The Dare Collection January 2020. Lauren Hawkeye

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       CHAPTER ELEVEN

      Thea

      HOURS LATER, FRESHLY showered and changed into a pair of soft cotton yoga pants and a T-shirt that Damian had produced from somewhere, I lay on the couch on his terrace, curled up on the cushions, the thick heat of the Hong Kong early evening lying like a warm blanket around me. The usual tropical rain that passed over the city every afternoon had gone, leaving the night clear and full of the scents of flowers, mixed in with hints of spices and trash, plus the faint smell of salt from the harbour.

      I couldn’t believe how relaxed I felt, as if a constant, low-level hum that had been buzzing in the background of my life was now gone.

      I wasn’t sure quite why that was, whether it had to do with the intense physical workout Damian had given me or whether it was simply having another person around. It seemed as though I hadn’t realised until now how tough the last few months without Mr Chen had been, or how lonely. I’d had a bird I’d bought at the Bird Market once, thinking that it would be good to have something other than my mentor to keep me company. But I’d had to get rid of it in the end. It had sung too loudly and Mr Chen had thought it would draw attention.

      I’d never got another, and I’d convinced myself that I didn’t need anything but the job; that knowing it was Mr Chen’s legacy I was carrying on would be enough to sustain me.

      But it wasn’t. And it seemed as though only now I was here, lying on Damian’s couch with his touch still echoing through my body, could I admit it at last.

      I had a lonely life and perhaps I wasn’t as suited to it as I’d always thought. Mr Chen hadn’t needed anyone else and, after he’d refused my adoption request, I’d convinced myself that I didn’t need anyone else either.

      Except, maybe I did. Perhaps not Damian in particular, but just...someone.

       Which makes staying here risky.

      It did and doing so was probably a mistake. Wanting things never worked out well for me and there was no reason to think that this would turn out any differently. But... Damian had asked me to stay and he’d told me he wanted me. I couldn’t resist that or the way I felt in his arms.

      Temptation was a bad thing and it turned out I wasn’t immune. But for the first time in years I was going to allow myself to want something and let myself have it. Because, after all, it was only a couple of days of pleasure. A couple of days when I could feel less like a ghost and more like an actual woman. When I didn’t have to remain unseen and unnoticed, or be someone else. Where I could bask in the sun and not skulk in the shadows.

      That wasn’t too much to ask, was it?

       And what will happen when you have to leave?

      Stupid question. Nothing would happen. I’d vanish like I always did and that would be the end of it. This was like...a holiday fling. Nothing more.

      Damian’s deep, rich voice rolled over me and, God, the sound of it... It made me want to purr like a cat. I watched him from the couch as he paced around the terrace, talking on his phone. He’d been like that for the past half an hour, taking call after call, always in constant motion, making fluid, emphatic gestures with one hand as he talked. Sometimes his voice was hard and businesslike and sometimes it was warm and cajoling. Sometimes he laughed and, every time he did, I closed my eyes and basked in the sound.

      I hadn’t had much laughter in my life, not when Mr Chen hadn’t had a sense of humour and disapproved of levity. Listening to Damian laugh was like a drug. It was deep and sexy and made me shiver every time I heard it.

       You could get used to listening to that every day.

      I opened my eyes again, watching Damian’s face as he smiled at something someone had said on the СКАЧАТЬ