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Because beneath all the outward trappings of being a famous pop-star, she had always felt like the insecure outsider who nobody would really want The girl in glasses who’d been laughed at whenever she’d actually irl with the shabby second-hand clothes and the promiscuous mother Her view of life had been warped by her experience and she guessed that had been inevitable She had never seen a relationship which worked and she had certainly never seen one which lasted Was it any wonder that she’d had no idea about how to proceed with her own e?

She had tried to accept Xenon’s overwhel nore But she hadn’t really knohat ‘norer she’d been to please How terrified she’d been of doing the wrong thing Like a tightrope walker, she had stuck to the route he’d set out for her, never daring to deviate nor to look down in case she ht fall

And by doing that, hadn’t she made herself yet another responsibility to add to the load already pressing down on his shoulders?

‘I tried as hard as I could to make it work,’ she said ‘But I can see now that I allowed myself to become completely dominated by the force of your personality and your power And that wasn’t fair—not to either of us’

‘We should have talked about it’

‘But it’s impossible to communicate with somebody who’s never there’

Their eyes rave ‘So what if I tell you that I recognise I wasn’t there for you? Not just when you lost the baby but afterwards And maybe some time before that, too’ He saw the way she flinched ‘And what If I told you that I will ensure that never happens again? That I will learn to accept the things over which I have no control—what then, Lex? Are you really willing to just give up on all the good things which still exist between us? The compatibility and the chemistry and the’ His blue eyes blazed a slow trail over her face ‘The unbelievable fire’

For aas she tried to find the right response He was so clever ords and she was not Years of negotiating at the top end of the business world had guaranteed hiift of persuasion He could probably sell hot chocolate on a baking hot beach and convince people it was the next best thing

But how much of his declaration was about his wounded pride—about the fact that she had been the one who had walked out? For a ood He’d told her that he’d never failed at anything Wasn’t it possible that his suggestion they give their relationship another go was sio?

Deep down she doubted whether he could ever be the kind of s Hoould that hen for hi?

She shook her head ‘It’s not a question of “giving up” but o Too ht trail of his thuainst her pulse Could he tell how frantically it was beating? Did he know that she was having the fight of her life against her own desires? ‘I’ht kind of woman for you’

‘You don’t think that I should be the one to decide that?’

‘Let’s just say I’ you out’ She lowered her voice to a whisper ‘You only want me because you can’t have me’

‘No, Lex I want you because I want you’

Lexiexpression in his eyes as a silent tussle of wills took place But she had learnt plenty fro hiood, because he always had to win So why nottheir physical needs while she was here, even if their other needs could never be met Sooner or later it was inevitable that Xenon would come to the same conclusion as her and, until he did, why not just enjoy the cheers over his lips

‘Enough of the heavy stuff Come on, Xenon—think about your sister and baby Ianthe’s special day Isn’t that e’re here? H to take a shower and I don’t care what you say—because you are not going to change my mind!’

He found hirace which had once transfixed concert-goers the world over—hinised the woht how unselfconsciously beautiful she looked, naked but for that geeky pair of glasses, her strawberry-blonde hair cascading down to her waist