Page 20 of A Diamond Deal
His jaw firmed.
He was dead.
His death did not matter.
He had never been part of the plan, anyway.
His stomach revolted at his declaration of indifference.
She raised her neck too sharply, and said, without inflection, ‘I want a divorce.’
He caught it. The fall of his jaw.
‘You do not want a divorce,’ he dismissed, keeping the edge from his tone.
‘I do.’ Shoulders back, she stepped forward.
He stepped back.Fractionally.He wouldn’t give her the space—the room—to claim an opportunity to run again, but he’d give her the illusion she wasn’t trapped.
‘Why would you want to keep me?’ Naturally, arched eyebrows rose. ‘I hate you,’ she repeated, the French roll of her vowels enunciating each sharp point of her words.
‘You already said,’ he replied flatly, but he flinched inwardly.
How many times had his mother called his father a liar?A bastard?Told him she hated him? His father had deserved her hate. Her venom. He’d broken her. Driven her into the sea. Buthedidn’t deserve…this.
He’d never hurt Poppy.
Didn’t you?
His breathing faltered.
No.He’d stuck to the rules. He’d done everything he’d promised.
Poppy wasn’t herself.
She hadn’t been for too long.
He dipped his gaze to the pulse thrumming beneath her skin. He wanted to touch it—feather his fingers down her throat and close his palm over the pulse he knew beat for him.
‘It isn’t hate you feel.’ His gaze flitted back to hers. ‘It’swant.’
‘You’re wrong,’ she spat.
‘No,’ he said. ‘I’m not.’
‘You disgust me.’
‘I do not disgust you,’ he said, too tightly.Too breathlessly.
She leaned in. ‘You do.’ She feathered her fingers across his right pectoral.
Hunger he’d repressed too deeply flooded through him. Acute and intense, it pulled tight every muscle in his body.
‘But if you need me to…’ Her breasts brushed against him. The tightened tips beneath her shirt, making his jaw tighten to stem the itch to do what he wanted. Pop each button of her cotton shirt, pull down her bra, and expose them to his mouth.His tongue.Her flushed pink aureoles. Her taut nipples.
A hunger he’d only ever known with her speared through him.
He closed his eyes.
