Page 112 of Second Time Around
“Kyra, I didn’t trust myself to know what love should be. I questioned my own judgment because with you it was so different ...” He shook his head and took a deep breath. “I was afraid of how you make me feel. It’s crazed and intense and unsettling. But it’s also brilliant andexhilarating and makes me want to do handsprings.” He spread his hands at his sides. “I kept calling it something other than love because it burns so hot. When you walked away I thought I would get past it, that the craving would fade without your presence to fan it, but”—his voice rasped as though it was hard to force the words out—“my life has no joy without you.”
Too many emotions were crowding in her throat, making it hard to push speech past them. But she needed more. She swallowed hard. “What does that mean?”
His knuckles went white as he gripped the edge of the stainless steel island. “It means I want you to spend every night with me, to make love to you, to wake up together every morning and have breakfast. I want to take you sailing and seduce you on a secret beach. I want to take you to parties ... and to Paris. I want you to get to know Schuyler and my parents better.”
Kyra held up her hand, trying to stem the rush of images his words were painting. Hope bubbled through her like champagne and she felt drunk on it, which wasn’t conducive to cautious, rational thought. “You know your mother doesn’t like me.”
His smile had a strange edge on it. “Thanks to you, I’ve gotten past my need for parental approval, so I don’t care.” His smile turned warm. “But once she gets to know you, she’ll change her mind.”
“You’re sweet,” Kyra said, “but I can’t picture it.”
“I want to kiss you. Badly,” Will said, his voice gritty with restraint. “But I won’t do it without your permission.”
She wanted that badly, too, but she forced herself to stay on her side of the island.
“What is it?” he asked when she didn’t answer him.
It was hard but she looked him right in the eye. “I believe that you don’t care what your mother thinks, but there are other people in your world. I’m so different from them.”
His jaw went stiff with anger. “I live in the sameworld”—he emphasized the word irritably—“as you do. You mingle with CEOs and politicians and brain surgeons at Stratus.”
“I don’t mingle. I serve them.”
“You charm them, challenge them, make them feel attractive and witty, while you mix drinks for them. That’s not serving. Hell, I mix drinks for people who come to my office at Cronus.”
“But I do it for money.”
“So do I,” he said with a flash of a smile. “Justmoremoney.”
She gave a weak laugh at that.
He flattened his palms on the island and leaned in. “The only person who believes you are less is you.”
“Except your mother,” she said. Will didn’t acknowledge her lame attempt to avoid the real topic, and she had to consider the truth of his words. Neither Farr nor Schuyler had ever treated her as inferior in any way. Even Will’s father appeared to view her as just a date Will had brought to a party. At least, he didn’t look at her dress with scorn.
She’d let Will’s background and one person’s disapproval intimidate her. “But you’re a billionaire,” she said.
“Yes, I am. I can buy helicopters and yachts. So what?”
“So I can’t even pay off my college loans.” She knew she sounded bitter.
The anger came back into his face. “Because your mother, who should have helped you, instead saddled you with her problems. In fact, you are all the more impressive because you refused to walk away from the obligation. Many people would have.”
Somewhere inside her, a weight seemed to slide away. Or maybe it had just shifted onto Will’s powerful shoulders, but she no longer felt crushed under it. She had considered herself a failure for so long that it made her giddy to see herself from Will’s perspective.
“You always did have an answer to every argument,” she said.
“Annoying, isn’t it?” he said, one corner of his mouth kicking up.
“No, it’s wonderful.” She allowed herself a real smile. “When I see myself through your eyes, I look very different. I’m going to try to believe in that vision, because I want to be that person for you.”
“You’re already everything for me. I love you,” he said, his voice rumbling low with emotion.
Kyra thought her heart would explode right out of her chest. “Say it again.”
He fixed those amazing eyes on her and drew out each word. “I. Love. You. Will you forgive me for not recognizing that truth sooner?”
Kyra bolted past the island and hurled herself against him, wrapping her arms around his neck without regard for the fruit crud she was smearing on his expensive suit. His body felt even better than she remembered it, warm and solid, permeated with Will’s delicious scent. He brought his mouth down on hers with a tenderness that surprised her, his eyes closing as their lips touched.
