Chapter Fifteen

Ari

I don’t go after her. A display of significant will as I want nothing more than to grab her by her arm and drag her back in here.

I stare at the empty door Diana just walked through. Slowly gather my anger and shove it down as deep as I can before I turn to my brother. The brother who is innocent in all of this. The brother whose face I wanted to pummel when I walked in and saw him holding her. Telling her he hoped it wasn’t too late.

Liam is glaring at me.

“What did you do to her?”

“You heard her.” I walk over to the cart and pick up the whiskey decanter. “We slept together.”

“How…? When did you two even meet?”

“The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the day before you and I had dinner.” Whiskey splashes into the glass. I focus on it, the play of light through a fall of amber. “A chance encounter. We talked, we had dinner, we had sex.”

I turn back just in time to see Liam make a face.

“Okay, can you stop saying that?”

Guilt creeps in. I take a long drink, savor the burn down my throat.

“Had I known anything about her, Liam, including that you two were close enough to get engaged the following day, I never would have—”

“Wait.” Liam holds up a hand. “Did she not tell you?”

My fingers tighten on the glass. Of course Diana has more secrets.

“I can only imagine what else she’s kept from me.”

“Bet you can’t,” Liam muttered as he runs a hand through his hair.

“Then, enlighten me.”

He looks at me then, our mother’s eyes staring out of a face so similar it’s disconcerting.

“The engagement was fake.”

For a moment, there’s nothing. Slowly, I become aware of a dull roaring in my ears, a pounding in my chest as I stare at my brother.

“What?”

“My engagement to Diana was fake.”

I take another sip of whiskey. Puzzle pieces that never quite fit suddenly fall into place. Beneath the logic is a tangle of emotions: relief, shock, anger. I’m not sure which one to unravel first.

“Hmm.”

Liam explodes. “That’s all you have to say?” He stalks toward me, jaw tense, blue eyes livid. My baby brother has a temper. “You sleep with the woman who’s like a little sister to me and all you have to say is ‘hmm’?”

I’m trying to pay attention to Liam while I process the magnitude of what he’s just divulged.

“Yes.”

He pushes me. I hold up my drink, barely keep the whiskey from sloshing over the rim.

“Damn you.” He’s fired up, his chest rising and falling, his eyes slits. “Do you have any idea what she’s been through?”

Anger takes over. I raise myself up to my full height. Even though he’s only an inch or two shorter than me, I stare down at him.

“Don’t you dare suggest I’d do anything to hurt her.”

Haven’t you? a nasty voice whispers in my head as I think back to those first few days when I raked her over the coals.

“You don’t know what she survived in foster care—”

“If you even think of comparing me to Dale Cliffton, I will break your nose.”

Liam stares at me. “She told you?”

“She did.”

“And Lucy?”

I think of Diana, nearly a woman but still a child, huddled over a shivering dog, whimpering in pain and fear, even as she uses her own body as a shield. Think of the silver heart hanging from her wrist with the etched name that’s starting to blur.

“Yes.” The word comes out like it’s been scraped over rocks.

“Wow. Just…” Liam takes a couple aimless steps to the side before stopping and running his hands through his hair. “Wow.”

“Once you’ve recovered your ability to do more than repeat a couple words, enlighten me as to what the hell has been going on for the past three months.”

Liam turns back to me.

“She really didn’t tell you?”

“No,” I bark.

So he tells me. He tells me about Aislinn and how she slowly slipped away until she cut Liam and Diana out of her life completely. There’s pain in his voice when he talks about Aislinn’s husband threatening to destroy all three of them if there was any hint of an affair between Liam and Aislinn. How Liam lied about an engagement to protect them from Dexter’s wrath and buy himself some time to look deeper into the man’s background. And how even after Dexter’s sudden death, Aislinn still refused to speak to them. Knowing Diana’s history, I can only imagine how deeply her friend’s sudden and unexplained withdrawal hurt her.

I listen. I absorb every detail. His story deepens my understanding, along with my respect for Diana. I had accused her of switching loyalties in the blink of an eye, of not being able to honor a commitment.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

As I listen, a primal part of me is surging to life. One I’ve been denying for so long. One that makes my blood race and my body hard even as my chest starts to ache, an ache that spreads until my whole body is throbbing with the need to touch her.

“God, I’m an idiot,” Liam mutters more to himself than to me as he paces in front of the fire. “I knew something was wrong. I knew it and I didn’t push because I was so focused on keeping Dexter at bay and finding out what was wrong with Aislinn that I just ignored Diana.”

“Diana is not one to share her feelings.”

“No,” Liam agreed. “She’s not.”

He suddenly grimaces.

“What?”

“Sorry. It’s just…” He waves a hand in my direction. “She’s like a little sister to me. The thought of you and her…” He shudders. “I know she’s not… I know she’s had…” He holds up both hands. “I’m just not going to think about it.”

“That would be wise.”

Liam sits on one of the tufted chairs, leans forward and props his arms on his knees.

“I’ve been watching out for Diana, and Aislinn, for years. Those girls…” His voice trails off. He clears his throat. “I loved the people I knew as my mom and dad. They never hid my adoption from me, but they loved me like I was their own.”

I remember the picture he messaged me when we first started talking. Robert and Norrine Whitlock, a sweet-faced older couple with their arms wrapped around a grinning baby Liam.

“I’m glad you had that,” I say quietly.

I mean it. Liam received far more love with Robert and Norrine than he ever would have growing up in our house.

“But when they died…” He stares into the fire. “The first year was the hardest. Going from having a home of your own to being shuffled around while the state tried to track down family to take me in. When they didn’t, I got used to it. But then I met Aislinn and Diana.” His smile is lightning fast and just as bright. “They brought me back to life. Diana went through so much, and yet she was always sneaking me little gifts, things I needed like pencils or notebooks at school. She baked a cake for my birthday. First one I’d had in eight years.”

I take in every detail, hunger for more. Relish the insight into this woman who’s been haunting me for the past three months, into the brother who rallied against the odds.

“She’s very loyal.”

A trait I both respect and loathe right now. How much anger could have been spared if one of them had simply told me the truth?

Liam sits up. “I want to know you more. Your history with Diana doesn’t change that for me.”

His words wipe away my frustration. The massive chain that’s been wrapped around my chest for months loosens.

“I’d like that.”

“Your relationship with Diana is none of my business. But she’s incredible, Ari.” He looks at me then with a cold anger that reveals the cutthroat lawyer I read about. “If you hurt her, I will find ways to bleed your personal finances dry before I cut you out of my life without a backward glance.”

“Noted.” I toss back the rest of my whiskey and stand. “Now, if you’re done playing overly protective big brother, there’s someone I have to see.”

Diana

I’m steps away from my bed when the knock sounds at my door. My head lolls back as I let out a groan. There are only two people who would be knocking on my door this late. I don’t have any interest in seeing either one of them.

I trudge over to the door, peek through the hole. Ari’s handsome face fills my vision.

I lean back, heart pounding. I hadn’t really believed he would seek me out. Not tonight, perhaps not ever, with how angry he’d been right before I dropped my bombshell.

“I know you’re awake.”

I close my eyes and lean my forehead against the door.

“Liam told me everything.”

I freeze.

“The fake engagement. Aislinn. Everything.”

My stomach sinks. “Is Liam mad?”

“He’s mad you didn’t tell him about us.”

“There is no us.” I clear my throat. “This doesn’t change anything.”

“Don’t lie, Diana. Not to yourself and not to me.”

Pain stabs deep. “Haven’t you heard? I’m really good at it.”

Silence. For a moment, I wonder if he’s left.

“I didn’t take you for a coward.”

Irritation makes me stand up straight. “What?”

“A coward,” Ari repeats. “Afraid you won’t be able to keep your hands off me?”

I wrench open the door, hoping he’s leaning against it and he’ll fall flat on his rear. Unfortunately, he’s standing straight and tall in the hall, dominating the space with his massive shoulders and looking stupidly handsome as I hover there in a bathrobe with my hair falling in a wild cloud around my face.

I hold up my hands, wiggle my fingers.

“No trouble at all.”

He arches one brow before he just walks right into my hotel room. Before I can tell him to get out, another door opens down the hall. I quickly close mine.

“Afraid to be seen with me?”

I whir around, furious to see a mocking smile hovering about his lips.

“What if someone recognizes you? Snaps a photo of you outside my room, or starts to ask questions about us?”

“None of their business.”

Frustrated, I step back, circle behind the couch. A physical barrier between us.

“Do you have any idea what would happen if even a whiff of scandal got back to my boss?”

“Us nearly having sex in a sauna in a national park wasn’t scandalous enough?”

My cheeks, and a significant portion of my body, flush with heat.

“This isn’t a joke, Ari. This is my career. My life.”

“You’re right.” The amusement vanishes, replaced by a sudden intensity that roots me in place. “It’s not a joke. Why didn’t you tell me the engagement was fake when you arrived in Iceland?”

I raise my chin. “Because Liam asked me to tell no one.”

His eyes burn into mine. “Are you in love with Liam?”

“No.”

“Have you ever been in love with him?”

“No.”

“Is there anyone else?”

“No!” I shout. “I told you that night, there was no one but you. There was no one for over a year before I met you, and there’s been no one but you since that night.”

As soon as I say the words, I flinch. Why did I say that out loud? Worse, why did it have to sound so pitiful? Desperate?

“You’ve been a part of me ever since that night, too, Diana.” He stalks toward me. Slow, predatory movements that send twin thrills of apprehension and lust spiraling through my heated veins. “No one else. Just you. Every time I smell anything even remotely resembling jasmine or rose petals, I see you in my mind, spread out on my bed.” I step back, but he follows me, step for step until the wall’s at my back and I can go no farther.

Trapped.

And there’s nowhere else I’d rather be.

“Every time I get in an elevator, I remember how it felt to touch your skin for the first time.”

His hand drops down, his fingers tracing over the back of my hand, my wrist. My eyes flutter shut as his touch dances over my skin, so light it’s almost maddening.

I feel the warmth of his breath on my neck just before he speaks.

“I’ve had the taste of you on my tongue for three months.”

Oh. My. God. Heat pools between my thighs. Wild, reckless heat that demands to be satisfied. A need I’ve been denying I even had.

My eyes fly open as he grabs my chin in a gentle but firm hold.

“For the first time since that night, there are no barriers. No guilt holding us back. Nothing but ourselves.”

The future opens up before me, a frightening void where I can’t see what comes next. I can plan for myself, control my own actions and feelings. But Ari is a wild card I never saw coming, a man who can seduce me with a single look, make me crave an emotional connection I never thought I would want.

I should push him away. I should tell him our relationship is nothing more than business, will never be more than business. That I don’t want him the way he wants me.

Instead, I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him.

My lips barely touch Ari’s when his arms wrap around my waist like a steel vise, and he crushes my body to his. He slants his mouth across mine, ravages as he makes a sound in the back of his throat like a hungry growl.

The sound has me arching my hips against him, frantically rubbing my thighs against his thick hardness.

“ég þarfnast þín.”

His words vibrate against my mouth. I part my lips to ask him what he just said. His tongue slides in, dominant and intimate. I gasp, open wide. Arch against him as my hands race up his chest, delve into his hair.

One last glimmer of sanity tries to rise to the surface, a frantic whisper that this is too fast, that we need to slow down.

And then I think of the last three months, of waking up with a throbbing between my legs and an ache in my heart I told myself over and over again didn’t matter, couldn’t matter. Of pushing away memories of being cradled in the dead of the night in a warm embrace. Feeling safe and protected. Wanted.

I silently tell my sanity to go to hell and surrender myself to Ari.

He senses my yielding, takes us both deeper. I moan into his mouth as his hands find the belt of my robe. One swift yank and the robe parts. His hands come up, shove the material off my shoulders and leave me in nothing but a tank top and panties.

His hands roam, greedy. His tongue teases, demanding. I give him everything and demand more as I kiss him back with an abandon I’ve never allowed myself.

His fingers latch on to the hem of my shirt. He starts to pull up. I tense, but before I can react, say anything, he lets go. One hand settles on my waist. The other comes up to cup the back of my head, cradling as he kisses me.

Heat stings my eyes. I plant my hands on his chest, push him back. He lifts his head, his breathing labored, eyes burning blue.

“I forgot—”

I lean up, give him one hard kiss.

“You stopped.”

“Yes.”

I lay one hand on his cheek. The beginnings of stubble are rough against my palm.

“Ari…”

The kiss he places on my forehead has my eyes drifting shut, the only defense I have against the tears building behind my eyes.

“I’m sorry, Diana. It won’t happen ag—”

“No.”

I shake my head as I open my eyes, stare up into the blue gaze I’ve dreamed about for so many nights. I grab one of his hands in mine, guide it down. His eyes blaze hotter, his entire body tensing as I place his hand over the hem of my shirt.

“Diana.”

I look up at him. Even though my heart is pounding, I nod.

“Please.”

His fingers wrap around the hem. Slowly, ever so slowly, he inches the shirt up, his knuckles grazing my stomach. Cool air kisses my breasts as he pulls it higher, higher still.

Then the shirt is gone and I’m in nothing but my underwear. My hair cascades down my back, covering my scars, but I’m still nervous.

No. I’m scared.

Ari lowers his head, rests his forehead against mine.

“Tell me what you need.”

I suck in a shuddering breath. “I need to show you. Before this goes any further, I need to show you.”

He shifts, presses his lips to my brow.

“I’m here.”

The tears nearly escape at the total acceptance in his voice. The strength even as I hear the shudder in his voice, know he’s holding himself back.

For me.

Slowly, I turn. Every movement is punctuated by the thud of my heart against my ribs, so hard I wonder if I’m going to pass out. I grab my hair, pull it to one side.

Leave my back bare to his gaze.

Time stretches. I stand there, mostly naked, shoulders thrown back even as I quake inside.

Then a hand cups my shoulders. Ari turns me back around. Fury shimmers around him, a shroud of emotion so visceral I can almost reach out and touch it.

“If he ever comes near you again, I’ll kill him.”

Fear spurts through me. Dale won’t have another parole hearing for ten years. But the thought of Ari confronting him has me fisting my hands in his shirt.

“I swear to God, Ari, if you do anything stupid to get yourself hurt, I’ll…” My voice trails off as a low chuckle rumbles in his chest. “What?”

“You care.”

“Of course I care, I…”

I break off, mortified. I start to step back, but he reaches out and grabs me around the waist once more. Takes care to place his arm well below my scars.

“I care, too.”

He cradles my head in his hands, kisses me as he nudges me back toward the bed until my knees hit the edge and I sit. He strips off his jacket and tie. My mouth waters he unbuttons each button with quick, deft movements. The rest of his clothes follow a moment later.

And then he’s gloriously naked, his cock jutting out from his hard, muscular body.

“Condom?” he nearly growls.

“I’m still on the pill. I haven’t…” I blush. “There’s been no one in a long time.”

“There’s been no one since you, Diana.”

I reach for him, but he captures my wrists in his hands, almost the same way he did in the elevator in New York.

“Not this time.” He steps between my legs. “I need you, Diana. Now.”

He leans down and kisses me, tumbles me back onto the bed as he covers my body with his own. I wrap my arms around his neck, kiss him back as his hardness presses against me. When he slips inside, I close my eyes on a moan.

I missed him. Missed this, the connection, not just the physical pleasure as he thrusts inside my body, but that familiarity, a recognition I feel in my soul.

We climb together, thrusting, arching, hands roaming, mouths seeking. Pleasure spirals, builds, molten hot. I cry out his name as I peak. He follows a moment later, his body shuddering as he buries his face in my hair and groans my name.