"I don't even want to know how much a view like this costs."
Trent glanced at her and then looked away. "Ah, no you probably don't."
She walked up to the glass and looked down. In the fading light of evening, the people and cars below were so small they looked like toys.
"Oh crap, now I'm curious. If I'm going to live here, I should probably not be completely ignorant. So how much would a place like this cost if I wanted to buy one?"
He didn't meet her eyes when he answered, "I bought mine years ago but at current market value, a penthouse in this area starts at about twenty million."
Mara swallowed. "Right."
He must have sensed her discomfort, so he held out his hand. When she took it, he led her to a door on the left side of the room. “This is your closet.”
She stepped inside the large space, turning around to take in the full effect. Mara knew that her mouth was hanging open but there was no way to avoid it. One wall was outfitted with cubbyholes for shoes, bags and belts. The other wall held the standard rack for hanging dresses, skirts and coats.
A chandelier dangling with assorted sizes of cut glass sparkled merrily over a circular custom-built dresser. She pulled out one of the drawers. There were built in dividers in the top shelves. A bench sat in the corner of the room next to the window.
Her closet was so big that it had a window.
“I can tell you like this room.” Trent smirked as she ran her fingers over the custom cabinetry.
“Oh yeah. This almost makes dealing with your family worth it. Because that meeting was enough to make me want to slit my wrists!”
Trent paled and vaulted away from the doorframe. “Don’t say that. Don’t ever say that.”
Mara's breath seized in her lungs at the look on his face. She placed her hands on his chest and pushed back slightly so she could see his face. His pupils had dilated, making his eyes appear darker. She'd never seen him look so … destroyed.
“I should have never brought you here, subjected you to them. We can leave in the morning. Immediately.”
When he pulled her into his arms, she allowed him to just hold her. Beneath her ear, his heart banged a rapid beat inside his chest. His hold on her arms was so tight it was almost painful but she held still, just stroking the skin over his heart revealed by the opening in his shirt.
“Trent, I was just … it was a bad joke. I didn’t mean anything by that.”
Her words didn't seem to help. If anything he just squeezed her tighter. His lips moved against her hair as he kissed the top of her head.
“You are my life. If anything ever happened to you… If anything ever took you away from me.”
She ran her hands over his arms soothingly and allowed him to pull her closer. He seemed manic, holding her against him like he was afraid to let her go. It was disconcerting to see him like this, just another side to him that she wasn’t used to.
He took her mouth, crushing her against him, holding her so tightly that she could barely move. She squirmed in his arms, alarmed by his sudden intensity. When she went lax, he pulled back, his breath coming hard and fast in a wash of air against her cheek.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." His hands roamed over her face, her hair, petting gently. She allowed it, sensing that the touching was soothing to him. When he finally calmed, she looked up into his eyes.
"I'm okay. And I'm not going anywhere."
When he lowered his head this time, it was slowly. Steadily. She tilted her face up into the kiss, one hand curling behind his head. Mara gave herself up to emotion, to being taken by the only man who had ever made her feel this way. Trent had taken care of her when she was sick and comforted her when she was sad. He was the only one she had ever imagined forever with.
The only one she'd ever wanted to imagine forever with.
"Sometimes I think you don't know how much you mean to me," he whispered. "Everything about you is perfect. The way you move. The way you smell. The way you taste." His fingers hooked into the sides of her jeans and tugged, working the material over her hips. Her underwear was pulled down, too and Mara watched helplessly as he tossed it aside.
His head descended and then his tongue connected with her core. Her loud moan echoed around them as he pulled her wet flesh between his lips. There was no buildup, no foreplay. He just went for it and unprepared, Mara wasn't ready to stifle her cries.
"Tell me you want me," Trent demanded. He lifted his head and captivated by the feral look in his eyes, Mara couldn't look away.
She was standing half-naked in her brand new closet with her legs spread. She was past the point of wanting. But she knew he wouldn't touch her without the words. He wasn't himself. This was not the easygoing Trent she knew. This man was dominant and exacting.
And he wanted her with single-minded intensity.