Page 70 of Damaged

James turns over his shoulder. “Sophia… I’ve never been with a woman I didn’t end up breaking.” He licks his lips. “Let’s leave it at that.”

You can break me if you want to.The words are on the tip of my tongue, but I still can’t bring myself to say them as James walks off down the hall.

But I know had I said them, he’d have turned around and yanked the towels back down. He’d have thrown me on the bed, and he’d have broken me.

But now there’s no one in the hall. Now it’s too late. To follow him would be desperate. The house feels suddenly empty. And so does my life. There’s nothing in the hall now but the slow plop of water dripping out of my hair and onto the hardwood.

I know he won’t come visit me in the night. I know that was our one chance. The tension that had been building all week.

Gone. Ruined.

I don’t even bother leaving the door open a crack. I turn around and close it.

James

I’m at the gallery surveying our storage. The shipment of Karim’s artifacts has just arrived, and the storage specialist is giving us the rundown. His voice is nasally, and his glasses are round. He’s just the type of nerdy guy I’d trust when it comes to keeping these priceless pieces well preserved.

“And you have to make sure the humidity is bone dry. If your techs that spent a lot of time in here start getting bloody noses, that’s how you know you’re at a good level.”

“Everything will be perfect. Don’t worry about it,” I say.

The specialist starts going into detail on what kind of cleaner to use on the jewels and gold when my head goes elsewhere.

I’ve been having dreams ever since Egypt. Dreams of Sophia. They’re not inappropriate. In fact, they’re disturbingly wholesome. I rarely remember the exact circumstances when I wake. I remember her eyes. Her face. A feeling in my chest that I felt in my sleep that doesn’t fade right away.

I’m glad Sophia isn’t in today. I planned it this way. It’s been a week since we got back to America, and I haven’t seen her since we got off the plane.

If self-control was an Olympic sport, I’ve won gold. I know myself. My way with women. Usually, I don’t warn them who I am beforehand. I show, don’t tell. They know I’m not going to put a ring on their finger or even date them officially, but it doesn’t stop most from ending up crazy, tortured, and in love.

But I couldn’t play that game with Sophia. After I brought her back from the beach in Morocco, she looked up at me with her big soft eyes. Wanting me. Begging me without a word. She looked so vulnerable, naked. Dropping the towels to the floor.

My brain was buzzing like a chainsaw. I could’ve fucked her for hours, until sunrise, but she doesn’t deserve to be used like that. I knew from the way she looked up at me like some sort of god that all I’d be doing was breaking her heart.

She wanted more than a night in bed. She thought of me as more than just her hard-ass boss.

It’s easy to say sex is just sex, but Sophia and I aren’t ships in the night. We’re neighbors. Associates. We’ve already had intimate moments in the past. If I had sex with her, there would be no going back. She would bemineuntil I was done with her. And I can’t do that to her.

It’s not just the promise I made to Alex.

It’s Sophia herself who I don’t want to hurt. I have a hard time being open. Displaying emotion of the softer variety. And she deserves a tenderness that matches her own. A tenderness I don’t believe I could ever give her.

She’s brought me trouble anyway. I will admit I’ve been distracted when I need to be on my A-game. My company lost its contract with Johannes’s father’s marketing firm. No surprises there.

I don’t put money over everything. First comes respect. I wasn’t about to let Sophia be treated that way. Not when she works for me. Not when she is under my care.

But the loss still stings. It makes it even more important that this plan with the Egyptian artifacts works. If I lose the contract with the Department of Defense, Aquarius may be able to stay afloat, but we’d be dead in the water. It would take a total rebuild to get back to where we are today.

I run my hands through my hair and excuse myself from the storage vault for a fake phone call.

I need some air.

I’m not stressed about the business. I’m stressed that I don’t care about it. Usually, I think of Aquarius as an extensionof myself. Another limb as sensitive to wins and losses as a living, breathing part of me. And now…

I just can’t bring myself to panic over it. Walking into the auction house has turned my thoughts to what I’ve kept them from all week—Sophia.

Am I such a coward that I looked at her schedule to make sure she wouldn’t be here before booking this meeting?

I can’t face her after that night on the beach. After I let her stand there with the towels pooled at her feet. Her skin prickled with goose bumps. Her eyes wide. It’s because I saw in those big brown orbs something maybe she hasn’t even admitted to herself.

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