Page 90 of Dangerous Temptation
She waited until the elevators closed before she went into the penthouse. She shut and locked the door behind her. Leaning back against it, she considered her options. Alex wasn’t at the bar any more. He was pacing across the living room like a wolf locked up in an enclosure that was too small.
He dragged a hand through his hair and shot her a look. ‘I knew I should have stayed away from you.’
She flinched.
His eyes held a wild cast, but he knew exactly what was going on. He knew the security personnel had left. He was on top of everything, but he’d lost the key with which he usually locked down his emotions.
‘Why?’ she asked, bracing herself.
‘Because I’m no good for you. I’ve dragged you back into this mess, when you’d nearly crawled your way out.’
She let out a breath, but her tension didn’t ease.
‘I had some part in the decision.’ As rapidly as he was pacing, she was holding just as still.
He pulled off his jacket and tossed it on the sofa as he strode past. ‘They’re never going to give up. They’re going to keep coming after me until –’
Elena pushed away from the door, her heart nearly stopping. Until what? Until he couldn’t take it any more?
He stopped abruptly, swore and pivoted in the other direction. ‘The only thing that might satisfy them is for me to repay the investors. I’ve tried to find a way to do that, but I can’t. I won’t sacrifice my own company. I won’t bastardise it, and I won’t jeopardise my people.
‘Damn him.’ He swept up the empty shot glass on the bar and slammed it down. ‘Damn them both.’
Elena cried out when the thick glass broke. ‘Alex.’
She rushed over so fast, she didn’t feel her feet touching the ground.
‘Careful,’ he warned, holding up his hand to keep her away.
‘You be careful.’ She caught his wrist and made him open his hand. ‘Are you cut? Did it get you?’
Amazingly, she saw no traces of red. Instead of shattering, the thick glass had cracked, and the web had widened near the lip. She dragged him around the bar, turned on the faucet and made him wash away any splinters that might remain. She threw the broken glass in the trash and patted his hand dry with a bar towel.
She let out a long breath when she finally assured herself he wasn’t injured. ‘Don’t scare me like that. None of this is worth it.’
‘But you are.’ He looked straight down at her. That muscle in his jaw was going strong.
She trembled, adrenalin and emotion pushing her to the brink, too. ‘You can’t let these things bottle up. The only way for it to come out is in an explosion.’
‘I can keep it contained if it’s just me, but they came afteryou.’ He cupped her face with shaking hands. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t get there sooner. I didn’t know that news crews could even get on the premises. It’s a public place, but the party was private.’
‘It’s OK.’ She laid both hands on his chest. It was one of the only ways she knew to soothe him, and he was further gone than she’d seen him in a long time.
Because of her.
She’d known she was the weak link, and tonight had proved it. That vindictive reporter had separated her from the group and gone after her with teeth bared. As calm as she was trying to make him, Elena felt her own hands balling into fists. ‘I’m OK,’ she insisted. ‘I’m not that thin-skinned. I’m angrier about the things the woman said about you.’
The wildness in him practically clawed at the surface. ‘You’renotOK.’
Gripping her by the waist, he lifted her and planted her on the bar. Bracing his hands flat by her hips, he leaned in so they were eye-to-eye. ‘After that stunt, that witch won’t work in this town again. My lawyers are already on it.’
‘The things she said about you and your grandfather!’ Elena smacked her hand on the countertop. ‘I wanted to claw her eyes out.’
The sound sliced through the air, and Alex paled. ‘The glass.’
Catching her wrist, he turned her hand to see. It wasn’t cut, but it might be bruised. She hadn’t realised how hard she’d hit the granite. Cursing the reporter’s name, he kissed her hand gently. He wiped the countertop down and braced himself again.
His weight was held on his arms, and all his emotions were right there on his face. His walls had crumbled and his defences were laid flat. The ferocity was still in his eyes as he looked at her, and the expression was raw. ‘They can say whatever they want about me, but I can’t deal with them going after you.’
