page25 (1/2)

Strong hands grasped her around the waist and she went swishing backward through the water until her body landed against his “There are consequences for teasing a hawk”

“Are there?” she gasped out

“Yes”

“What are they?”

“Hawks are predators, what does that make someone they catch?”

“Prey?” she asked in a whisper

“Exactly”

“I think I want to be your prey, darling Sebastian”

His body shuddered “Say that again”

“That I want to be your prey?”

“What you called me”

“Sebastian?” she teased

He just growled into her ear and she shivered

Then she went still “Darling”

“I like that” He sounded confused and not a little bothered by that fact

She laid her head back on his shoulder “I do, too”

He turned her to face him “I have never wanted another woman as much as I want you”

Again he sounded bothered and she did not co admission Or at least she did not plan to, but words just sort of caht years ago”

Then none of this would be necessary

If a tiny voice deep in her nore it

“I did”

She shook her head “No You walked away”

“You didn’t have anything to blackmail me with back then Well, you did, but you didn’t realize it”

Her head spun…was he only touching her because of the deal? That’s what he’d said He’d also said she could have atteo

Then she realized with perfect clarity what he was talking about Eight years ago, she’d been so devastated by his betrayal, she had not even considered that he had betrayed her father as well Or at least his oork ethic by touching her as intimately as he had

It had been a couple of years before she’d been able to analyze the situation with enough distance to give Jennifer’s earliest comments on the situation any credence From the first time Lina had poured her broken heart out all over her friend, Jennifer had insisted that the whole thing could not have been merely a job to Sebastian Because a man like him would never compromise a sexual innocent in order to do his job, especially if that job involved protecting her

That realization had healed a tiny portion of the hurt that had shattered Lina’s heart and self-confidence Not enough toanother man, but some

She scrutinized Sebastian’s face, trying to read his expression, trying to understand the coldness creeping through her as his words forced another moment of clarity

She could not decipher his expression, though—or at least make herself believe what she needed to about what he was feeling He wanted her, a lot According to him And well, she believed it because his physical reactions had been blatant But also, according to hiain Which she had known and yet so inside her had refused to really know it, or maybe to accept it as truth

She’d convinced herself that despite his words, this thing between theer than both of them, not just her Only now, for whatever reason, his words were sinking into her brain in a way that they had not before Maybe because he was saying the sa despite what they had done and the massive evidence of his arousal

Maybe because he was finally ad that he would have acted on it without being forced Perhaps because he was finally speaking the truth she had been able to discern all along, she felt co

She couldn’t hide froly truth She couldn’t live with it, either

No ht she was ready for No ht she could tolerate Regardless of what she’d thought she wanted, she knew in that instant that she did not want Sebastian as the result of a deal

She et over him, but if she couldn’t have him because he truly wanted her…then she could not have him at all

She pushed away fro it, she slipped easily from his arms She propelled herself backward until she was to the steps

She stopped with her hand on the rail “This was a o to DC and meet with my father”

Shards of pain were cutting into her, but she refused to go down eo At least this time, Sebastian had not lied to her She had lied to herself

And, ultimately, isn’t that what had happened when she was nineteen? She’d believed he felt the sa, not because he’d said he did, but because she had wanted to He’d betrayed her friendship, but he hadn’t betrayed her love She’d done that all on her own

And she wasn’t going there again Not for freedo