Claimed (Diamond Tycoons 1)

Just the thought had her breath catching in her throat, had her searching his face for signs of the same overwhelming feelings she was having. She found them in the crinkle of his eyes, in the soft corners of his smile, in the hand that wasn’t quite steady on her arm.

And somehow the knowledge that she wasn’t alone made everything better. She’d loved Marc Durand once, with every beat of her heart, with every ounce of her being. Losing him had nearly killed her, which was why she’d sworn never to repeat the mistake. And yet, here she was, after several strong warnings to herself, in the middle of the fall all over again. It wasn’t a comfortable place to be, not by a long shot. But when he looked at her like that—all soft and sweet and involved—it wasn’t a bad place, either. It was actually a little wonderful.

“I choose Greek,” she told him. “There’s a little place two blocks over from my house. It’s a hole-in-the-wall but the food is amazing.”

“Greek it is, then. Text me the name and I’ll find it,” he replied, dropping one last, lingering kiss on her lips before pulling open her car door for her. “Drive safely.”

She laughed. “Same old Marc.”

“Hey. You used to like the old Marc.”

He was right. She had. Right up until he’d tossed her out on her butt without so much as her apartment key. Unbidden, the memory of that long-ago night crept in—along with an uneasiness she refused to feel.

Not now, when Marc was looking at her with such warmth.

Not now, when she could feel herself melting into a puddle of warm goo at the look in his eyes.

And so she settled for a half-truth, as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her mouth against the dark stubble on his jaw. “I still do like him.”

This time she was sure it was his breath that caught in his throat, his heart that was beating way too fast. “Go,” he said, after taking her mouth in a swift, hard kiss that set her nerves jangling and her sex pulsing. “Before I decide to take you right here in the parking lot with my security guards looking on.”

She wasn’t sure what it said about her that right then, at that moment, that didn’t sound like such a bad proposition.

Still, she climbed in her car, let him close the door after her. And, as she drove home, she refused to think about the future. For the first time in her adult life, she refused to think about the consequences of what she was doing. Instead, she decided that, just this once, she would look before she leaped.

And pray that she landed on her feet.

Sixteen

Two days later, she was still leaping. And still falling, with no hint of the ground in sight.

It was wonderful and awful, exhilarating and terrifying, all at the same time. Especially since Marc seemed to feel exactly the same way.

Last night he’d invited Nic to come to dinner with them and she’d spent the two-hour meal laughing until her sides hurt. Even with the threat of the newspaper article hanging over their heads, Nic was just that kind of guy. He always had been, but she’d forgotten that in the years since she’d seen him last. Just as she had blocked out so much of her time with Marc because it was too painful to remember.

She was remembering it now, remembering all the fun they’d had together. The million ways Marc had to make her smile. The million and one ways she’d had to make him relax, no matter how stressful his day had been.

And now, as she walked up to his office, she couldn’t keep the triumphant smile from her face. She’d completed the last of her tests, had spent the entire day looking at hydrogen isotopes until her eyes crossed and her brain felt as if it would bleed out of her ears.

She’d crashed what was normally a ten-day certification process into five days and she was exhausted, completely wiped out. But none of that mattered because she had good news for Marc. It was news he already knew, of course, but it would still be a relief to him and Nic to know that she concurred. And that none of their employees had snuck something shady in under the radar.

Marc’s assistant, a really nice guy named Thomas, waved her toward Marc’s door as soon as he spotted her. “Go right in. He’s been waiting for you for the last two hours.”

Of course he had. He was that kind of guy. She’d told him she thought she’d be finished around four and her phone had buzzed with a text at exactly 4:01, checking to see if she was finished for the day.

She’d put him off for two hours as she ran more isotope tests than she ever had before—many more than the industry considered necessary. But she wanted this certification to be beyond reproach, wanted Marc to have the peace of mind of knowing there was no truth to the LA Times article at all.

After the debacle of their past, she owed it to him. More, she wanted it for him. He deserved it.

He and Nic and Harrison, one of the attorneys working on their end of the situation, were all gathered around Marc’s desk when she walked in. And though they were chatting amiably enough, the tension in the air was thick enough to scoop with an ice cream spoon.

All eyes turned to her and she smiled, holding out to Marc the folder of documents she’d put together—and signed—certifying Bijoux as carrying only conflict-free diamonds. She would send him electronic copies of the same papers, but for now, handing him a folder felt more official. More real. She supposed she was old-school like that.

It must have felt official to him, too, because the moment he opened the folder and saw the first page, her lover grinned like a crazy man.

“We got it?” he asked, his voice slightly hushed despite the excitement on his face.

“You absolutely got it,” she said.