‘Olivia, don’t get in that lift, please!’ His charging footsteps have me repeatedly smacking the metal button and cursing while I wait for what seems like decades for the doors to slide open. ‘Fuck! Olivia!’
I dive in, smack the button for the ground floor, and push myself up against the far wall. I’m being cruel, but desperation is overriding any guilt I’m feeling for using this weakness against him.
I knew he’d make it in time, but I still jump when his arm appears and crashes against the doors, pulling them open. His brow is a sheen of sweat, his eyes wide with fear. ‘Get out!’ he yells, his broad shoulders heaving.
I shake my head. ‘No.’
His jaw looks set to shatter from tenseness. ‘Get out of the f**king lift!’
I keep quiet, pushing myself further into the wall. He’s fuming mad, frighteningly so.
‘How could you do this?’ he pants, yanking the door open when it tries to close again. ‘How?’
‘I can’t be with you, Miller.’ My voice is barely audible over his laboured breathing and my clattering heart.
‘Livy, I beg you, don’t do this to me again.’ He’s beginning to shake, his eyes darting continuously from me to the inside of the elevator.
‘I can’t forget that man.’ I reach out and press the button again.
‘Fuck!’ He releases the doors and they start to close. ‘I refuse to give up, Olivia.’ Blue eyes glaze over, his expression straightening. ‘I won’t lose.’
‘You’ve already lost,’ I murmur as his face disappears.
Chapter Eleven
I don’t know how I’ve ended up here. Probably to reinforce my decision. Seeing the four-poster bed, the regal room, and the images of me restrained is helping steel my resolve. But it’s also magnifying the pain. I’m standing in the middle of the hotel room, gazing around, torturing myself further and praying for some strength to see me through. Run away. Disappear for ever. I can see no other way. My skin is prickling and cold. My eyes are sore with tears. The plans I started to make so many times need to be completed and fulfilled now. I need to go away for a while, put space between us and hope the saying ‘out of sight, out of mind’ is true. For both of us.
‘Why did you come here?’ The question filters through the rush of blood that’s distorting my hearing, dragging me back into the chilly room.
‘To help convince myself that I’m doing the right thing.’
‘Does it feel right?’
‘No,’ I admit. Nothing feels right. It’s all so very wrong. I hear the door click shut, snapping me from my daydream, and I swing around to find a mess of a man, his hair wild, his suit crumpled. But his blue eyes are relieved.
‘I won’t lose,’ he says, resting his hands in his pocket. ‘I can’t lose, Olivia.’
Tears begin to trickle down my cheeks as I stand before him, defeated.
Conquered.
His back hits the door, his own eyes glazing over as his body sags into the wood. The sight of Miller Hart fighting to prevent his tears from falling rips my heart from my chest and makes my knees buckle, sending my body folding to the floor. My chin hits my chest, and my hair tumbles over my shoulders. And I cry. The broken man before me has always made my eyes hurt, but this time it’s not with pleasure at his beauty. This time it’s seeing him looking so tormented. Desperate. Ruined.
I’m engulfed by him in a nanosecond, his warm arms wrapped tightly around me, my face pushed into his chest. ‘Don’t cry,’ he whispers, pulling me onto his lap. ‘I need you to be strong for me.’
I’m scooped up and carried to the bed. ‘It ends here,’ he says, laying me down gently and spreading his body over me, burying his face in my neck. I don’t fight. I let his body melt into mine, let his strength seep into me, holding onto him like my life depends on it. He does the same. Each of us is squeezing tightly, both of our hearts pounding a strong, steady thrum. I can hear the beats. We’re both coming back to life.
His head lifts slowly until I’m staring into blue eyes filled with anguish. ‘I’m so sorry.’ He wipes my eyes. ‘I know I’ve run away, too, but I accept it now.’ He dips and kisses me gently, his soft lips wanted and terribly needed. ‘I need you to do the same.’ He sits up and pulls me onto his lap with ease, swamping me with his arms and kissing my face repeatedly. ‘What we have is beautiful, Olivia. I can’t give it up.’ He grasps my dress by the hem but doesn’t set about removing it. ‘May I?’
I answer by pushing his suit jacket from his shoulders, and he drops my dress to allow me to rid him of it. I need his na**d skin on mine.
‘Thank you,’ he breathes, removing my dress and casting it aside. His lips find mine and begin a delicate caress, his tongue tentative and soft as it slips into my mouth. My mind blanks, but my body responds instinctively. I accept his kiss, returning his soft, lazy pace, soaking up the emotion pouring from his entire being. His warm hands are all over me, touching and feeling everywhere, reminding me of the lack of skin beneath my palms. I start unbuttoning his waistcoat, then his shirt, until my hands are diving inside the material, feeling him everywhere for too short a time before I’m pushing the garments from his body, refusing to release his lips, not even to take in his perfect torso. Once his arms are free again, he unhooks the clasp of my bra and slowly pulls it from my body, exposing my tight, tingling ni**les. He breaks our kiss, and I whimper in protest, reaching down to unfasten his trousers.