“But you can never love me?” She picked at the wound in her heart like a sore tooth, needing him to say the words.
“Does it matter?” he asked, sounding pained. “Doesn’t what we have transcend romantic drivel?”
Transcend love? Was he serious? But she could see he was. “A man who claimed to love you might walk away from both you and his children. It happens often enough, but I will never leave you.”
She took a deep breath and then spoke some of the most difficult words she’d ever said. “I’ll give you my answer back in Portland.”
Instead of the anger she expected, Andreas nodded. “I expected as much.”
He had?
He tipped his head down and kissed her, his lips firm but gentle. “I know you, Kay-love, no matter what you may think.” He tugged at the haphazard tuck at the top of the towel. “Until then, why don’t we spend more time exploring the benefits of joining our lives and our bodies, hmm?”
She had no answer as her mouth was too busy kissing him back, her body too intent on getting close to his.
They made love into the evening, ordered dinner via the special room service menu only available for their floor and the one below, and then returned to Andreas’s bed, insatiable lovers who had spent too long apart.
* * *
Kayla was unsurprised when Andreas insisted on accompanying her to her meeting with Sebastian Hawk. That didn’t mean she had to like it.
She crossed her arms and glared up at him. “You aren’t part of this deal, Andreas.”
“I’m not leaving you alone to tear around New York on your own again.”
“You’re being ridiculously controlling.”
“I am not trying to control you.”
“Aren’t you?”
“No.”
“Then why come to the meeting?”
“Is it so hard for you to believe I want to watch out for you? You are brilliant in the lab, Kay-love, but Hawk is a shark at business.”
For a man who didn’t believe in love, he certainly threw the word around a lot. She couldn’t decide if she liked it or it just hurt more to hear him using it, knowing there were no feelings of love behind it. “Oh, you mean like you?”
“Don’t you want a shark sitting beside you?”
“Undermining my position?” She gave him a sour look. “No, thank you.”
“You believe I would do this?”
“You won’t?” she asked, stunned.
“You have my word.”
She stared at him. Could she trust him? If she didn’t, she could only give one answer to the marriage question once they got home.
Sighing, still trepidatious, but certain she had to take a leap of faith, she said, “Okay, you may come, but I mean it, Andreas. No undermining my deal with Sebastian.”
Andreas didn’t bother to answer, he was too busy texting Bradley to fix the reservations at the restaurant to accommodate one more person.
“Seriously? Andreas, he’s probably still sleeping.”
The chime of a return text said she was wrong, until she saw Andreas’s wince. Yeah, the überefficient PA had not liked being woken, but she had no doubt the reservations would get updated to a table for three.
* * *
Sebastian Hawk was already at the table when Kayla and Andreas arrived at the upscale restaurant for their meeting.
He stood from the table set formally with full linens, shaking Kayla’s hand first. “It’s very nice to see you, Miss Jones.” He turned to Andreas. “I wasn’t expecting you, but I wondered at the extra place setting.”
“Andreas is convinced you’re going to try to eat me,” Kayla said with her usual forthrightness. “And please, call me Kayla. Formality makes me nervous.”
Andreas winced, but Sebastian Hawk laughed. With the warmth in his smile and gorgeous features, it was easy to see why an Arabic princess would walk away from her intended prince to marry this man.
“Then by all means, let us dispense with it. You will call me Sebastian.”
“Stop flirting with her, Hawk. Your wife would not approve.”
“Lina understands the difference between polite conversation and flirting, Andreas.”
Andreas frowned, but took his seat after helping Kayla into her brocade dining chair. They ordered their food before Sebastian broached the subject of business. And it was then that she discovered just how dedicated Andreas was to her interests, as well as the difference between this glam restaurant and the one they’d been to for dinner.
The waitstaff here were attentive, but clearly used to business being conducted over lunch as they handled the food service with subtle difference.
“I’m thrilled you want to stay on at KJ Software.” Sebastian’s handsome face creased in a genuine smile. “As far as I’m concerned, you are the reason the security software is so much above the others in the industry.”
Andreas gave the other business tycoon a less-than-warm look. “She wants more than to stay on, she wants to keep her interest in the company.” Andreas’s tone brooked no argument.
Kayla nodded her agreement.
“Why?” Sebastian’s brows drew together, his expression perplexed. “If you allowed me to buy your shares, you would be a wealthy woman. I assure you that your employment package would be commensurate with your skills and very real importance to R & D.”
“It’s not about the money.” Kayla hadn’t really considered how she was going to explain her desire to stay partial owner of KJ Software to Sebastian Hawk.
The idea of baring her soul to him did not appeal.
“It’s not?” Sebastian appeared a tad disbelieving.
“Kayla has a different attachment to the company than I do,” Andreas said. “Unlike me, she has no desire to start a new venture.”
“You do not like change?” Sebastian was clearly still trying to understand.
“Would you sell Hawk Enterprises?” Kayla asked instead of answering.
Sebastian’s expression cleared, but remained serious. “No. I would not. You’re right, Kayla, sometimes it is not about the money.”
“I’m glad you understand.”
“I do, but I am not sure I like the idea of you retaining five-percent ownership in my subsidiary company.”
“You’re a possessive bastard, Hawk.” Andreas didn’t sound like he was insulting the other man, despite the words he used.
Sebastian shrugged. “Lina would agree with you.”
“We were talking business,” Kayla felt compelled to point out.
“It’s a deeply pervasive personality trait.” Sebastian’s lips barely twisted in recognition of his admission.
Andreas leaned back in his chair, almost a relaxed pose, but his arms crossed and his features were cast in intractability. “You’ll have to keep it in check in this instance. Kayla wants to keep her stake in the company and knowing that, I can’t do a deal without assuring she does.”
Sebastian’s eyes flared with surprise, but that was nothing compared