Page 31 of Hayes

"Hayes–"

"If you are planning on pissing me off by telling me not to end things with her, please don't," he warned as he handed her the cup. "I will not have it."

"Still arrogant and entitled, I see."

"I was never entitled," he told her with a smug smile.

"Arrogant then." She sighed as she took a seat around the counter. "What will you tell her?"

"That I am still in love with you."

"She could go to the press and start what I am trying to avoid."

"I doubt she would do that. Her family and mine have been close for years." Taking his coffee with him, he sat across from her. "The charitable arm of the company is the biggest contributor to the museums she and her dad run. They will want to keep it that way."

"Don't you feel any remorse about hurting her?"

He gazed at her steadily as he sipped the coffee. She looked fresh and beautiful. The thin silk sweater was the color of ripe plums, and it suited her complexion. Her hair was styled elegantly into a chignon at the nape of her neck, and he imagined the dark brown strands spread out on the pillows as he made love to her.

"Hayes."

"What?"

"Stop looking at me like that."

"I cannot help it, and yes, I will regret hurting her, but it cannot be helped."

"You must have felt something for her to be with her for what? Six months?"

"I liked her wit, and I was attracted to her. I thought we could build something from that," he admitted.

"And if I hadn't come back?" she asked casually, feeling the burning inside her chest at the thought of him with someone else. "Would you have married her?"

"I was leading up to it," he said with a shrug. Wintergreen eyes studied her face, and a smile touched his sensuous lips. "No need for jealousy. You are the only woman who has ever held my heart, and come to think of it, everything else."

"I am not jealous."

"You are also a terrible liar." Finishing the coffee, he came around. Turning her to face him, he stepped between her thighs. "You are honest to a fault, and that is one of your greatest assets, among others. Now kiss me goodbye and tell me what time we will meet up later."

"I never said anything about meeting you later," she murmured, sliding her hands over his chest.

"It was implied." Tilting her chin up, he bent his head to kiss her. With a sigh of surrender, she wrapped her hands around his neck and returned his kiss with a fervor that had his heart hammering and his knees going weak.

"Cammy." Saying her name steadied him somewhat, but he had to end the kiss to try and get some control. Resting his forehead, he took deep breaths to regain control. "Cammy."

Her hands tightened around his neck as she leaned against him.

"I have to go, he told her hoarsely.

"Why do I have the feeling that as soon as you walk out that door, I will discover I had been dreaming?" she whispered. "For years I dreamed that you were with me in bed, only to wake up to find the place empty and cold. I was so cold, Hayes.

The sheets could not warm me and no matter the heat inside the room, it was never enough. It was not like that last night because you were next to me."

His head lifted, his face taut with passion. "You will never be cold again," he swore. "I will keep you warm. You will never have to go through anything like that again, do you hear me? Never."

"I hear you." She smiled tremulously. "I know."

"I am telling her today."