Lila

Dane's eyes were haunted. Whose wouldn't be. His father wanted him dead?

​​

"Why?" Lila breathed.

"Because I reflect on him. As long as I'm successful and the world thinks I'm good, he looks like he doesn't have control. And I am…I am his son. I'm a reflection of him."

"And a fabulous one."

Dane scoffed. "You don't know my father."

"I don't need to. Dane, any man with a heart would be proud to have you as a son. Any mother would be proud—" She cut off as Dane pushed out his chair and walked to the other side of the room. "What?"

Dane stared out the window, his hands clenched to fists at his side. "Stop trying to make this some kind of romantic drama. I break everyone and everything that gets close to me. Ask Chris. It's why he's security director. Because he has the cooler head. He has the instincts. He doesn't lose himself. He doesn't have my father's blood." Lila walked slowly until she stood at his side. But he kept looking out the window at the city laid out before him. "It's in my blood. I—"

"Don't be ridiculous!" Lila snapped. "You can't have bad blood. We aren't in medieval times anymore. You are who you made yourself to be, Dane. And you made yourself a good man."

"You don't understand—" he ground out.

"I understand plenty—more now that you've explained this. It all makes sense. He's got a vendetta against you, and for some reason you think you deserve it?"

"I do deserve it!"

"Why, because you did some bad things when you were a teenager? Because you get angry?"

"No," he snarled, whirling on her, "because if I'd had an ounce of goodness in me, my sister and mother would still be alive!"

Lila tensed at the venom in him, but something told her this was where all that anger and stress came from. That he believed things about himself, carried things that weren't his to carry. If she could just get him to set them down…

"Tell me," she whispered. "Don't think about it, just tell me."

His teeth clenched. The little muscles at the back of his jaw twitched. But she held his gaze and this time he didn't back down.

"It doesn't matter."

"Yes, it does, Dane. You're blaming yourself—"

"You don't have a clue what I'm blaming myself for," he spat. "And I'm not getting into it. But you need to understand—I should have made you understand—that being close to me is a risk. A genuine, certified risk. I am the definition of a credible threat. So stay far from me. You have an opportunity to be greatly successful here, and I will applaud you for it. But I don't want you to get hurt, and you shouldn't want that either. So do your job, but keep your distance."

"Dane, no, please—"

"Yes," he hissed. "This isn't a joke, Delilah. My father wants to ruin me. If you're close he'll ruin you too, just to get to me. Everyone—and I do mean everyone—I get close to gets broken. And I'm done. I'm done breaking people. I vowed eight years ago I wouldn't be responsible for the destruction of anyone else, ever again. But if you stay close, either I will break you, or my father will. So, do us both a favor and don't turn me into a liar!"

"But—"

"No more birthday parties, Delilah. No more late night visits. Do you understand me?"

Lila blushed. "That has nothing to do with—"

"Remember how you talked about quitting? How I talked about firing you? Because of how hard this has been? Do you think you're the first person to show up and think you can fix things? Fix me? Don't fool yourself. This isn't about you walking in here to save me. This is real life, real danger, and I won't let you distract me from keeping others away from it."

"I never wanted to distract you—"

"You're missing the point!"

"No, Dane, you are!" she raised her voice for the first time, and took a step toward him. "You aren't dark. You aren't evil. You have a heart. You care about others. You are everything you've just told me your father isn't. You built this incredible company. You have saved lives! Why do you think I wanted to work here? You're actually doing something—actually helping people in real ways. Whatever is in your past, it's behind you. You can't change it. But you can stop seeing yourself as this…this monster!"

He was frozen—from shock or anger, she couldn't be sure. But the time had come to stop pussy-footing around him. Taking a deep breath, she stepped forward again until she stood between his feet and slowly, slowly she put a hand to the flat plane of his chest. "You aren't dark, Dane. You just aren't."

He sucked in a breath. His hand shooting up so quickly she didn't see it move, but he took her wrist in his grip. Except…except he didn't pull it away. Instead, his thumb stroked her wrist. Lila looked up from where he was touching her, where the hairs on her arm stood up, and their eyes locked. Desire spiraled through her.

*****

Dane

So soft. Her skin was so soft. Like velvet.

He'd taken her wrist intending to remove her hand from his chest. But as soon as he'd touched her, she'd looked at him and damned if he hadn't fallen into her eyes.

His heart pounded so hard that, with her hand on his chest he was sure she could feel it, even through the sweater. But her shoulders rose and fell too quickly too. He couldn't look away. And it seemed that she didn't want to.

He couldn't believe she'd tried to give him a birthday party.

He couldn't believe she'd taken the news about his father with such calm.

He couldn't believe she was calling him good and touching him like…like…

She licked her lips. "Dane…please…"

Everything he'd been thinking blew out of his head. His other hand came up to cup her face, so carefully, so lightly, his fingers tingled where he held her. He could feel her warmth shimmering between them. Then she put her other hand over his, on her cheek and leaned into it, brushed it with her lips.

And Dane was done. She'd unleashed everything. He'd told her his darkest truths, told her to leave, told her he didn't want her, and she was still here.

"Lila," he said, his voice hoarse.

"Please don't make me stay away," she whispered, leaning towards him.

With a groan, he dipped his head to kiss her, their lips brushing in a featherlight touch. He could feel himself trembling as he pulled back far enough to meet her eyes again. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, Dane, I—"

He didn't wait to hear the rest, just claimed her mouth with his. They both sucked in deep breaths as they finally kissed. Dane slid his fingers into her hair and cupped her head as his other hand slid to her waist and he pulled her in. She smelled like apples and rain

She came easily, willingly, arching into him, her fingers digging into his shoulder, his back, his waist as if she couldn't get close enough.

And as her heat soaked into him, he released a shuddering breath. A knot he'd carried in his chest ever since he met her, unraveled.

It was an effort not to groan as her tongue tasted his.

Dane took her face in his hands and dived deeper.