Page 43 of Take Me Under

I did know. It was the way he looked at me, like I was a challenge he was eager to accept. The way his touch lingered like an unrealized promise. The way his lips had branded mine, stealing my breath, my control, my logic. The way he’d dared me to be the woman in the flames.

Caterina scoffed. “Oh, please. How or why it happened doesn’t matter. If he’s as hot as you say he is, then why the hell not? It’s not like you’re some blushing virgin.”

“It’s not about that,” I said, my voice softer now. My gaze drifted to the city skyline, to the place where I knew he was, waiting. “I just need to be careful. He’s interested in funding the dig, but…” My pulse skittered. “It’s more than that. He’s not just any other guy, Cat.”

“What do you mean?”

I swallowed, heart thudding. “Have you ever heard of Anton Romano?”

A long pause followed my question. The silence stretched on, and I began to wonder if she’d lost the connection before she finally spoke.

“As in the Anton Romano?” Her voice turned hushed, almost reverent. “Billionaire, crypto king, international enigma? That Anton Romano?”

I closed my eyes. “Yeah,” I murmured. “That’s him.”

Another pause. Then, almost breathlessly, “Are you telling me that you had one of the hottest, most earth-shattering hookups known to man with Anton Fucking Romano?”

“Yes, Cat!” I said, exasperated. But then I lowered my voice so it was barely above a whisper. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. And it’s why I’m calling. He wants to see me tonight to talk over dinner. I just don’t know if I should go.”

“Rena, don’t be ridiculous.”

“I’m not being ridiculous,” I argued, sitting up a littlestraighter. “He’s interested in funding the dig. I have to play this right, but his offer doesn’t come without…stipulations.”

“What kind of stipulations?”

I hesitated, not sure if I wanted to divulge the rest. In the end, my need to unload won out. “He’ll give me everything I need in exchange for thirty days.”

“Thirty days to do what?”

A smirk tugged at the corners of my mouth. “Me.”

She laughed, a sound that was equal parts delight and disbelief. “Let me get this straight. Richer-than-sin Anton Romano made you see stars, and now he’s offering to bankroll your dig if he can spend a monthdoingyou?”

“Something like that,” I muttered, still unable to believe I was considering any of this.

“This is like something out of a romance novel.”

“I would hardly call this romance. More like a cautionary tale.”

“Nope. This is a real-lifeIndecent Proposal,” she insisted.

I considered the 90s movie starring Demi Moore. Like the heroine in the movie, I’d taken a gamble. I had followed my father’s path despite my reservations, betting against the odds that I’d unlock Cleopatra and Mark Antony’s mysteries. The gamble had cost me everything. Now my only choices were to give up my father’s dream or give up a piece of myself to keep the dream alive. I was in a no-win situation, and Anton held a double-sided lucky coin.

“In a way, it very much is an indecent proposal. I basically said as much, too. I don’t want to be treated like a business transaction, Cat.”

“I was only teasing. Don’t over complicate it. Money aside, that man is fine as hell. And you hooked up with him before he made you that offer. The interest is clearly there. You should go for it. See what happens. When was the last time you had sex?”

“Cat!”

“What?” The feigned innocence in her tone was palpable.

I smirked. “Subtlety has never been your thing.”

“Answer the question, Rena.”

Sighing, I pinched the bridge of my nose, hating what I was about to admit. “I haven’t been with anyone since Cade.”

“It’s been a year since you two split.”

---