Preston’s            I looked at her mouth and felt the desire in my veins burn hotter as I thought to myself that today would not be soon enough for me.            I had always prided myself on my ability to keep my libido on a leash. There had only ever been one woman who had breached my defenses, and she was standing here now, standing here wanting me as much as I did to her, so I was damned if I was going to deprive myself of the unspoken invitation that glowed in her incredible amber eyes when she looked at me.            A nerve clenched in my cheek as a mask of composure threatened to slip. The scorching sexual tension between us was stronger than anything I had ever experienced in my life—and she had to be feeli

            Beatrice jumped, startled by the loud clatter that came from the kitchen area.            Came from me. “Sorry I dropped it,” I said, putting the stainless implement I had just picked up off the floor into the dishwasher.            A hard light of steely determination shone in my eyes as I began to whip the egg whites. It was my intention to drop the bowl so that Beatrice would stop smiling dreamily when she thought about her ex, that she even forgets that I even existed!            “It’s okay, sorry. It seems I drifted off.” She said.            Yeah, feel sorry that you forgot about me. What’s special about that man? He is just a m

            “Did you really want to save?”            I was dumbfounded at his question. The scorn and aristocratic disdain etched on his patrician features made me cringe. I felt crushed by his scorn. It was bad enough that the man I had right now, is the only man that I had a crush on since I was a kid and he had witnessed the grubby sordid scene, but that he could think I had wanted… If I could have crawled out of my skin at that moment or allowed the earth to swallow me whole I would have. I stuttered in my eagerness to correct him.            “No… no, that is, yes, you can’t think that I wanted… Of course, I—”            “You were a fool.”    

            “Was I drunk?”             My simmering hostility in my manner as much as abrupt question made Beatrice blink numerous times. “What?”             My eyes flashed. “Was I forcing myself on you? Por Dios, no, I was not!”             “But, I never—”             “So, at what point did I become a bad guy?” I demanded, cutting across her.             “I never—”             “The fact is, you were lucky enough that I was there, but you are too stubborn to admit it! You are just as stupid now as you were then!” I said, eyes glaring at her.  &

Preston’s            I am not following this instinct that had taken an enormous chunk of my willpower, but the effort had faded into irrelevance beside the will power I had needed to tap into just to stop myself from taking Beatrice in my arms to comfort her.            Just the sight of her standing there, white-faced and shaking, looking so vulnerable and fragile, had awoken every protective instinct I had and some new ones. While she had struggled not to cry, I had struggled to keep my distance.            I hadn’t allowed myself to even touch her.            I just couldn’t. if I had known it wouldn’t have stopped at comforting her.            I