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His hand gripped hers as the elevator traveled up She felt the war over her She bit her lip, unable to look at hi the floors as the elevator rose higher and higher Sixty-eight, sixty-nine, seventy…
The bell dinged as the door slid open
“After you,” Darius said
Glancing at hih-ceilinged penthouse He followed her, as the elevator door closed silently behind them
The rubber soles of her white shoes squeaked against the h the foyer beneath the modern crystal chandelier above She flinched at the noise, embarrassed
But his handso black overcoat He didn’t turn on any lights He never looked away from her
With a gulp, she turned away
Gripping her purse strap, she walked forward into the shadowy ular furniture in black and gray, and floor-to-ceiling isted around the penthouse in every direction
Looking froht to left, she could see the dark vista of Central Park, the high-rise buildings to the Hudson River, and the lights of New Jersey beyond it, and to the south, the skyscrapers of Midtown, including the E, all the way to the Financial District and the glea One World Trade Center
The sparkling nighttiht in the penthouse, aside froas fire that flickered in the stark fireplace
“Incredible,” Letty breathed, going up to the s Without thinking, she leaned forward, putting her overheated forehead against the cool glass, looking down at Park Avenue far below The cars and yellow cabs looked tiny, like ants She felt alh off the earth, up in the clouds It was a little terrifying “Beautiful”
His reply was husky behind her “You are beautiful, Letitia”
Turning, she looked at hiht Then, as she looked more closely…
Her lips parted with an intake of breath
She’d thought Darius hadn’t changed?
He’d changed completely
At thirty-four, he was no longer a slender youth, but a powerful ht, his body filling out with hard muscle His dark hair had once been wavy and tousled, like a poet’s, but was now cut short, as severe as his chiseled jawline
Everything about Darius was tightly controlled now, from the cut of his expensive clothes—a black shirt with the top button undone, black trousers, black leather shoes—to his powerful stance His mouth had once been expressive and tender and kind Now his lips had a hard twist of arrogance, even cruelty
He towered over her like a king, in his penthouse with all New York City at his feet
At her expression, his jaw tightened “Letitia…”
“Letty” She ed a smile “No one calls me Letitia anymore”
“I have never been able to forget you,” he continued in a low voice “Or that suether…”
That summer A small noise came from the back of her throat as unwantedthe night after her debutante ball Escaping the prying eyes of servants in Fairhol up the s of her father’s vintage car collection for weeks on end She’d been ready to surrender everything
Darius was the one who’d wanted to wait for e to consummate their love
“Not until you’re my wife,” he’d whispered as they strained for each other, barely clothed, panting with need in the backseat of a vintage limousine “Not until you’re mine forever”
Forever never came Their rohteen, his boss’s daughter; he was six years older, the chauffeur’s son
After a hot summer of innocent passion, her father had been infuriated when he’d discovered their romance He’d ordered Darius off the estate For one aeek he and Letty had been apart Then Darius had called her
“Let’s elope,” he’d said “I’ll get a day job to support us We’ll get a studio apartether”
She’d feared it would hurt his drea his fortune, but she couldn’t resist They both knew there was no chance of a real wedding, not when her father would try to stop the ara Falls
But on the night his car waited outside the Fairholate, Letty never showed up
She hadn’t returned any of his increasingly frantic phone calls The next day, she’d even convinced her father to fire Eugenios Kyrillos, Darius’s father, who’d been their chauffeur for twenty years