Page 88 of Scarlet Secrets

And Erin… Other women would be trying to prove themselves to me. They’d have dressed up and talked me out of a park, or, because it’s my kid, made a show of having a good time while ignoring Sasha and focusing on me.

Erin’s the girl I met. Slightly self-conscious and also unaware of her power. She occasionally puts her hand on my thigh when she half rises as Sasha gets frightened at the top of the slide or falls in the sandpit, but it’s just natural.

I want more of it.

I want more of how her face lights up as she watches Sasha, the joy and emotions clear as day. She loves him like she can’t get enough of him.

I want that look too, I realize. Someone who sees me and sees the world. The unconditional. A big heart that just keeps giving to me, like she does Sasha.

I don’t deserve that, but the boy does.

And he’s not spoiled in that way some kids are. He’s nice to the other kids. He shares.

I shake my head as I look at her.

She turns. “What?”

“You did a wonderful job raising him, Erin. He’s a delightful and well-mannered boy. And because he’s loved, he can show his emotions. He’s amazing. Because of you.”

She blushes furiously. “It’s him. He’s incredible. I just guide.”

“I want you to move into my room. I want to… I want to get to know you. Tell me more about you.”

Erin laughs and dips her head. “Like what? I’m a mom, single. That’s it.”

“What made you stay with me at the hotel, Erin?”

Her eyes go big. “You’re hot, Demyan. Probably thesexiest man I’ve met. And… I thought… I thought, why not? You’d seen me naked, and you seemed interested. When my boyfriend cheated, it devastated me.”

My heart crushes down on itself, and I’m suddenly jealous of a man she’s no longer involved with. “You must have loved him.”

“Maybe once, but it’s not what I meant. He violated my trust, my sense of worth, and if the man who was meant to be with me wanted someone else, then what hope did I have? But you looked at me like I was a beautiful, desirable woman and that’s a powerful aphrodisiac.”

“I see.”

“You don’t. I’ve never done that before and even someone who looks like you who exudes power and confidence and that alpha male thing that no doubt gets you any woman you want might have gotten a no from me if he hadn’t cheated. If I hadn’t been alone for three months before that.

“It was out of character, but I was feeling like I needed to be someone else, just for a night.”

Her words play in my head. “Were you someone else?”

“I was me, but the me if I had that confidence.” Now she looks me right in the eye and it takes everything I am not to take her in my arms and kiss her. “To be honest, I don’t get you asking me to stay.”

I laugh. “I saw you in the bar and thought you were the sexiest thing I’d seen that night. You weren’t affected; you weren’t on the prowl or looking for attention. You just were and that’s fucking hot. Then, like a gift, you were in my bathroom naked.”

“And you left.” She bites her lip, cheeks so pretty and pink I want to press my fingers to them to soak in the heat, to guide her close. To taste her lips. And I’m tempted, so fucking tempted. “I’ve often thought of what it would have been like if you stayed or booked under your own name.”

“The past’s the past,” I say, suddenly getting what that means. “I had a lot to do that day.”

I did, but that wasn’t why I left without getting her details, without leaving mine. “And I guess I was also running from demons.”

“Like what?”

I shrug. “My father hated me and put pressure on me to step up, and nothing I did was good enough. He bullied me, wanted to shape me into him and I… I ran. I had my own business interests on the side and I hated him right back. I thought of taking him down with my own ventures. Becoming a rival was even in the works. And now, here I am, in the family business. Making it my own.”

I hated him.

And I wanted his love.

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