Page 96 of Dangerous Temptation
She forced herself to face the dresser. Rummaging through her drawer, she found the black lace lingerie. She hesitated for a moment, her breath shaky, and chose something simpler.
His voice took on a measured patience. ‘Elena, I’ve told you. It has to be this way, at least for a while.’
‘And I don’t agree.’ She packed her toiletry bag. She was about to zip up the suitcase when she thought of something. It made her chest ache, but she couldn’t leave it behind.
‘We could have a picnic lunch on the roof.’ His words were coming more quickly. ‘It’s supposed to clear up later on.’
She looked at him sadly as she returned to the closet.
‘A walk around the block.’ He dragged a hand through his hair. ‘Smith and Hanson will have to accompany us.’
Her resolve strengthened. ‘I’ve lived in hiding, Alex, and I’m done. It can’t be us against the world any more. We need to find a way to coexist.’
‘Elena.’
She took a hanger off the rod. He paled when he saw the hoodie. It impelled him out of the doorway and he stood over her, hands on his hips. For once, the all-powerful Ax looked helpless, as if he didn’t know what to say to keep her.
She folded the hoodie with the utmost care. More than anything, she wanted to put it on, but in comforting herself she would hurt him. She was already doing enough of that.
The air was raw with emotion.
‘I know you think you’re protecting me, Alex, but the world needs us out there in it. Things are difficult right now, but you need to get back to work. Go back to Wolfe Pack. Do good things.’
‘I’m trying,’ he ground out.
She zipped up the bag and pulled it to the floor. He reached to help her, but then stopped himself.
Elena hooked the computer bag over her shoulder. Gathering the rest of her things, she walked past him. The walk down the hallway to the penthouse’s front door was the longest she’d ever taken. Her eyes were damp, and her breaths were pummelling her lungs. She didn’t want to do this, but she had to. The roller case clattered along after her, the wheels sounding loud in the quiet apartment. It couldn’t compete with the roaring in her head.
‘Elena, please.’ He caught her shoulder. ‘Don’t.’
She looked him in the eye, even when a tear slipped out and trailed down her cheek. ‘I love you, Alex, but I can’t live like this.’
She opened the front door before she could change her mind. Vasquez was waiting in the foyer. His astute eyes measured the situation.
‘Vasquez,’ Alex warned.
The bodyguard’s jaw turned rock hard. ‘I’m sorry, sir. Your orders.’
The wiry man took the roller bag and planted himself firmly at her side. ‘What the lady wants, the lady gets.’
It wasn’t what Elena wanted, but this was the way it had to be. Something had to break them out of this self-defeating cycle. It was up to her.
Still, it took everything she had to leave behind the man she loved.
Chapter Fifteen
Alex wasn’t doing well.
He knew it, but there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. He missed Elena like hell. He couldn’t sleep. All the doors in his place stood wide open. Project Alpha Wolfe had become Project Dead Dog. He’d been taking out his frustrations in the gym, but he was working out so hard, his body was starting to break down. He’d run on the treadmill so long the other day, he’d barely been able to walk when he’d gotten off it.
He stared out of the window of the penthouse with his hand fisted against the glass. Everything she’d said had been the truth. Right, dead-eye centre of the target. He had to grow back that thick skin that she’d peeled away. He needed to toughen up and turn a deaf ear to all the critics. He knew that, but they’d come at him through his soft underbelly.
They’d gone after her.
They’d noticed just as quickly that she was gone.
He’d stayed in the apartment for another two days after she’d left, but his claustrophobia had expanded until even the entire top floor of the building had seemed too small. When she’d been in the penthouse, he’d had everything he needed. Once she’d walked out that door, the walls had pressed in. He’d gone back to work, and he’d even cut the ribbon at the public opening of the wolf exhibit at the Bronx Zoo.
