‘So say it.’ She had been aiming to sound casual, offhand. Instead, though, her voice sounded stiff and unnatural.
His eyes fixed on hers. ‘I know this can’t be easy, having me back in your life and in George’s life. But I’m going to try to make it as painless and unproblematic as possible for both of us. All I want is to be a good father.’
She held his gaze. It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him that he wasn’t back in her life. But to be fair he was trying to meet her halfway, and it seemed churlish to nit-pick over his choice of words.
Glancing away to the skyline, she shrugged. ‘I hope so. That’s why I’m here.’
It was true, and she wanted to believe Aristo, to take his words at face-value—only after everything he’d said and done in the past it was just so hard to trust him. But if this was going to work, for her son’s sake, she was going to have to put the past behind her and concentrate on the present.
She took a quick, steadying breath and said quickly, ‘I know it probably doesn’t seem like it to you, but I really do want George to get to know you.’
The air seemed to still, like a held breath, and, looking up, she found Aristo watching her so steadily and intently that for a moment she forgot where she was. Suddenly the huge office seemed as though it had shrunk, and his body seemed way too close to hers.
Before she could stop herself she shifted in her seat, drawing her legs in tighter and then regretting it immediately as his eyes dropped to her throat, taking in the jerkiness of her pulse.
‘So what do you suggest?’
It was a straightforward enough question, and his expression was blandly innocent, but something in his eyes made her body tense, her muscles popping and suddenly primed for flight as she quickly went through the options she’d rehearsed on her journey to his office.
‘I thought perhaps we could meet in a park,’ she said hopefully. ‘George loves swings, and we have a nice park just down the street.’
She felt her pulse begin to hopscotch forward as slowly he shook his head.
‘I was thinking of something more than just a trip to the swings. How about you bring George to the apartment for a weekend? That way we’ll have more time, and plenty of space, and of course there’s the pool.’ He raised his dark gaze to hers. ‘You have taught him to swim?’
She glared at him. ‘Yes, of course I have. But—’
‘Excellent, so we’re agreed.’ His smile widened but she started to shake her head.
‘No, Aristo. We are not agreed.’ She gritted her teeth. How had she ever thought this would be easy?
‘Then I’ll come to yours,’ he said coolly.
Her back stiffened. He absolutely definitely wasn’t coming to her apartment, and nor did she want to go to back to the apartment that had once been her home, with all its many reminders of their shared past.
So tell him what you do want then, she told herself.
‘I don’t think that’s a good idea.’ She spoke quickly, trying to inject a businesslike tone into her voice.
‘No? But you do want to arrange something, right?’
He lounged back, his arm resting easily against the side of the chair, and suddenly she wanted to reach out and touch the golden skin, run her fingertips over the smooth curve of muscle pressing against the fabric of his shirt.
‘Yes—yes, of course I do.’ She dragged her eyes away, up to the compelling dark eyes and dangerous curves of his face.
He nodded. ‘Something stable and uncomplicated, I think you said.’
‘Yes, that’s what I want, but...’ She gazed at him uncertainly, wondering exactly where the conversation was going.
‘Then the solution is staring us in the face.’
He went on as if she hadn’t spoken, his voice curling over her skin, soothing and unsettling at the same time.
‘What do you mean?’ she said hoarsely.
He smiled. ‘Isn’t it obvious? We need to get married.’
The air was punched out of lungs. She stared at him in a daze, the beat of her heart suddenly deafeningly loud inside her head. She was mute with shock—not only at the audacity, the arrogance of his words, but at the heat building inside her.