Turning, she saw Alex standing in the bedroom doorway frowning at her.
“I’m sorting through my clothes.”
“Leave that, you should be resting.”
Tara sighed. “Alex, I appreciate all your help. You’ve gone beyond the call of duty. But I can’t stay here any longer. I need to go.”
He stared down at her in shock.
“I need to move on, Alex. I deserve to be happy. I deserve to find a man who will love me back. I know you don’t feel the same way I do and that’s fine—”
“Tara—”
“That’s why I gave you back the collar. I’m going to go and stay with Derrick and Jacey. You can find someone who will give you what you need. I’m really grateful—”
“Tara!” he interrupted loudly, surprising her.
“Yes?”
“Shut. Up.” It was the fierceness of his expression rather than the words that had her falling silent.
“I don’t want to hear another word about how grateful you are. I don’t want you to be grateful to me.”
She looked at him in confusion. “Then what do you want?”
“I want you to love me, woman!”
Tara sat back on the bed. “What? You what?”
She couldn’t have heard that right, could she?
He paced up and down the small room. “I love you. I’m going to rip up that stupid contract.”
“Because I broke it.”
“No. Because that’s no longer what I want. I don’t want a relationship based just on sex. I want it all. I want you to love me the way I love you.”
“You…love me?”
Alex knelt in front of her, clasping her hands in his. “Yes, more than anything in this world. I love you, Tara. Will you agree to tear up that contract and start again? I have been such an idiot. How the hell did you put up with me?”
She smiled a little. “Whenever I got frustrated I just imagined tying you up and spanking your ass.”
He raised his eyebrows then let out a surprised laugh. “Made you feel
better, did it?”
She nodded. Then she stared down at her hands which were tightly clasped together in her lap.
“What’s wrong? You don’t seem that happy.” Panic unfurled inside him. What was wrong? Had he waited too long?
“Are you sure about this? I mean, you were pretty adamant that I wasn’t to fall in love with you. Are you sure that you trust me? Because this won’t work if you don’t.”
He sat up on the bed beside her. “You’re right. This won’t work without trust. But I do trust you, Tara. I know you won’t betray or hurt me.”
Clasping her hand in his, he squeezed it gently. There were things he needed to explain to her. “I find it hard to talk about what my ex-wife put me through. Simone was a cold, hard bitch. She married me for my money. That’s all she wanted. She went to others for everything else.”
Tara drew in a sharp breath. “She cheated on you?” The disbelief in her voice soothed something deep inside him. There was a part of him that was still raw over the fact that Simone had rejected him.