dark eyes. Because protecting her own skin was second nature. Was the most important thing. The only thing.
“Your name is on the wire transfers. Your name is connected to the bank account the money went into.”
“Because I agreed to help him set the accounts up.” And she knew, even as she tried to explain, that it was going to do nothing to move him. But she wasn’t going to simply stand here and allow him to level accusations at her. Not when they weren’t true. Not while she still had a chance to get him to understand.
“Then you are a fool. Because everything I can find about Nolan Wyatt says that he is a con man. Now and always.”
“He is,” she said, her throat tight. “But I—”
There was a knock on the door to the suite and Rocco released his hold on her, stalking to the entryway.
“Room service, Mr. Amari,” the man on the other side of the door said. “Where would you like me to put the tray?”
“I will take the tray.” Rocco took control of the tray and closed the door, wheeling the coffee and two pieces of chocolate cake to the center of the room.
If she couldn’t eat a light meal of vegetables and salmon, she was hardly going to be able to eat this.
“Haven’t you ever wanted to believe the best of someone?” She hoped he had. She hoped he did.
“Never. I only want the truth.”
“I’m giving it to you. And I can only explain away the fact that I helped my father by saying I wanted to believe the best in him when I shouldn’t have. He’s the only family I have. I just wanted him to be telling the truth this time.”
She found herself very convincing. She would be shocked if he didn’t.
“So much that you were willing to take a chance on helping him with another fraud?”
“My dad is small-time. I didn’t expect anything like this from him.” That much was true. She’d had no idea his designs were quite so grand. A million dollars. He’d overplayed his hand. The idiot. Anything smaller and Rocco wouldn’t have noticed, much less pursued her like this. “Yes, he’s stolen fairly large amounts of money before, and I know it. I didn’t live with him most of the time I was growing up, but when I did, we would always have times where we would move, and then we would have something for a while. A house, food, money, clothes. But it would always disappear very quickly. We would find ourselves dodging landlords, dodging police. Then, we would move again. Dad would get jobs, he called them. Then we would move again, and have things for a while. And the cycle would repeat. Eventually, he stopped taking me with him when he moved.”
“I see. Is this meant to make me feel sorry for you?”
“I only want you to understand...I’m a person like you are,” she said, a pleading note lacing her voice. “I made a mistake in who I trusted. Surely you understand?”
He chuckled, a hollow sound that echoed in her chest. That made goose bumps spread over her arms. “The problem with trying to appeal to my humanity, Charity, is that I don’t have any. I can understand why you would assume differently. But let me be the one to inform you definitively that I’m not burdened by conscience. Nor am I burdened by compassion. Every cent I have, I have earned. Getting to this position in life cost me in blood and I will not allow myself to be taken advantage of. I will set an example if I must.” He moved to her again, not touching her this time, merely standing so close she could feel the heat coming from his body. “I will make an example of you if I must. Do not think I will lose sleep over throwing a beautiful woman like you in prison when it is deserved.”
“So, is this my last meal?” she asked, indicating the food on the tray.
Overdramatic, perhaps, but she was starting to feel desperate.
“Either that or it is fuel to help you keep up your strength for the next couple of hours. You might find you need it.”
Adrenaline spiked through her blood. “So, you get off on forcing women into bed?” The words came out slightly harsher than intended.
A smile curved his lips. “Absolutely not. I never force women into my bed. I will not force you. You will come to me, because you want me.”
“How would you know I wanted you? When it’s you or a jail cell it seems as though my choices are limited.”
“I’m comfortable with that,” he said, his smile growing wider. He looked like the Big Bad Wolf, ready to devour her. “Would you like some coffee?”
“No.”
“Very well. Then it is time for me to see if you have kept your end of the bargain.”
She swallowed hard, her hands shaking, her fingers cold. “The lingerie?”
“Did you do as you were instructed, cara mia?”
She couldn’t believe it. She had lost.
Her stomach sank into her feet, the intense weight of defeat crushing her before she was able to process all the implications in front of her.
This was the moment of truth. Either she threw the coffee on his face and stormed out of the room, and took what came, later—charges, an arrest, a trial.
Or she did this.
She took control. She pushed him as he was pushing her. Called his bluff.
She would not stand here and wait to be undressed.
Before she could think it through, her shaking fingers found the zipper to her dress and began to tug it down.
He would stop her. He would stop this. She was sure of it. And it was that certainty that kept her going.
She could feel the fabric separating, exposing skin. Could feel the dress getting loose in the bodice. Then the top fell exposing her breasts, clad only in the whisper-thin lingerie. It was the same color as her skin, a kind of milky coffee color. It made her appear almost bare.
She knew, because she had spent a fair amount of time looking at herself in the mirror wearing this, that he would be able to see the shadow of her nipples beneath the fabric.
No man had ever seen this much of her body before. She didn’t know if she was in shock, if she was still convinced he would put an end to it, or if the moment was simply too surreal for her to absorb it all. But she felt cushioned by something, by a gauzy curtain that had been pulled around her vision, making things seem hazy. Making them seem a little less harsh.
Whatever it was, whatever magic this was, she needed it. Because the character, the nervous ingénue, wasn’t a refuge here. Not now.
It was too close to the bone.
Too close to who she was in this setting.
In life, she had very little in the way of innocence. But here? In the bedroom? She’d never trusted a man enough to be this intimate with him. Had never wanted to.
And she didn’t trust him. But she didn’t need to. For some reason, right now, she
