for a moment, his dark eyes flat. “Yes, I did.”

      “Did you sleep with someone else?” Her chest tightened painfully.

      “No,” he said, his tone definitive.

      The knot loosened slightly, her heart pounding hard. “Don’t lie to me. Not about that.”

      “I have no reason to. You know that.”

      “Don’t,” she said, her voice a whisper. “Don’t lie to me. And don’t sleep with anyone else.”

      He put his palm on her cheek, his dark brows drawing together. “Forever, cara mia? That’s an awfully long time. I doubt either of us can predict the future quite that well.”

      She couldn’t imagine ever wanting another man. But then...she was inexperienced. He was not. She couldn’t fathom it now—but maybe someday.

      But she doubted it. “Then at least not while you’re sleeping with me.”

      “I promise,” he said, his tone grave.

      It was enough for her. It was enough for now. So she leaned in and kissed him, leaning in to his lips, СКАЧАТЬ