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"Now, tell me more about you You’re an artist, obviously"

She nodded, not even tasting the food she put in her mouth The steak smelled delicious and was so tender she could cut it with her fork But the ister She was too preoccupied with Ash, and the proposition he’d put before her

"Are you able toat it?" he asked

It was a personal question, but then Ash didn’t seem the sort of man orried too much about propriety or boundaries

"More so now," she said ruefully "I’ve been able to ular nine-to-five jobs I don’t have a passion for it Not like I do for n jewelry and sell it over the Internet I rimace "This month was lean for me Internet orders, which are usually steady, were down and I hadn’t sold any of the art I display in a gallery in the last six weeks That’s why I went to the pawnshop to sell my mother’s jewelry I hated it, but I didn’t see another way of paying otten a loan, but that doesn’t do ood if I don’t have the money to pay it and the interest off"

"Where the hell was Michael in all of this?" Ash deaze, the anger she saw bri in his eyes

"I’m not sure I knohat you mean"

Ash’s lips twitched in annoyance "You were having financial trouble, which forced you to choose between selling yourthat obviouslyable to pay your rent and ending up without a place to live Michael should have helped you"

She shook her head "No It’s not like that I don’t want hiood money, but our relationship wasn’t about that I couldn’t takeme for sex"

Ash looked even , Josie If it was a choice between you being on the streets or taking money from a man who damn well should have protected you better then there’s no question that he should have provided for you You shouldn’t have had to ask If he was involved with you, if he was your Dom and he knehat he should about you then he would have known that you were in trouble He should have known you were in a fucking pawnshop hocking jewelry to make ends meet And he damn sure should have stepped in and taken care of you If he treated you like he was supposed to, you wouldn’t feel unco you You should have coiven yourself to And he should cherish that gift bysure you have no worries, financial or otherwise"

"Guess I never looked at it that way," she murmured

"You will," he said

The detero still He was so sure of hi an eventual "us"

"How is your food?" he asked, shifting the conversation in a completely different direction

She stared down at her plate, realizing the steak was halffinished and she had no ood," she said quickly "Excellent actually I’ve never eaten here before It’s too rich for my blood What made you choose it?"

The corner of his mouth lifted "I own the hotel, so it’s only natural that I’d have a restaurant in it that I love to eat at I’"

Her jaent slack "You own this hotel?"

His eyebroent up "You sound surprised I told you that uess I thought yousht word to keep fro like a complete moron

"It’s what?" he asked

"It’s so glitzy and obviously caters to the wealthy I guess I thought you owned so on a much smaller scale," she murmured

"Does that bother you?"

She shook her head "No It just took me by surprise Iyou were this successful"

"And you think that if you agree to what I’ve proposed that it er?"

He nailed it with one shot Theher ue Anyone looking at the two of us would immediately label me an opportunist No one would ever believe that I wasn’t with you for the money"

"And would you be?" he asked bluntly