His fingers come to my face as I build my case, completely in denial.
“Everything you see is the result of having heavy security around the clock. As a rule, I stayed away from Elisa’s life and had Ezra in a boarding school. I’ve always had arrangements in place if anything bad happened to me. I didn’t want to bring anyone into this life because it wasn’t fair for them.”
“It wasn’t fair to let me fall for you either, and yet you did it without warning me about all this.”
His hand comes to my face.
“I fell for you first. Before you did anything. And there was nothing I could do about it. I just wanted us to find a way. We failed. I don’t want anything bad to happen to you, Scarlett. I lost my parents and my wife to a war. No sane man would do that again.”
He lowers his lips to me to leave a kiss on my cheek, yet I tilt my head, and our lips connect.
Slowly and reserved at first. And then with a little passion. And then with more passion. And then, with heat brewing in our blood.
I feel it and so does he.
We break away from each other fast.
He runs his tense fingers through his hair while I try to come up with a few words.
“You said this kind of life would be dangerous. You also said the time we spent together didn’t feel like danger because there were measures in place to make it feel that way.”
“They are not mutually exclusive.”
“Then give me a chance.”
“No,” he says directly, and my eyebrows pinch into a frown.
“Why?”
He kisses me again, ready to walk out. His kiss is friendly, fleeting.
“Because you don’t deserve it.”
He makes an attempt to exit the room when I interfere again.
“I don’t deserve to have my heart broken either, so let me choose what I deserve for a change.”
He ponders something, his eyes empty, almost.
“Okay.” He glances over his shoulder. “Where are your things?”
“With the housekeeper.”
He motions to the door.
“Let’s get them. We’re leaving.”
42
SCARLETT
We stepout of the house, and he signals to a dark limousine, which instantly pulls from the side and comes to a smooth stop in front of us.
The driver walks out, opens the door for us, and Ewan holds it for me as I climb in.
He slides into his seat and tilts his chin in the direction of his driver, who quickly reclaims his seat.
His gestures are subtle and efficient, which makes me think they’ve gone through this routine many times before.
