Read Online The Proviso by Moriah Jovan - Free Book Online Page A

you’ve been moping around for the
past four months like a kicked puppy.” She said nothing. “He was
contemptuous of you but he wants to fuck you.”
    “I think so, yes. I don’t understand.”
    “So find out who he is from your boss and ask
him.”
    Her head snapped up, her eyes wide in horror. “Oh, I
don’t think so. The man dresses more expensively than you do.”
    Sebastian said nothing to that. She knew he would
empathize with any man of wealth beset by women whose interest in
him was driven solely by his net worth.
    “I can’t— There’s just no way I could work that out
without looking like a whore.” Especially with that face,
which must make it exponentially more difficult for him. “Besides,
he made it clear what he thought of me.”
    “What makes you think he’s a Rearden?” Sebastian
asked slowly.
    “He’s a warrior. You can tell. He’s bigger than you.
He’s— The way he looked at me?” She sucked in another deep breath
and released it slowly.
    Sebastian pursed his lips. “You better be careful
with that, Giz. Not many men could throw a woman on the bed, fuck
her until she can’t walk, make her do exactly what he wants her to
do—and then not carry that outside the bedroom. Bigger than
me, huh? I can pick you up and toss you over my shoulder.”
    “Yeah, a lot of guys could do that. No one’s ever
had the balls to try. That’s my point.”
    “No, no LDS man has ever had the balls to
try. You haven’t given anyone else half a chance.”
    She said nothing else for a moment. There was that
other thing—
    “He, um . . . he called me Lilith.”
    “So he knows his art well enough to catch the
resemblance.”
    “That’s not the way he meant it, Sebastian. It
wasn’t a compliment.”
    He gave a Gallic shrug. “That only means he definitely wants to fuck you.”
    “And that he’s pissed about it,” she said, trying to
be matter-of-fact, to recover her nerves. “It doesn’t make any
difference. I’m not going to throw myself at a rich man, much less
one who doesn’t like me.”
    “Would you fuck him if you got the chance?”
    She looked at Sebastian without seeing him, her
tongue running over her teeth in thought. Finally, she drew in a
deep breath and whispered, “In a heartbeat.”
    Sebastian’s eyes widened and he pulled away from
her, blinking. “Giz,” he murmured, “that’s— Uh— Wow. You’re about
at the end of your rope, aren’t you?”
    “Yeah. I am.” She glanced at the clock and saw that
she should have left fifteen minutes ago.
    Sebastian relaxed again, took a sip of his wine,
savored it, then lapsed into brooding. Giselle said nothing for a
long while, too engrossed in her own thoughts to care much about
his, but the lengthening silence finally caught her attention.
    “Okay, I spilled my guts to you, but you’re the one
swilling expensive wine like it’s orange juice. What’s your
problem?”
    Sebastian’s mouth twitched in thought and he still
wouldn’t look at her. He took another sip. “Same as yours. I want a
family. A wife, kids.”
    That startled her. “Where’s this coming from? You’ve
been a libertine since you decided proselytizing was for the birds
halfway through your mission.”
    “I haven’t fucked a woman since Vanessa left. Three
years ago.”
    She knew that; it was downright noteworthy. Possibly
worrisome.
    “I’m almost forty. I’d like to have someone at my
funeral besides you and Knox—provided Fen hasn’t managed to kill
either of you by then. I don’t know. Maybe I’m just getting too old
to be that profligate, plus I think I maxed out my condom
budget.”
    Giselle chuckled.
    “Ah, I don’t even know why I think I could have a
relationship that lasts longer than a week and doesn’t crumble the
minute I get out of bed.”
    “You were with Vanessa for three months. That’s a
record for you.”
    He shrugged. “You notice I didn’t beg her to stay or
chase after her when it was time for her to go back to