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She’d always kind of thought that if she ever fell in love again, not that she really wanted to—the whole pain and betrayal thing had really soured her on the concept—but that she would be as turned on by whoever she loved as she was by Sebastian

Now, she wondered if her unresolved attraction to Sebastian was actually blocking her fro physical or emotional for another man Her memories of the pleasure she’d experienced with him were all wrapped up in an uncomfortable shame she’d stuffed deep inside rather than deal with The first time at the lake, she’d been so wanton in her response that she had not even realized that Bob had come up on them Even her doctor hadn’t seen her coht that Bob had al

In fact, it still was

Then the night she learned of Sebastian’s betrayal forever linked sensual pleasure with emotional pain and why hadn’t she seen that before?

Because she hadn’t cared enough to analyze; because she’d been safer avoiding any sort of intimacy in her life Her parents’ rejection had hurt her more deeply than they could possibly understand Sebastian’s had simply confirmed to her battered heart that it was better off lonely than taking a risk on allowing someone else to hurt her the same way

How ridiculous that she had allowed the very people she did not want influencing her having s than anyone else

This had to be changed

Again, she wondered how to do that She couldn’t do ht now since there was no one in her life she was even close to having that kind of attachment to But her ability to e else

If she with Sebastian, losing the last vestiges of her innocence and ity, wouldn’t that break through whateverher back since she was nineteen? It had to

She knew Sebastian wanted her and thattiet Sebastian to have conjugal relations with her when they were at oddselse?

She could try seducing him, but that hadn’t worked the first tile phone call to derail her plans as well as what she’d thought was their relationship Besides, she wasn’t super fond of subtle manipulations She’d much rather be up-front about what she wanted She refused to play the games of deception that Sebastian now said he was sorry for

She turned the problean to form

Hawk disconnected the call with his istant and put his computer into standby It had been three hours since his confrontation with Lina in the bathroom The house alarm was still on, so he had left her to her own devices while he caught up on work Staying out of physical proximity was the safest course of action, but breakfast would be delivered soon and he had to disarm the security system to let them in

That required being in visually confir distance of Lina’s presence She hadn’t acted like she was getting set to run again, but then she was too sraph her intentions that way

And after what had happened before his shower, he had to acknowledge that he had no clue what she was thinking

He would never have expected her to touch hih hi frole touch in his life Hell, he’d al at hiiven into her soft order Only a last remnant of sanity had stopped hied to the sheikh

However, her reaction had not shocked him nearly as much as his own As he’d said the words, they left an acidic burn in his e he’d had to hurt someone Namely Sheikh Amir bin Faruq al Zorha, the man Lina’s father had contracted for her to marry

He should never have taken this job on Lina had rocked his world right off its axis eight years ago and it was happening all over again The situation certainly wreaked havoc on one of his most closely held beliefs That Sebastian Hawk did not have a heart and if he did, it certainly wasn’t going to get wrapped up in a woman’s wiles

Hawk knocked on Lina’s door, but got no response He called her name, but that elicited no response, either, so he opened the door, hoping he would not find her in the process of changing But the rooame room, either Since he’d come from the office, he umed she must be on the lower level and went downstairs to find her After searching the ground floor roo her naerous levels Lina was not a housebreaker; she did not have the technical knowledge to bypass the alarm system At least her file had said she didn’t, but then her file eight years ago had neglected to

The garage was empty but for his rental car Where was she?

He opened a door he had ued to a closet, only to discover that the house hadin a bubbling spa, listening to an MP3 player Her eyes were closed and she was leaning back, exposing the delectable column of her neck Her swi hot water, but he could see enough of the upper swell to

He walked around the circular, recessed hot tub and laid his hand on her shoulder

Her eyes opened slowly and a s short of sensuous curved her lips “Hello, Sebastian”

He gently tugged the speaker bud from her left ear “Breakfast will be here soon”

“Oh, are we having it delivered?”

“I’m not the cook you are”