Read Online A Devil in Disguise by Caitlin Crews - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Caitlin Crews
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fists while a scalding heat threatened the back of her eyes. “Why are you doing this?”
“I told you,” he said impatiently, so cold and forbidding and
annoyed
while she fell into so many pieces before him. “You are the best personal assistant I’ve ever had. That is not a compliment. It is a statement of fact.”
“That might be true,” she managed to say, fighting to keep the swirl of emotion inside her to herself. “But it doesn’t explain this.” When he shifted his weight as if he meant to argue, because of course he did, he always did, she threw up her hands as if she could hold him off. “You could replace me with fifteen perfect assistants, afleet of them trained and ready to serve you within the hour. You could replace me with anyone in the entire world if you chose. There is absolutely no reason for any of this—not three years ago and not now!”
“Apparently,” he said coldly, “your price is higher than most.”
“It’s insane.” She shook her hair back from her face, ordered herself not to burst into tears. “You don’t need me.”
“But I want you.” Harsh. Uncompromising.
And not at all in the way she wanted him. That was perfectly plain.
It was as if something burst inside of her.
“You will never understand!” She stopped trying to hold herself back, to keep herself in check. What was the point? “There was someone I
loved
. Someone I lost. Years I can never get back.” She didn’t care that her voice was as shaky as it was loud, that her eyes were wet. She didn’t care what he might see when he looked at her, or worry that he might suspect she was talking about more than her brother. She had given herself permission to do this, hadn’t she? This was what
flappable
looked like. “There is no amount of money you can offer me that can fix the things that are broken. Nothing that can give me back what I lost—what was taken from me.
Nothing.
” Nor, worse, what she’d given him, fool that she was. She heaved a ragged breath and kept on. “I want to disappear into a world where Cayo Vila doesn’t matter, to me or anyone else.”
She wanted that last bit most of all.
And in a cutting bit of unwelcome self-awareness, she accepted the sad truth of things. He didn’t have to offer her flats or estates or islands. He didn’t have to throw his money at her.
If he’d said he wanted her and meant, for once, that he wanted
her …
If, even now, he’d pulled her close and told her that he simply couldn’t imagine his life without her …
There was that little masochist within, Dru knew all too well, who would work for him for free, if only he wanted her like that.
But Cayo didn’t want anyone like that. Especially not her. She could tell herself he was incapable of it, that he’d never known love and never would—but that was no more than a pretty gloss on the same ugly truth. She understood all of that.
And still, she yearned for him.
“You have made your point,” he said, after a strained moment.
“Then, please. Let me go.” It was harder to choke out than it should have been. She hated herself for that, too.
For a moment she thought he might, and her stomach dropped.
Disbelief,
she lied to herself.
There was that odd light in his fascinating eyes—but then his face seemed to shutter itself and darken, and he straightened to his full height, the better to look down at her. And she reminded herself that this was Cayo Vila, and he let nothing go. He never bent. He never compromised. He simply kept on going until he won.
She couldn’t understand why she couldn’t seem to breathe.
“You owe me two weeks,” he said, as if he were rendering a prison sentence. “I intend to have them. You can do your job for those two weeks and fulfill your contractual obligations to me, or I’ll simply keep you with me like a dog on a leash, purely out of spite.”
But he didn’t look spiteful. He looked something far closer to sad, and it made her stomach twist.
“I told you,” he said impatiently, so cold and forbidding and
annoyed
while she fell into so many pieces before him. “You are the best personal assistant I’ve ever had. That is not a compliment. It is a statement of fact.”
“That might be true,” she managed to say, fighting to keep the swirl of emotion inside her to herself. “But it doesn’t explain this.” When he shifted his weight as if he meant to argue, because of course he did, he always did, she threw up her hands as if she could hold him off. “You could replace me with fifteen perfect assistants, afleet of them trained and ready to serve you within the hour. You could replace me with anyone in the entire world if you chose. There is absolutely no reason for any of this—not three years ago and not now!”
“Apparently,” he said coldly, “your price is higher than most.”
“It’s insane.” She shook her hair back from her face, ordered herself not to burst into tears. “You don’t need me.”
“But I want you.” Harsh. Uncompromising.
And not at all in the way she wanted him. That was perfectly plain.
It was as if something burst inside of her.
“You will never understand!” She stopped trying to hold herself back, to keep herself in check. What was the point? “There was someone I
loved
. Someone I lost. Years I can never get back.” She didn’t care that her voice was as shaky as it was loud, that her eyes were wet. She didn’t care what he might see when he looked at her, or worry that he might suspect she was talking about more than her brother. She had given herself permission to do this, hadn’t she? This was what
flappable
looked like. “There is no amount of money you can offer me that can fix the things that are broken. Nothing that can give me back what I lost—what was taken from me.
Nothing.
” Nor, worse, what she’d given him, fool that she was. She heaved a ragged breath and kept on. “I want to disappear into a world where Cayo Vila doesn’t matter, to me or anyone else.”
She wanted that last bit most of all.
And in a cutting bit of unwelcome self-awareness, she accepted the sad truth of things. He didn’t have to offer her flats or estates or islands. He didn’t have to throw his money at her.
If he’d said he wanted her and meant, for once, that he wanted
her …
If, even now, he’d pulled her close and told her that he simply couldn’t imagine his life without her …
There was that little masochist within, Dru knew all too well, who would work for him for free, if only he wanted her like that.
But Cayo didn’t want anyone like that. Especially not her. She could tell herself he was incapable of it, that he’d never known love and never would—but that was no more than a pretty gloss on the same ugly truth. She understood all of that.
And still, she yearned for him.
“You have made your point,” he said, after a strained moment.
“Then, please. Let me go.” It was harder to choke out than it should have been. She hated herself for that, too.
For a moment she thought he might, and her stomach dropped.
Disbelief,
she lied to herself.
There was that odd light in his fascinating eyes—but then his face seemed to shutter itself and darken, and he straightened to his full height, the better to look down at her. And she reminded herself that this was Cayo Vila, and he let nothing go. He never bent. He never compromised. He simply kept on going until he won.
She couldn’t understand why she couldn’t seem to breathe.
“You owe me two weeks,” he said, as if he were rendering a prison sentence. “I intend to have them. You can do your job for those two weeks and fulfill your contractual obligations to me, or I’ll simply keep you with me like a dog on a leash, purely out of spite.”
But he didn’t look spiteful. He looked something far closer to sad, and it made her stomach twist.
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