Page 189 of Charming Deception

“No. Because all that did was give him me to argue with. He’ll never stop believing he can convince me. Best thing I can do is just walk away, and never give him any part of me, ever again.”

I want to kiss her so badly right now. But I don’t know if she wants me to. She seems so sad.

“Come home with me, Megan,” I say instead, my voice husky with relief and affection.

“I can’t. Not tonight. The least I can do is spend the night with Mom. I came all this way, and she hasn’t even met my fiancé.” Her lips quirk.

“Shit. You’re right.” I’d met her mom, Donna, over video call twice now, but that was it. “Where is she?”

“At work. She’ll be home any minute, though.” She puts her hands on my waist and tugs my hips against her. “Stay here? With me? We can have dinner with Mom.”

“You want me to?” My pulse thuds, slow and hot, as I absorb that.

She sighs. “I want you. But not the way things are. Basically, what you told me this morning is that there’s a limit on our relationship, you’ve set it, and I just have to accept it, no questions asked. But I’ve been there before. With Troy. And it wasn’t good.”

I cup her face and tell her devoutly, “There are no limits on what I would do for you, Megan.”

She softens. “Me, too.”

Oh, fuck.

My heart.

I’m just about to kiss her, when a few feet behind her, the dog stands up and whines softly. Watching me, alert and uncertain. I pause. “And who’s this?”

Megan looks over at the dog. “This is Daisy. It’s okay, girl. Sit.”

The dog sits, still staring at me.

“And Daisy would be…?”

“My dog.”

When I raise an eyebrow at her, Megan looks a bit sheepish.

“She’s one of the reasons I felt so guilty about leaving. Mom’s been taking care of her for me while I get settled. She’s a three-year-old Lappie. A Finnish Lapphund. They’re herding dogs. You can say hi. She’s not aggressive. She just hates Troy right now.”

That makes two of us.

I’m already crouching down and holding out my hand so the dog can smell me, which she does. She kind of has the coloring of a husky, but she’s much smaller and fluffier, with a puffy tail that curls up over her back. “She’s adorable.”

“You like dogs?”

“I love dogs. I used to have one.”

“Really?”

“She died, a few years ago.” Daisy noses into my hand and lets me pat her head, then moves in cautiously so I can pet the rest of her. I give her a gentle rub-down and tell her how pretty she is.

While I’m shamelessly kissing up to her dog, I gaze up at Megan. “Please don’t be mad at me. We’ll work it out. I promise.”

She glances at my bodyguards just outside, flanking the door. “You rushed in with the cavalry to save me. How can I be mad?”

“You can’t,” I agree.

She watches me snuggling her dog in my shirt and tie, and the corner of her mouth tips up. “Do you ever just want to be normal, Jameson Vance? I mean like not wealthy?”

Huh? “Why would I want that?”

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