She twisted around in his arms and rested her head on his chest, breathing him in. Even with the distant traffic, she could hear his strong heart and it grounded her. A well of emotion took her by surprise. She couldn’t imagine life without Tobias, but was she willing to sell her soul to the devil?
“You’re so beautiful.” He smoothed his hands down her hair. “Come on, I want to show you something.”
He took her hand, and it felt like the most intimate thing in the world walking hand in hand with him. The doors were held open for them, and women with trays of champagne danced around the well-dressed crowd in the lobby. Everyone wanted to talk to Tobias, but he brushed them all off and kept leading her to the door just ahead.
Once inside the room, he closed the door. It was an office, but it wasn’t his usual style.
“What is this?” she asked.
He picked up a remote control from the desk and hit a button. The built-in blinds began to lower on all the windows, blocking out the people in the lobby and the view of the street from the other side. “Doesn’t matter. I just needed to be alone with you.”
“To fuck?”
He frowned. “Watch your mouth, baby girl. It doesn’t suit you.” Tobias pressed a finger to her lips and tossed the remote on a chair. “We’ll have time for that later.”
“Then why are we here?”
“We need to talk. Well, I need to talk,” he said.
She liked the sound of that, but didn’t want to get her hopes up. He could be telling her that it wouldn’t work, that he’d find a more fertile woman to mother his heir. “Okay.”
“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, and you know what I realized?”
She shook her head.
“I’m an asshole.”
Her jaw dropped. “No, Tobias. Don’t say that.” She ran her fingertips along his jaw, but he grabbed her wrist and kissed her pulse point.
“It’s true. I only wanted a baby to keep my lineage going. I didn’t even want to be a father or husband,” he said. “I planned to ship the kid off to boarding school and maybe see him on holidays. As for the woman, I didn’t want to see her once I knew she was pregnant.”
She swallowed hard.
“I had everything a man could want—money, power, women. But I’ve learned something, Adora. Do you know what that is?”
“No, Tobias.”
He smirked, holding both her shoulders, looking down at her. “None of that matters. Not once you find the woman you love.”
/> “I don’t understand. What about the test?”
“Baby or no baby, you’re all I want, Adora. You’ve changed me. I’m miserable without you.”
“What does this mean?”
“It means I want more. I want what my brother wanted, it just took me longer to figure it all out.” He cupped her face and kissed her lips once. “I love you, Adora Garcia. Nothing will ever change that.”
He’d actually said it, and she believed him. Not because she wanted it to be true, but because he was being sincere.
“I love you, too.”
“This doesn’t mean I’m not going to keep trying for that baby, just that the game plan has changed. I don’t want to replay my fucked-up childhood. I want us to have a real family, Adora.”
She couldn’t stop the tears from slipping down her cheeks. This was better than a fairy tale, and Tobias was her unlikely hero.
Adora wanted to list off a dozen or more thing that could put the brakes on their moment, from his parents to her father, but she kept her mouth shut. Love could conquer anything.
“Now, did you do as I asked?”