Page 25 of Cinderella's Secret Baby

“Then why—” Her voice cracked, and she averted her face, not wanting him to see how badly she’d yearned for more from him. For some tiny sign that she had not been used and discarded.

He sighed. “I was in the middle of that mess with Irina. That’s why Remy insisted I needed a weekend away. I didn’t have the bandwidth for a relationship, especially one long distance. And...” He winced. “Vienna had already been nagging me to meet Eden.”

“And you already knew she was more suited to you than a waitress who owed more than she owned. I get it.” She nodded, devastated, but not surprised.

“Amelia.”

“It’s true. And you need to think about that before you spout off to Carina that we’re getting married,” she hurried to add. “It’s one thing for me to privately feel that I’m not good enough for you. It is quite another for you to put me on the front page so everyone else can think it, too.”

“Stop it,” he said curtly.

“Don’t pretend it’s not true, Hunter! What would I bring to a marriage that even comes close to what Eden offered you?”

“Our daughter,” he said sternly. “She outweighs all other considerations. She’s the reason I’m not married to Eden right now.”

“Listen to yourself!” She shot to her feet and took a few agitated steps away before she whirled on him. “You walked away from your wedding forPeyton. Not for me. I’ve said I’ll work with you to have access. That doesn’t mean we have to get married. What would I bring to our marriage besides potential for another child? Because this isn’t Victorian England, Hunter. I need to be wanted for something more than my fertility. We don’t love each other—which you’ve made clear isn’t something you want—so what do I have that you want?”

He started to speak, clacked his teeth together, then abruptly shot to his feet and walked away in the other direction. “Sex. All right?”

She choked out a laugh and waved a helpless hand. “You can get sex from anyone. If that’s all you wanted, you should have married Eden. You could be having sex right now.”

“I don’t want sex with her. I want sex withyou.” He shoved his fingers through his hair, leaving it mussed. “I had to tell you not to text me. I was engaged. But if I hadn’t been—”

Her ears strained to hear the rest. She actually took a few steps closer, trying to catch whatever he might say. Trying to see his expression behind the troubled hand that scrubbed across it.

“What?” she prompted.

“I haven’t stopped thinking about you, Amelia.” He dropped his arm to his side, the movement so heavy, it was as if he dropped a broadsword to the ground.

“Really?” She hugged herself. She wasn’t even who she had always planned to become. That woman who was gainfully employed and living independently and confident in herself was far in the distance. She was still a stumbling, scuffed version of her. She was on her feet, but she was far behind where she wanted to be.

And that woman couldn’t touch the Edens of the world—the ones with more than an education. A family name and a seat at the head of a corporate table and so many big-name friends, Amelia would have been starstruck today if she hadn’t been the one in the spotlight.

“I want to ask how you could doubt it when that night was so fantastic, but...”

A humorless rasp sounded in his throat as he came toward her. His light touch grazed her elbows, thumbs sending goose bumps up her arms and down into her chest by barely caressing her biceps.

“I don’t do that, you know. Pick up women. I wanted to believe I was blowing off steam, but even when it was happening, I knew it was more than that.”

“What was it?”

“I don’t know.” His hands continued to caress her arms and shoulders, making her shake. “But I’d like to find out.” His chin dipped so they were eye to eye. “Wouldn’t you?”

In what she had thought were very twisted, messed-up fantasies, yes. She had longed to see him again and had felt wretched for it, as if she were that easily taken in again by a man who only wanted one thing.

That uncertainty still pulsed within her like an electric fence, keeping her holding a part of herself at a distance, but another part—the physical connection that had unraveled her that night—unfolded her arms and shifted her feet closer to his. She set light hands on his chest and felt herself nod jerkily. Her searching gaze slid from the stormy ocean of his irises and landed on his mouth.

Look at that beautiful mouth.That uncompromising bottom lip held a stern line as he brought it down on hers andconsumedher.

A jolt, a savage blast of need, swirled around her, catching her up in a claw of acute passion. Maybe that was his arms closing around her, claiming her while he gently yet thoroughly ravished her mouth.

Had she expected some hesitant reunion? Not from Hunter. His confidence and his undisguised desire for her had drawn her last July. When he had looked at her, it hadn’t been in a way that suggested she was a potential conquest. There’d been curiosity and heat and that wonderful control that said,I want you, but I won’t take you. You have to give yourself to me.

Nothing and no one else made her feel like this. Hunter’s embrace was unbreakable, but who would want to get away? She wanted to be closer and twined her arms around his neck, one hand splaying in his short hair so she could press him to kiss her harder.Devour me.Make me yours. Forever.

Now.

A noise that didn’t make sense caused Amelia to gasp and shove her hands against Hunter’s shoulders, pressing him to let her go.

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