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Her words snapped him back to the kitchen, but his libido reue, the press of her lips, the faltering curiosity in her gaze as she looked at him

He didn’t disguise the heat rising in him When she saw it, a flush of desire blossoether in confusion She skittered her gaze away and held herself still, not rejecting hi with receptiveness either

Sweat broke out on his brow

In the space of a fewfor hiain She was here, wasn’t she? But he hadn’t given her much choice in the matter At any time, as she’d ferociously pointed out the other day Would she even have becoh-pressure tactics?

His center of surety, slowly co back online after this horrific week, backslid a notch With aggressive deter her affections, but that route was distasteful now He pushed a frustrated hand through his hair, answering her because he didn’t knohat else to do

“Today was the worst, but it was my last word on the subject The result doesn’t look like it will be as bad as I feared” He supposed a part of him had expected police to knock on his door to take hiain, but it was all in the past Just a story that had needed to be repeated until a different story drew interest

Her expression softened “You thought you’d be vilified, but two decades of proving yourself as a man of principles couldn’t be coed quietly

He felt cornered by her words She kept trying to fraood and honorable when he had always known he was bad and needing to repent That hy he didn’t cheat or steal, but even at that, he had resorted to bribery with her, hadn’t he? He was sitting here plotting how to coerce her to stay in his bed

Shaaze to the food she’d prepared for hiher character than I possess”

“Aleksy, don’t You’re a good man You deserve to be happy If you cut yourself off fro Victor win”

So earnest So blind So deter admirable