Page 49 of My Enemy, My Obsession

She snorts. “Please. She’s in love with his power, and that woman—”

“Don’t tell me what happened between them,” I say quickly. “It’s his story to tell. I want to know, but I want him to tell me.”

Surprise flickers in her eyes. “That’s honorable of you. And frankly, unexpected.”

“Everything about me and that man is unexpected,” I say, “and I think we all have our stories to tell, and we’d prefer they stay that way.”

“He’s guarded,” she warns. “It won’t be easy to get through to him.”

“I’m not going to push him. I didn’t try to make this happen. We just—it happened.”

She leans in closer. “I know you want him to tell you his story, and I like that you do, but I need to say one thing. She changed him. He’s not the same person he was before her. There’s a wall between him and everyone else. It’s worried me, but today I have hope someone might get through to him. And that someone is you.”

My skin prickles and warms, and my gaze lifts as Ethan strides in our direction, and truly, when our eyes meet, there’s a connection that steals my breath. Harper leans closer and whispers, “Oh yes. That man is so into you.”

As I am him, I think, but the Anna thing is bothering me. For him to withdraw as he did after their breakup, he must have loved her very much. It’s intimidating and confusing, but I remind myself his brother is involved, and that in itself is a betrayal that’s hard to understand. Did they connect when she was still with Ethan? It would explain why he values honesty as he does, not that it’s such a rare thing to value.

We push to our feet as he joins us, but he’s focused on only me, lowering his head as he asks, “Well?”

“Are you asking if I’m going to sign the contract?”

“I am. What did you think?”

“According to Harper, it’s a good deal I should sign.”

His brows dip at the realization I have not said I will actually sign, and for good reasons. We have to talk about the personal side of all of this. It’s complicated. We’re complicated. His gaze shifts to Harper. “Thank you for doing this.”

“Of course,” she says. “I was happy to help. I’m going to head upstairs, but, Sofia, if you need me,” she offers me a card, “that has my cell on it, but get a new attorney. I think we can be fast friends, and I don’t want it muddied up. I have someone in mind when you’re ready.”

The way Ethan and I have muddied up business as well, I think. “Thank you so much, Harper. And as for the fast friends. I agree.”

She smiles and rounds the table, patting Ethan on the back as she says, “I approve,” and walks away.

Ethan’s attention is immediately returned to me. “Why aren’t you signing the contract?”

“Business and pleasure don’t mix, right? And Ethan, we’re—”

“Good,” he supplies. “Which has no impact on that contract. We’ve talked about this.”

“Doesn’t it?”

He captures my hips and walks me in closer. “No, it does not. You’re signing the contract.” His words are pure command, and while that works for me just fine when we’re naked, we are not, and they do not, not in this situation.

“Look, Ethan—”

He surprises me by cupping my face and kissing me. “You’re signing the contract. Come on.” He captures my hand. “We’re going back to the hotel room.”

Where we’ll get naked, and he will absolutely be the one in control.

Chapter Forty

Ethan captures my handas we exit to the street, the growing intimacy between us downright palpable as he guides me toward the SUV waiting on us just outside Starbucks. I feel Ethan in every possible way, hyperaware of him, his very presence awakening my senses in a way no other man has ever done. Perhaps up until now, the reason my love life was so lacking was simply that I hadn’t met anyone who affected me even a tiny fraction of the way Ethan does.

The driver opens the rear door for us, and Ethan’s right there, guiding me into the vehicle and following me inside, and already, we’re close again, our legs molded together. The pretense of fucking behind doors, and nothing else, is clearly gone, and it’s hard for me to process the shift. One minute we were sitting across from each other at a bar table, bantering in a confrontational way, the next we were naked, and not much later, we’re headed toward what feels like a relationship. I can’t quite get my head around that, and I’m not sure how that would even work.

He lives in Paris. I live in Colorado.

He’s worth aninsane amount of money. No one would bother to define my wealth by money.

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