Lila

How was she supposed to resist kissing him when he looked at her with what gleam in his gorgeous green eyes? She'd practically leapt on him, her breath heaving again within seconds, her skin pebbling, tingling everywhere he touched her, like fireworks in her skin.

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For a moment she was successful in distracting him from whatever bad news it was he was planned to deliver. But after a few heated, panting seconds, he groaned and took her hands so she couldn't stroke his back anymore. Gently, gently he forced her back to arm's length. Well, almost.

"Stop. We have to talk," he growled.

She pretended to pout, but with a sigh, sat back from him. "Fine."

"Further. I don't trust you and your delicious hands," he said, his voice hoarse.

She rolled her eyes, but did as he asked and slid herself around to sit next to him, back against the wall, but did slide her hand into his, lacing their fingers together. He squeezed her hand and didn't pull away.

She was relieved. She was terrified he was going to distance himself again.

"What is it?" she asked.

Rupert jumped into his lap with a small meow and Dane scratched him under the chin.

"Traitor," she growled, uncertain whether she was talking to the cat, or Dane. Dane chuckled, a low, rolling huff that was so warm, her heart sang. She'd never heard him laugh, she realized. Not really. Not without a bitter edge to it. She was fascinated, and decided she would dedicate herself to finding out exactly what would amuse him so she could make him do it every day.

She smiled and was about to ask, when he squeezed her hand and his face went serious. She leaned into his arm, let her knee fall so their thighs rested together.

He sighed. "If we do this—"

"We're doing this," she said quickly.

His chest rose and fell. "When we do this, if we do this, it wouldn't be like a normal relationship," he said, his voice very deep and soft.

"Okay."

"I'm serious, Lila."

She hugged his arm. "I don't care. I don't have much experience with real relationships anyway."

He pulled his arm out of her grip to put it around her shoulders and pull her into his side. "I'm going to tell you what this will look like, and you have to listen and think about it, okay? Promise me."

"I promise," she sighed, then breathed in deeply, taking in the pine and musk scent of him, soaking in the warmth from his chest.

His voice got flat again, emotionless. Businesslike. "We would be watched every second," he said. "Not just by my father's people, but by mine. They're always watching me, Lila. They're aware of the risk around me, though not all of them know where it really comes from—and only Chris knows he's my father. So they're always watching. Always looking for a threat. They notice everything, you understand?" She nodded. "And as soon as any one of them knows there's something between us, the risk increases that my father will hear about it. He will not hesitate."

She swallowed. "Good thing my boyfriend is really strong and runs a company that can keep me safe," she said, putting a hand to his chest. "Good thing I've trained in Karate-do."

"That doesn't hurt," he admitted, but pulled her closer. She wanted to purr. "But this will only work if no one suspects. That means every minute we aren't completely alone we pretend we don't care about each other. That means hiding this from everyone—even Chris. It means—"

"Why Chris? Surely you trust him? He's your brother!"

"I trust Chris with my life," he muttered, intertwining their fingers. "But he trusts other people too easily. He always has. Not those outside the company, just his guys. His teams. If he knew we were together he'd do something stupid like tease me in front of Tank, or tell one of the guys to bust in on us when we were together, because he'd think it was funny. He couldn't keep it to himself for long."

Lila frowned.

"You'd have to keep doing everything that's normal for your routine, and so would I."

She shrugged.

"We couldn't go out for breakfast, or dinner for that matter. We couldn't go to the movies. Lunch would be rare—only when we had a business reason for it, and we couldn't touch while we did it…" he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "It will be impossible."

"No it wouldn't," she said lightly, pulling his hand down. "We could—"

"It would be impossible for me to go to lunch with you and not touch you," he growled, his eyes bright and fixed on her.

Lila smiled. "I'll admit, that does sound hard. Which is why we should make the most of being close right now—"

She started to reach up to bring him in for a kiss, but he growled again and stopped her.

"Lila, please."

When she realized he was serious, she sat back into his arm again.

Dane swallowed. "It would mean living lives apart. Not touching each other at work. Using tricks and hiding to spend any time alone together. And, you'd have to understand, Lila, everyone would expect me to keep dating other people."

She went still and his arm tightened around her.