Chapter Five #3
She was a petite, ferociously independent lioness but she was still pale and trembling. What the hell was he doing fighting with her? Why was he bullying her with a rear-guard random proposal he wanted as little as she?
Guilt hit. A whole bunch of contrary emotions chopped up his insides.
This situation was abominable. He couldn’t understand how the hell any of it had happened.
He stared while she gleamed like a furious damned diamond in the flickering lights.
Gold flecks sparkled in her eyes. Energy streamed from her, merging with the electricity thrumming through him.
He wanted to forget it all. To press close and hit oblivion with her. But he couldn’t. He had to explain.
‘I was born before my parents married. It led to some issues.’ He wasn’t having this child face any doubts over lineage.
Nor did he want it to suffer from the family pressure and ironically, it was safer to protect it from within the family fold.
It would mean Massimo could actually keep a better distance.
He had a knack for employing very good staff.
He’d been able to protect Emiliano well enough that way; he would do the same for this child.
And for Lily herself. Because he couldn’t get too close.
He would fail if he got too close, just as he’d failed his parents. He’d failed his baby brother.
‘I’m sorry you experienced issues years ago,’ she said sarcastically. ‘But the world has changed.’
He smiled bitterly. ‘Not my world. Legitimacy matters. Especially for a family like mine. This child must be seen as my rightful heir.’
‘To your great empire?’ Weirdly, she whitened all over again. ‘You have no idea who I am. No idea where I’ve come from.’
‘I know you’re a hard worker. You’re focused. You’re driven. You wouldn’t be working in P1 Global if you weren’t and certainly not for Hearnshawe Racing. That you’ve been selected and successfully working for us tells me all I need to know.’
She didn’t take it as a compliment. ‘Because only the best work for you?’
He nodded, unashamedly. ‘We can work out any other problems as they arise.’
‘You’re not listening to me. You’re ludicrously wealthy. I’m not.’ She stiffened. ‘I’m not from a suitable background.’
‘What is this, the nineteen-hundreds?’ he mocked. ‘Class and social division are irrelevant.’
‘Because you say so? Yet, some old-fashioned notion about illegitimacy is important enough to wreck both our lives? You really do live in another world, don’t you?’
Yes, maybe he did.
‘Can there be no conversation, no compromise possible?’ She registered his implacability.
‘No. You’ve gone straight to dictator mode.
Well, you’re going to have to level up even more and go full gangster to get your wish.
’ She goaded him. ‘Go on, steal my passport. Gag me and drag me up the aisle. Drug me. That’s what it’s going to take because there is nothing you can do or say that would make me agree to marry you. ’
He suddenly smiled, enjoying her rebellion. ‘I think I can convince you. I’ve gotten you to say yes before. I’ve gotten you to scream it.’
‘You want to seduce me into doing your bidding? Go right ahead—screw me till I can’t stand. You have my full permission to touch me wherever, however, you want.’
She was outrageous fire and determination.
She ran so hot so quick and he relished the pure provocative challenge she’d just thrown at him.
Somehow, this had gone off course, but he recognised her steely beauty.
She wasn’t backing down. Nor was he. Breathless, furious, he was desperate to touch her again and avoid thinking about everything else.
‘Thank you for that,’ he growled. ‘I won’t forget.’
‘No problem.’ She tossed her chin up and whispered in his ear, so tantalisingly close. ‘But I will never say yes to marrying you.’
‘Never say never, Lily.’
As much as he wanted to sweep his hands over her body and make her shake, they were in a glass cage.
As it was he was too close to her for comfort given the occupants of the opposite compartments could see their silhouettes.
He could use that fact, of course. Publicly confirm their relationship, but if he touched her now, he mightn’t be able to stop. Yet, nor could he step back.
An agonised expression flickered in her eyes.
Triumph surged, tempting him even more. Oh how he ached to wreak vengeance on her for holding him at such lengths for so long.
He’d been trying so hard to be good for freaking ever.
He’d burned with frustration and now she was finally here, clearly as drawn to him as he was to her and he was so close to losing control.
But this was no longer about just the two of them.
There was something more important to consider. More terrifying.
‘I can’t indulge you here, darling.’ He forced himself to move. Away.
Her eyes widened with surprise and she ducked her head.
‘We’re nearly back down.’ Her voice caught. ‘I’ll go back to the hotel and find out for sure.’
‘I’ll come with you,’ he said swiftly.
‘No. We are not causing more drama.’
For once in his life he didn’t give a damn about drama. She looked dangerously pale again and he was not abandoning her. ‘You’re unwell. I’m merely being a wonderfully supportive employer and ensuring that you’re looked after.’
‘I can get a—’
‘Stop arguing. Start accepting.’
Her cheeks flushed with fury. Good. He preferred it to the pallor and the panic.
It took only moments for them to discreetly escape.
His driver easily found an open pharmacy.
Massimo strode in and bought the necessary and they carried on to her hotel.
Her room was too small, the bed too big.
He turned, noting her small case and the fat notebook on top of it.
Lily went into her bathroom. Massimo barely had time to draw breath before she returned.
‘We definitely have a situation.’ She set the test on the small table. ‘I don’t want anything from you. I need time to think.’
He was more than happy for her to have that.
He needed it, too. But she would be accepting so much more from him if this was his.
Only there definitely was no if. It hadn’t even occurred to her that she could escape the apparent horrors of his proposal by suggesting someone else was the father and she just didn’t have that in her.
For most people this would be a cause for celebration.
He remembered his mother’s happiness when she’d told him she was pregnant.
She and his father hadn’t told him right away.
Massimo had only realised years later just how long they’d been trying, how nervous they were.
They’d waited a few months to be sure all was well.
That was why they’d been able to tell him he’d be getting a little brother in five months’ time.
He’d barely listened to them that day; he’d only teased his mother that her tears were falling faster than the rain outside—
He gritted his teeth. He couldn’t be responsible for harm coming to another pregnant woman. He wouldn’t just take care of Lily. He would take care of everything.
‘If I leave you for the night, you won’t run away?’ He suddenly worried she would. He didn’t want her acting on emotion.
‘Of course not.’ She gaped at him. ‘There’s a race this weekend.’
He bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself informing her that she would not be working. ‘This is my personal number. Any problem through the night, call me.’ His annoyance rebuilt when she looked at it as if it were poison. I’ll send a car for you in the morning and we’ll talk.’
And she wouldn’t be working.
‘I’m perfectly capable of getting to the track.’
‘No.’ He glared at her. ‘I’ll come and get you.’
She frowned. ‘From where?’ Her eyes narrowed. ‘Are you not staying in this hotel?’ She blinked. ‘Is it not luxurious enough for you?’
He was in an exclusive suite at a premier hotel and stupidly, instantly, got defensive about it. ‘You’re the one who insisted on us being at least fifteen feet away.’
‘You don’t trust yourself to be in the same hotel as me?’
‘That’s right.’ The hot and wild sensation in his gut goaded him to provoke her. ‘But given the situation, maybe it would be easier if I stayed here tonight.’
Fury sparked in her eyes. ‘You’re not staying in my room.’
He relished her passion, but clung on to enough reason to remind himself she wasn’t just tired.
She was shocked and emotionally overwrought and in no state to make decisions.
No. He needed to step back, recover his own reason.
So he fell back on the teasing banter that had first brought them together all those weeks ago.
‘Oh Lily,’ he murmured. ‘Are you rescinding my access-all-areas pass already?’