God, after all this, she was still worried about her damn job. Anger lanced through him, and for a second, he thought about breaking the door down. Technically, this house was in his family, and he could do what he damn well pleased.
Breathing deeply, he forced himself to calm down. Throwing his weight around wasn’t going to help things. “If all I wanted to do was fuck you before Christmas, I wouldn’t be on this side of the door trying to apologize.”
He listened for her footsteps on the other side of the door before it opened. “Say what you want to say,” she said stiffly.
“Melka’s not wrong,” he murmured in a low voice. “I did tell him that I was going to seduce you by Christmas.”
Rolling her eyes, she tried to shut the door but he quickly put his foot in the doorway to stop her. “But you came to me, remember?”
Her eyes widened in surprise, and he gently pushed the door open and entered the bedroom. “I’m not trying to throw that in your face. I’m simply pointing out that I turned you down at first, and that’s not something that I do with women. Ever. I don’t know what this is. It may be nothing more than a fling, but it’s still more than a challenge to me. I need you to know that.”
Wrapping her arms around herself, she turned away from him. “It’s not okay that you ever thought of me as a challenge. Even if things changed, you still targeted me.”
Her words hit him hard, and he quickly stepped inside closing the door and leaning against it. “I guess that’s what I do,” he said after a moment of silence. “I target women and use them. Usually they don’t care. Women that are attracted to me are only attracted to my money or my status. I’m a trophy that they can tell their girlfriends about later, so I use them just the same.”
Poppy toed the carpet and sighed. “Have you looked in the mirror lately? I’m sure it’s more than your money.”
Her dry confession made him smile. “I was engaged once.”
“You? Engaged?” she snorted. “To what?”
Hurt, he crossed his arms and stared at her. “You don’t think I’m capable of falling in love?”
“I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, Samir, but I’ve done my homework on you. Fall in love? Sure, but you’re not the kind of guy to commit to someone.”
“That’s because the woman I did commit myself to didn’t love me,” he growled softly. “A week before my wedding, I caught her sleeping with someone else. She was drunk and angry and confessed that she fucked other men all the time because the only thing I was good for was spending my money on her. She had dreams of me surpassing my brothers to wear the crown.”
“Oh, Samir,” Poppy breathed.
“I was nineteen. My brothers and my father both told me that I was far too young to get married, but I’d been with her for years. The crazy thing is that she thought I’d still marry her to avoid scandal. I guess I wanted to show her that she didn’t affect me.”
“So you started creating scandal?” Poppy went to him and put her hands over his heart. “Samir, that’s not how you deal with betrayal. People are cruel, but you can’t simply lash out. It doesn’t help anything.”
Gripping her wrists, he roughly pulled her against him. “You’re the only woman to ever turn me down. Now, you can see why I boasted to my guard.”
“And I guess I proved you right.” Her eyes searched his, and in that moment all he wanted to do was push her away. He was fully clothed and still felt naked and vulnerable.
“You did.”
“Don’t,” she snapped coldly. “Don’t do that. Don’t open yourself up to me and then try to push me away. It doesn’t work that way.”
Instead of responding to her, he pulled her up and kissed her hard. It was easier to bury himself in her than to admit that in the short time he’d known her, she’d managed to change him.
Digging his fingers in her waist, he forced her hard against his body grinding his erection straining in his pants against her. Part of him hoped that she’d push him away and slap him, but she moaned and clung to him. As he walked her from the door toward the bed, he stripped his shirt off and then reached under her shirt to squeeze her breasts.
“Samir!” she gasped as he pushed her to the bed. Wrestling with the button on her pants, he didn’t say anything. The time for words was over. He wanted to fuck her until he forgot all about the woman who broke his heart and destroyed his trust.
Until he forgot that, he was dangerously close to trusting his heart to another.
“No!” Grabbing his belt, she pulled him to the bed and quickly slithered off the bed to stand between his legs. “You’re not going to take me while you’re thinking of her.”
“Then leave,” he sneered.
Staring at him, she slowly pulled her shirt over her head. “I’m not leaving, Samir. And you’re only going to be thinking of me by the time I’m done.”
Captivated, he slid up on the bed until his back was against the wall and stared at her. The damn bed was so small that his legs hung off the side.
Standing, he undid his belt and shucked his pants so his erection would no longer be trapped. Naked, he settled back on the bed, stroking himself slowly as he watched her strip tease.