I risk a look into his face and the air catches in my lungs. So much pain tangled up with desire.
My fingers curl around his neck as I hold him to me. I part my lips, but nothing will come.
‘You can’t say it, can you?’
‘I...’
He’s Cain. He broke your heart. He’ll break it again if you let him.
‘No. No, I can’t.’
It comes out as a whisper. I take a breath, then another, and watch his eyes flicker and his jaw clamp shut. I wonder if he’ll come back to me anyway. I start to rise to meet his lips, but he’s already gone, averting his gaze and stepping back, releasing me so quickly I almost fall.
I plant my palms onto the desk to steady myself and push myself to stand before he can turn and see the state I’m in.
His words come back to me: ‘Nothing can stop me taking all that I’m owed.’
‘Is this why you’re here?’ I ask quietly. ‘Is this what you mean by taking all that you’re owed?’
He’s tucking his shirt into his trousers as he sends me a look I can’t decipher and my anger flares twice as strong, powered by my fevered pulse, by his demand, by his rejection.
‘You just had to hear me tell you I want you? Just to win one over on Liam?’
I can’t believe it, but at the same time I’m convinced it’s true.
‘It may surprise you, Alexa, but I don’t make a habit of sleeping with women who don’t want me.’
I laugh, the sound shuddering out of me. ‘I think you know how much my body wanted you.’
He studies me intently, his eyes raking over me, exposing me. I fold my arms high on my chest, wanting to conceal the damp path created by his mouth, to block out the slickness between my legs that tells me how close I’ve come to making a mistake.
His eyes lift to my mouth, dark, intense, and he takes a step forward, closing the distance between us. ‘You and me both.’
He reaches out and I lift my chin, eyeing him warily. His palm comes to rest against my cheek, his thumb smoothing over my cheekbone, and I’m captivated by his sudden softness.
‘I cared, Lexi—about you, about us.’
His eyes are fixed on my lips as he says it, his sincerity as bewitching as his touch.
‘I loved you once.’
His eyes lift to mine.
‘Don’t ever question that.’
A lump rises in my throat, and my eyes burn as tears well.
‘I loved you once.’
If he loved me, how could he have left? How could he have abandoned me and the unborn child I didn’t know I carried?
I stare into his eyes, desperate for answers, and swallow down the lump to speak. ‘But—’
‘But nothing. It’s in the past.’
Not when it still has the power to hurt. I need answers, I need to understand.
‘How can it be?’