“I want to hear them.”
“You know how I feel, but I won’t say them again and not have them returned.”
The words are barely more than a whisper, but more powerful than if she had screamed them.
Holding her stare, I study her, searching for the courage to confess my true feelings. But I need her help to find them. “Tell me again.”
Lyriope shakes her head. “Don’t do this… please… I want to do what’s right.”
I kiss her again, demanding her submission.
Lyriope tries to withstand my affections, her hands on my shoulders trying to push me away from her. I don’t weaken, and soon she is returning my kiss with an unrestrained passion.
Suddenly from the other side of the door a man’s voice echoes through the office. “Wrap it up in there.”
It is like a dash of cold water on our sexual heat. Pushing away from me, Lyriope frantically adjusts her dress, running her fingers through her hair.
“You have to go.”
“You aren’t going anywhere tonight with anyone but me,” I declare, my breathing still ragged from our heated and hungry kiss.
“I have no choice.”
“I will win the fucking auction and end this,” I insist, reaching out to her. “This ends tonight.”
Lyriope shakes her head, frantically wiping at her tears. “I won’t risk your life.”
“Fuck that,” I curse at her. “You let me worry about that.”
Lyriope wipes away the last of her tears. “This is the way it is. This is reality. Not a fairy tale where we can rush off into the sunset.”
There’s another knock on the door and a voice demanding I leave.
With that, Lyriope quickly flees from my arms and opens the door of the office.
“It ends tonight,” I reassure. “Trust me on that. It’ll end.”
She nods softly. “It’ll end tonight.”