The Billion Dollar Bachelor (16 page)
“He didn’t, obviously. Even he wouldn’t stoop that low.”
“Why, Pandora? Why did you do that?” The raw feeling had begun to burn like fire in his chest but he didn’t move. He couldn’t. Like if he did, he’d shatter something. He didn’t know what it was and he didn’t know what to say but if he stayed still, if he stayed quiet, perhaps it would all become clear.
“Why?” Her eyes were very dark, liquid. “Because I figured out something. I figured out why I left you.”
“You wanted freedom. You didn’t want to be trapped.”
“No. That wasn’t the reason. I left because I was in love with you and it scared the shit out of me.”
He felt like he’d been turned to stone. “What?” The word came out as a whisper.
“I thought love meant being in a cage. Because that’s what Dad did. He told me it was for my own good. My own protection. And I believed him. For a long time, I believed him.” She took a breath, her T-shirt pulling tight across her breasts. “Then I met you. And you let me make my own choices. My own decisions. You didn’t keep me in a cage. You gave me everything that was missing in my life, and when I wanted to go, you let me.”
He could barely speak. “You know why, don’t you?”
“Yeah, Jax. I do.”
“Because I love you.”
A tear slowly ran down the side of her cheek. “Yes. And that’s kind of what I figured out. Love isn’t about confining someone. It’s about setting them free.” She took a step toward him. “Which means I’m free to make a choice, Jax. A real choice. For myself. And … I choose you.”
*
He looked hard and intimidating and unapproachable, his blue eyes cold. And her heart felt like shriveling up like a plant in the hot desert sun. Had she made the wrong choice? The wrong choice to leave him, the wrong choice to come back?
But it was too late to go back now. This was her decision and she had to stand by it.
“Me, Pandora?” There was no softening in his face, tension in every line of his posture. “Are you sure? You know what I want. That’s you. Forever. And once I have you, I’ll never let you go. Understand?”
Her throat felt thick, the pressure of all the emotion inside her pressing hard against it. She walked over to the desk and went around it to where he stood, easing herself in front of him. Then she reached up and touched his firm mouth, following the line of it with her fingertips. “But I don’t want you to let me go, Jax. Because being with you, loving you,
is
freedom.”
A shudder went through his powerful body. “Ah … baby … don’t do that.”
“Too late,” she murmured. “I love you, Jax Morrow. And I’ve made my choice.”
The look on his face changed, becoming fierce, intent. The tiger leaping for its prey.
Her breath caught. Then his arms were around her, pulling her close, holding her tight. He was so hot, his body hard and strong around hers. “Good,” he whispered, kissing her jaw, her neck. “Because I love you, too, Snow White.”
“Well, what do you know?” she murmured, just before his mouth claimed hers. “Turns out you’re Prince Charming after all.”
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Jackie has been writing fiction since she was eleven years old. Mild mannered fantasy/SF/pseudo-literary writer by day, obsessive romance writer by night, she used to balance her writing with the more serious job of librarianship until a chance meeting with another romance writer prompted her to throw off the shackles of her day job and devote herself to the true love of her heart— writing romance.
She lives in Auckland, New Zealand with her husband, the inimitable Dr. Jax, two kids, two cats, and some guppies (possibly dead guppies by the time you read this).
You can find Jackie at
www.jackieashenden.com
, on Facebook at
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@JackieAshenden
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This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
“Billion Dollar Bachelor” copyright © 2014 by Jackie Ashenden.
All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
Cover digital illustration © by CURAphotography/shutterstock.com Author photo © Jackie Coates eISBN 978-1-4668-5371-3
First eBook Edition: February 2014