Текст книги "Sweet the Sin "
Автор книги: Claire Kent
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Текущая страница: 6 (всего у книги 17 страниц)
Chapter 5
The next morning she woke up feeling better.
The first thing she had to do today was to settle the fact that she would stay with Caleb for the near future. Hopefully he would suggest it again, so she could act like she was caving and finally agree.
She couldn’t trust him to bring it up on his own, though. Even if he wanted to continue having sex with her, he might not want her to make herself at home at his place indefinitely. But she needed to stay here—as close to him as she could get—and he needed to think it was his idea.
Overnight, she’d come up with an idea, so she got up early, put a bathrobe on over the T-shirt she was still wearing, and quietly walked downstairs.
Caleb should be leaving for work in a little while. She just needed to find somewhere he was likely to see her but didn’t look like she was trying to be seen.
She got a cup of coffee as an excuse for being downstairs, thanking Breah—and making sure the housekeeper saw where she was heading from there.
She settled in a small, pleasant sunroom and immediately pulled out her phone.
She started to write an email to herself, repeating the same sentence over and over.
Several minutes passed without any sign of Caleb, and she was starting to resign herself to another failed idea when a voice from the doorway made her jump. “You’re up early.”
Remembering what she was supposed to do, she ducked the phone quickly out of sight into the pocket of her robe. “Yeah,” she said with a smile. “Couldn’t sleep.”
Caleb was dressed in another suit, looking so sexy and sophisticated that she was momentarily breathless. And more breathless when he walked over with a possessive heat in his eyes.
She let him pull her to her feet, reminding herself that she was going to let her body enjoy his touch. It wasn’t a betrayal. It was another weapon she could use in this war.
“You look irresistibly rumpled this morning,” he murmured, tilting his head down toward her. “Like someone finally gave you the kind of fuck you needed.”
Her mind was a hot blur of conflicted responses, her body loving the arrogant satisfaction of his tone and her mind deeply resenting it.
Before either could come out victorious, Caleb slipped a hand into the pocket where she’d put her phone and smoothly pulled it out.
He was actually bringing up the screen display when she snatched it back out of his hand.
“What the hell?” she demanded, not having to fake any of her indignation. The bastard thought he had the right to invade her privacy, to look at her phone. “That’s not yours.”
She stuffed the phone back into the pocket, glaring at him, feeling a tremor of fear at the idea of his seeing the email she’d just been writing, which was made up of What the fuck am I doing? repeated about a hundred times.
Her phone was passcode protected, but it didn’t make the fear of his seeing it any less real.
Just the corner of his lips tilted up. “I wanted to see what you were doing. You looked so intense and secretive.”
“Well, next time, ask like a normal person instead of behaving like a presumptuous ass.”
His expression changed again, and he slid a hand down the line of her spine until it was resting on the small of her back. Tilting his head closer to her, he murmured warmly, huskily, “Wouldn’t you like to tell me?”
Torn between more anger and involuntary amusement, she pulled away from him. His instinctive entitlement was absolutely outrageous. “That’s not how a normal person asks either.”
“I bet it would work, though.”
It probably would. He could probably charm or seduce the secrets out of anyone he set his mind to, and she’d have to be very careful to not let it work on her too.
He wasn’t even making a serious attempt right now. He was having fun with her. She could see the glint of humor in his eyes, and something inside her wanted to respond to it.
She smothered that weak little part of herself, though, and remembered why she was here in the first place. “If you want to know something, just ask.”
“What were you doing just now, when I came in?”
She sighed, as if resigning herself to answer him—even though she’d come down here on purpose to tell him this very thing. “I was emailing someone I know. Trying to get some more information on…”
She trailed off strategically.
He obviously knew whom she was referring to. Her fictional ex-lover who’d sent the thugs after her. “Any news?”
She shook her head, letting her shoulders and head slump.
“You know, I could help, if you’d let me.” His voice was different now, nothing playful or teasing about it. It was quiet, thoughtful.
“I already told you that it’s my problem, and I’m going to deal with it.”
“But that’s stupid, and I’m not in the habit of accepting stupidity from people I know aren’t stupid.”
The words were blunt, almost rude, but she realized they were also almost a compliment. He must have a certain amount of respect for her if he expected her to make sensible choices.
She wasn’t here to be sensible, though. At all. “It’s not your problem, Caleb. Stop pushing.”
“I’m not going to stop pushing until you tell me what I want to know.”
In a way, his matter-of-fact stubbornness right now was just as outrageously entitled as his grabbing her phone earlier. And, without the teasing veneer, it was even more likely to work.
She made a frustrated noise, as if in resignation, and rubbed her face briefly with both hands. “Okay, fine. I got involved with the wrong guy. He won’t take no for an answer.”
“Is this the guy who texted in the park, who wouldn’t take no for an answer?”
She thought about using the text he’d seen her receive from Jesse to solidify the lie, but she was afraid her expression back then hadn’t been quite right to pull that off now. “No. That was just a random guy. This other guy is—different.”
“He’s turned dangerous.”
“Yeah.”
“Who is he?”
“I’m not going to tell you that.”
“Why—”
“Because I don’t want you involved. I’m not coming to you for help or anything. I told you that before. I don’t want you dragged in. Things just got out of control. I can get it together again, though.”
“How exactly?” He looked like he believed her—not particularly sympathetic, but like he was curious, like there was a puzzle to solve. “Have you gone to the police?”
“I did at the beginning, but it just made things worse.”
“But that was a direct attack on Sunday night. The police would have to—”
“No police. He’s—he’s connected, and I can’t trust the police.” She’d developed a whole backstory where she could feed him pieces of information that wouldn’t get him anywhere but would give the impression of her being in real danger. She saw Caleb’s expression change as he processed the words.
“Connected.”
“Yeah.”
“You really did get involved with the wrong guy,” he murmured.
“Tell me about it.”
That was all she could tell him right now. Any more would give him too much to work with, and she needed to string him along for at least a couple of weeks.
He stood in front of her, absently rubbing the back of his neck with his hand, obviously thinking through what she’d told him.
“So, you see why I don’t want anyone else dragged into this.”
“Sure, but I also see why you need my help.” He’d evidently made up his mind. “When you go back to your apartment, what’s going to stop him from coming after you again?”
She looked away from him and gave a helpless little shrug, hoped it was convincing.
“So stay here. For a while. My security is top-of-the-line. You’ll be safer here than anywhere else.”
It was exactly what she’d been hoping to hear.
“I can’t stay here indefinitely, Caleb.”
“Why not? It won’t be forever. Just until you can figure out something to do.” His tone was light, persuasive, and there was that glint of clever humor in his eyes again.
She knew what he was thinking. He was thinking that soon she’d cave and tell him all of her secrets, so he could get the answers to this new mystery that had intrigued him. He was pleased with himself for finding a way to snare a woman who refused to let herself get caught.
She had to let him think that, even though it was wrong.
There was no way in hell she would ever tell this man her secrets.
“Okay,” she said, after a long hesitation. “Fine. I’ll stay for now, but it’s not going to be for long.”
“Good.” He glanced at his watch. “I’ve got to get to work, but I’ll be back earlier today.”
“Okay. I’m really sorry about dragging—”
“Don’t apologize again. I pressured you into coming here in the first place, didn’t I?”
“Well, yeah.”
“And I pressured you to stay. So I dragged myself into this. I might be able to help you, if you let me.”
She checked his expression and saw he still wasn’t soft or tender. He did seem to want to help, but it was more like it was a challenge—a chance to prove that he was an equal to some honcho in organized crime.
Men never really outgrew being boys.
–
She spent the day taking it easy, pretending to recover, and making plans. She even said hello to Ralph, the German shepherd. She asked if someone could take her over to her apartment so she could get some of her stuff, and—after phoning Caleb for permission—one of the security team drove her over. At six, she was in the window seat in her room, acting like she was reading. She was mostly just watching for Caleb’s car to return.
For the first time in a long time, she felt something akin to hope. There was no happy ending in this for her. She wasn’t deceived about that. The most she could hope for was a dark sort of victory.
Just an answer. A way to move on from a path in the woods with blood soaking into the dirt.
But, at this point, she’d be happy for even that.
Caleb normally stayed in his apartment in the city during the week, but he’d been driving out to his house in the evenings instead—she assumed because of her. At twenty after six, she saw his Mercedes pull in through the gates, and she put down her book.
She knew what she was going to do.
She was already dressed strategically, in a cream-colored camisole, sheer sweater, and a long, soft skirt. He’d teased her on Saturday about her bohemian appearance, but he’d also seemed to like it, so she figured she’d work with that. He thought she looked pure, innocent, untouched, like a blossom, so she would use that to her advantage too.
Her hair was hanging down long and loose, and she was barefoot.
She went up to his bedroom, sat on the edge of his bed, and waited, her heartbeat speeding up from growing nerves.
Last night, he’d issued a challenge, and she was going to meet it. He believed he had the upper hand when it came to sex, but he was wrong about that. He was the one who was going to be begging.
And, if her body enjoyed itself along the way, then there was no help for that.
Caleb blinked in surprise when he walked into the room and saw she was waiting for him. “What are you doing here?”
He didn’t look annoyed. In fact, as she watched, she thought she saw a spark of interest and pleasure ignite in his eyes. He was surveying her appearance with leisurely possessiveness.
She cleared her throat, trying to look grateful and a little shy. “I was afraid I might not have conveyed appropriate appreciation yesterday. Or even this morning. I was kind of shaken by everything, but I’m feeling better now. So I wanted to thank you.”
His eyes had been lingering on the outline of her nipples through her thin camisole, but he raised them to her face to meet her gaze. “So, this is a thank-you?”
“Not this, exactly,” she said, a lilt in her voice. She stood up, hiding a little smile. “You’ll see.”
“Ah.” He smiled back, obviously reading her intent. He started to take off his suit jacket. “What did you have in mind?”
“I thought I’d help you—unwind—after a hard day of work, if that’s of any interest to you.” She smiled again, letting her own gaze crawl over his fine body in its expensive suit and tie. She focused on the front of his pants and was pleased that he was already getting aroused. “I see you like that idea.”
“I think it’s possible you might like it yourself.”
“Sit down,” she said, gesturing toward the side of the bed. “And let me thank you.”
He cleared his throat.
“Sit down,” she repeated.
He moved to do as she said, murmuring, “You’re going to try to make me beg, aren’t you?”
Damn the man. He was way too clever for his own good.
The teasing in his voice and the way he seemed to read her motivations unsettled her, so she gave him a quick disapproving look. “Of course not. I just said I’m here to help you unwind. So you sit there quietly like a good boy.”
He chuckled, low in his throat, but he didn’t object. When he’d settled himself on the side of the bed, she lowered herself to her knees on the floor in front of him. She made sure her hair was hanging prettily over one shoulder and told herself this wasn’t going to be a problem.
This was going to be much easier than the sex she’d had last night.
Kelly pushed his knees apart some and reached to unfasten his belt and pants. When she’d freed his cock, she brushed her fingertips along his length. She heard him suck in his breath, and massaged him until he was fully erect.
His thighs were soon tense on either side of her body, and he was already breathing heavily. She reached over to where she’d left the condoms and tore open the packet with her teeth.
She adjusted herself more comfortably, took his hard cock in one hand, rolled on the condom with her mouth.
Caleb was leaning back on his hands, which were splayed out on the bed behind him. She could feel that his belly, underneath the shirttails of his white dress shirt, was getting as tense as his thighs. He was obviously staying quiet on purpose, proving that he wasn’t going to lose control in this little power play.
But she was good at this. And she hadn’t even started.
She glanced up to check his expression. He was slightly flushed, and was staring at her with a hot possessiveness and an undercurrent of dry amusement.
Perfect. All of him was enjoying this—body and mind.
She let her own eyes meet the amusement for just a moment before she slid her lips down over his cock, twirled the head with her tongue.
He made a wordless huff of sound, his body jerking a little.
She let the damp shaft slip out of her mouth and licked a line down the underside, making sure he could see as well as feel what she was doing with her tongue. She kept her eyes directed up at his face, checking his reactions.
He was staring down at her, his jaw clenched and cheek muscles quivering occasionally.
“How is it?” she asked huskily, licking her way back up his cock.
“You told me to sit quietly like a good boy,” he drawled, gasping a little as she fluttered her tongue in circles over the tip of his erection. “I’m nothing if not obedient.”
She almost laughed, and then hated herself for responding to his sharp wit. But she ignored the feeling and grinned up at him briefly before she focused on the task at hand again. “We’ll see if you stay that way.”
Continuing the motion of her tongue, she slid the shaft back into her mouth. She applied some suction.
His leg twitched, and he released a hoarse grunt.
She moved one of her hands to the base of his cock, pumping it up to meet her mouth. She sucked some more, and kept twirling her tongue.
“Fuck,” he muttered, his hips jerking slightly toward her mouth. His eyes never left her face, and she’d never seen that particular expression in them before.
She checked to make sure her body was still attractively posed, then straightened her back to display her cleavage more prominently. Her hair brushed against the bare skin of his inner thigh.
He was still panting, but she pulled her mouth off him again. He let out an incoherent sound she thought was disappointment. She teased his cock with her lips and tongue and reached down with her free hand to cup and gently massage his balls. She kept teasing until his body was so tense, he was shaking.
He wasn’t just panting now. He was making breathless, incoherent sounds. She knew he was trying to stay quiet on purpose. It was part of the challenge she’d issued, and he would always take up a challenge. But he was hard-pressed. She could see that.
Kelly took his cock in her mouth again and began bobbing her head, gradually taking the shaft deeper.
His fists clenched in the bedding, and his pelvis began to make little thrusts. She let him fuck her mouth, began relaxing the muscles of her throat so he wouldn’t gag her.
Caleb was grunting soft and steady now. And one of his hands moved to the back of her head. His fingers curved around her skull, tangling in her loose hair, applying slight pressure that she used to find the tempo that would please him the most.
“Fuck,” he choked out as she increased the pressure of her mouth. “Oh, fuck.” There was a slight sheen on his face, and he was still staring down at her as his pelvis pumped more uncontrollably.
Kelly relaxed her jaw and throat. She took him in all the way, then reached down to squeeze his balls again.
“Oh, fuck!”
She could feel his cock shuddering in her mouth. So she moved the hand on his balls back a little, found the very sensitive spot just beyond. Rubbed little circles against it with two fingers.
He let out a loud, wordless sound. His hips thrashed and he came hard.
She kept sucking him off as the contractions continued, until the final spasms receded at last.
“Oh, fuck!” he breathed.
She stood up and immediately sat down next to him on the edge of the bed, since her legs were shakier than she expected. Her stomach felt tight and heavy, but she didn’t panic the way she had last night.
He was still breathing heavily. “I’ll take that kind of thank-you any day.”
She smiled when his eyes found hers, and reached over to carefully remove the condom.
She carried it to the bathroom, knowing he was watching her as she walked away.
Taking a deep breath, she threw away the used condom. She washed her hands thoroughly and glanced up to look at herself in the mirror.
Smoothing a few flyaway hairs, she registered her very flushed cheeks and slightly swollen lips. She glanced down and saw that her nipples were visibly hard through her camisole.
And for the first time she realized that she was actually wet—in fact, deeply aroused.
The realization was very disturbing.
It was fine. It would make things much easier for what would come later, and she’d been prepping herself for this kind of response all day. But it still felt wrong in a way she couldn’t articulate.
She shouldn’t—she just shouldn’t—get turned on from giving Caleb a blow job.
She pushed the thought aside and made herself return to the bedroom, hardening herself again. If she’d stayed away too long, he would’ve wondered why. She found Caleb stretched out on the bed, looking very pleased with himself.
He was in his forties, and—no matter how much of a sex god he might be—he wouldn’t necessarily be able to get another erection immediately. But she was in the sex mode now, and she wanted to make sure this was good enough to hold his interest in the days to come. She thought quickly through possibilities for extending the time.
“Why don’t you let me give you a massage?” she suggested.
Caleb raised his eyebrows. “I thought I’d already gotten my thank-you.”
Kelly smiled slowly. “I have a lot to thank you for, and I promise to make it worth your time.”
When he still looked skeptical, she twitched her brows at him in an ironically enticing expression she thought might amuse him.
He chuckled and nodded, so she climbed on the bed beside him.
And began to undress him. Urging him to lie on his stomach, she worked on his shoulders, back, ass, and the backs of his legs. His body was really impressive for a man of his age. He obviously spent more time working than working out, but his muscles looked strong and efficient. His muscles were relaxing under her hands, and he would occasionally exhale hoarsely. She finished his calves, asked him to roll over, and then started up the fronts of his legs. She skipped his groin, and massaged his chest and belly, making sure her breasts and hair were swaying attractively as she worked.
When she glanced down his body, she saw that he was starting to get hard again—which was faster than she’d expected. So she moved her hands to his shaft, his balls, and the surrounding areas. Soon, he was fully erect.
She stopped.
He focused on her, intelligence still evident in his expression, despite his deep arousal. “You’re not a tease, are you?”
“Of course not. I just feel like I’ve been doing all the work.”
“You have. I thought it was a thank-you.”
“It was. But I think I’ve thanked you enough.”
He seemed to understand what she was getting at, because he was sitting up on the bed, naked, gorgeous, and erect.
Her breath hitched as she stared at him.
“So it’s your turn, then. What do you want?” he asked thickly.
“I want you to take what you want.”
He studied her closely, evidently looking for some sort of reluctance. “Are you sure? Because what I want might be rough, and I know just a couple of nights ago you were—”
It was surprisingly sensitive, which would be troubling if she dwelled on it. So she didn’t. She just slanted him a very particular look. “I should have known you were more talk than action.”
“I guarantee that’s not true,” he said, his voice hoarser than before, his eyes and body tense. “Just tell me what you want, and you’ll have it.”
“I want a man who’s strong enough to take me.”
“Then you have him.”
He grabbed her without further hesitation and positioned her the way he wanted her, on her knees, holding onto the headboard, her skirt bunched up around her hips with her ass exposed to his view.
He pulled off her panties with a quick yank and grabbed one of the condoms on the nightstand, rolling it on before he knelt behind her.
His hands were strong and greedy as he pulled apart her butt cheeks to expose her pussy, and she had the disturbing realization that she didn’t even need the lubrication on the condom.
She cleared her mind. Distanced herself. Separated the real Kelly from the body being fucked.
Caleb started thrusting hard, steadily, deeply, holding on to the flesh of her ass.
She rocked her body with his motion, huffing out sounds she didn’t have to fake at the sensations from being taken this way.
He was grunting like an animal, gripping her flesh so tightly it might bruise.
Kelly closed her eyes, her hair and breasts undulating from the force of his thrusts. She tried to think about the morning news. About the weather forecast. About what she was going to wear tomorrow.
Her butt had started to grind against Caleb’s thrusts more urgently, causing her breasts to slap against her chest.
She sucked in her breath, hardly believing what her body was doing. Her hands fisted, she bent her elbows, lowering her head and shoulders so she wouldn’t be able to pump her hips against him so much.
It didn’t work.
“Oh, God,” she choked, feeling a deep pressure collect at her center.
He thrust into her harder, faster. “Tell me.” His voice sounded strangled, but he must have known she was on the verge of losing it.
She pressed her damp cheek against the pillow and bit her bottom lip, resisting the admission.
“Kelly?” It was a hoarse question, and she wasn’t sure if it was prompted by the hot dominance or by something conflicted he could sense in her.
“Gonna come,” she forced out, so he wouldn’t think anything was wrong.
It was wrong, but it happened to be true.
He made a rough sound in response and gripped her flesh even harder. The bed was shaking with his rhythm as he demanded, “Ask me.”
She knew what he was doing. It was still the same challenge. Get her to lose control, get her to beg. She wasn’t going to give in to it, no matter how her body was responding to him, no matter how much she needed him to think she was fully into this.
So she bit her lip again, refusing to give him what he wanted, even as the pleasure kept tightening into a coil inside her.
“Ask me,” he growled, fucking her hard and fast and in a way her body desperately needed.
She whimpered, still trying to resist, needing to come so badly her vision had blurred. But she couldn’t. She couldn’t. As if he were holding it back by the power of his will.
“Oh, God,” she mumbled, the demands of her body finally too powerful to resist. “Oh, God, please. Make me come. Make me come.”
With a guttural sound of satisfaction, his rhythm intensified. “Then come, Kelly. Come now.”
She hid her face as the pressure finally unleashed, gasping and moaning into the pillow as she came with intense waves of pleasure.
“Oh, fuck, you’re coming so hard,” he rasped, as if she’d surprised him. He took her even more roughly then, until he finally came with an exclamation of satisfaction. Until Kelly no longer had to feel the lingering, pleasurable friction of his thrusts.
He was patting her bottom as he finished and pulled out. “Damn,” he said breathlessly, pushing her hair aside so he could see her face. “You did want someone to take you hard. These boys you’ve been fucking haven’t been giving you what you need.”
Her cheeks flushed deep red in response to the slightly crude words—mostly because, in some sense, they were true. She couldn’t believe how hard she’d come for him and how clearly he’d recognized her pleasure.
He’d gotten her to beg at the end, so he’d won their unspoken battle.
He must be so pleased with himself, the arrogant bastard.
But it needed to be this way, and his pleasure would only be temporary.
So she pulled herself together quickly and rolled over to give him an intentional glare. “No need to sound so smug. It was quite obvious you were into it too.”
He laughed as he took care of the condom. “I guess that means the thank-you is over.”
He was enjoying himself way too much, looking like the entire world was there to satisfy him, but Kelly swallowed over the resentment.
None of it mattered. All of it she could tolerate. All of it she could use.
There was nothing else he could take from her.
Caleb had already taken from Kelly the things that had mattered the most.
–
A couple of days later, in the middle of the night, Kelly’s phone buzzed with a text.
She was sleeping alone in her room, but she reached blindly for the phone, blinking down at the words until she could read them.
How does it go?
She didn’t recognize the number, and there was no name attached to the question, but Kelly knew exactly who it was.
Her mother.
She tapped out Fine.
Any progress on the project we discussed?
Yes. A beginning. It will be a while before I have anything ready to show you.
You know I’m on a tight timeline, right?
I can only work at a certain pace.
Let me know how it goes.
She was scowling when she placed her phone back on her nightstand. Damn her mom, anyway. Let her try to seduce a man to get close enough to find out incriminating information, and then see how easy it was. Did she expect Caleb to suddenly spill out all kinds of compromising secrets post-coitally?
If Kelly started to ask about anything specific, he would immediately get suspicious. There was only so much she could do here, and it was ripping her apart to even do that.
So her mom could just go fuck herself.
–
“We can’t allow that to happen.”
Kelly had been walking downstairs for dinner a couple of days later, but she stopped short at the words and the ice-cold tone.
She knew it was Caleb speaking. She’d recognize his voice anywhere. And he must be just around the corner from the stairs she was descending, because he was out of her sight. Since there wasn’t a second voice, she assumed he was talking on the phone.
She froze, listening until he started talking again.
“I don’t care. He must sign the contract. You need to find a way to make him do so.”
It was becoming clear what this conversation was about, and a chill ran from her neck to her fingertips as she processed the cold ruthlessness in his words.
He continued after another pause, “No. That won’t work. No use wasting your time with that. What do we know about his family?”
There was a much longer break as the person on the other end of the call evidently rehearsed information on the individual in question. “Wait,” Caleb said at last. “His daughter is at Eastlodge? How can he afford to send her there on his salary? Wait. What kind of scholarship?”
After the answer, his tone changed. “That’s it, then. Call the headmaster. Use my name. Make sure Johnson knows that his daughter will lose the scholarship unless he signs the contract tomorrow by noon.”
Kelly was so numb from overhearing this conversation that she literally couldn’t move. She’d known who Caleb was—on paper, anyway. She’d read all the evidence her mother put together on his callous treatment of others, his unethical business decisions.
But hearing it firsthand like this was something entirely different. This was the man who could have made a call to have her father killed. Maybe he’d even done it on his way to dinner.
Because she was so overwhelmed with shock, rage, and pain, she couldn’t do anything to hide the fact that she’d been eavesdropping when Caleb suddenly appeared around the corner.
He was sliding his phone in his pocket, and he glanced up to see her frozen on the third stair.
His eyes rested thoughtfully, observantly, on her face. “You heard?”
She nodded, since there was no way to hide the fact now.
“Did it upset you?” He didn’t look worried—just curious and a little wary.
This was important. She had to get her response right if she was going to stay in Caleb’s good graces. She also needed to be believable. She cleared her throat. “It sounded kind of—heartless.”
He gave a little shrug. “It was. It’s business.”
“Yeah, to you. But it’s not business to that poor girl who might lose her scholarship.”
“She won’t. I know how to read people. Her father will do the right thing.”
She let out her breath, forcing her body to react. She couldn’t let him see her real response to him at the moment. She absolutely couldn’t. She slanted a look up at him. “Are you sure?”
He smiled, as if pleased that she was falling in line with what he wanted her to feel about this. “I’m sure.”