Page 25 of Deception & Desire

He can hear my heartbeat, I’m sure of it. I can feel it trying to burst out of my chest. Betrayed by my body, I feel myself tilting away from him, exposing more of my neck.

“I don’t want any of this,” I say to try and rectify my actions, but it comes out in a whisper.

Lips press just below my ear. “None of it?”

It takes every morsel of strength I can muster to remind myself why I’m here. Whywe’rehere. I struggle to remember who this man is to me beyond the way he can touch me, the way he can bring me to life with only his words.

His touch, his kiss, it’s all torture. It’s so warm, and it feels so right. I need so much more.

But I can’t want more. Not from a man who has manipulated me at every turn. Even now, even this. It’s not real.

“I don’t wantyou.”

He pulls away so sharply it’s an effort not to stumble forward. What was once warm and enticing is now ice cold.

Leon turns away, picking up his discarded glass and downing the amber liquid in one swallow. “So be it.”

I’m not sure if it’s pride or horror that carries my legs toward the exit. Either way, it’s a miracle I can move at all.

I came here to regain some control over the situation, not to remind myself how powerless I am as soon as he draws too close. It’s agonizing and painful and…

“Mia,” his voice calls out after me.

My hand freezes on the door handle. I don’t turn around, but I don’t open it either.

“You have your own room here. If you ever need it.”

For when you eventually move in,he doesn’t say.

I push down on the handle and escape into the night without looking back.

“We thought you were dead,you know,” Rufin greets me at the back of an Irish bar in New Jersey.

This is an old haunt from a life I swore I’d leave behind after college.

“You have so little faith in me?” I say back, pulling away from the wall to take a measure of the man before me.

I’m not sure if his real nameisRufin, but it’s what he’s always insisted on. He hasn’t changed much since I last saw him—same leather jacket, same burn scar across his face. He must be older than me by a decade or so, but I never learned his exact age.

Seeing his face again ignites adrenaline within me that does wonders for my efforts to forget a certain towering blonde man and all the lies that drop from his mouth.

This is what I need, to do something that I can actually control. Something that I’m good at.

“You stopped showing up.” He shrugs with a smirk on his half-ruined lips. “I poured a drink out for you and everything.”

“Didn’t realize you cared.”

This used to be my life before theCandelabrabecame my domain. But with that gone, it was either waste away at home, staring at the clock until it was time to perform my wifely duties, or this.

Thishasn’t changed. Rufin hasn’t changed. I don’t need to change, either.

He shakes his head. “Something came up last week. I actually thought of you for it, you know. Weird that you would come back now.”

I give him a calculating look. “How coincidental.”

He seems to weigh his thoughts carefully before responding. “Client seemed a little too keen to know about you. I’d say it's just a coincidence, but keep your guard up anyway.”

Rufin digs his hand into his pocket and pulls out a small notebook. From inside, he extracts a business card and offers it to me.

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