Womanizer

“I’m opening a new division at Carma. I’m allocating a percentage of our investment funds to partner with small, struggling companies. I wanted you as head.”

I blink.

I draw my eyes away.

“I couldn’t take the chance of you saying no—so I gave you some time.” He takes my chin. “I can’t take a chance of you saying no.”

I’m blown away by the offer. I’m blown away by the way Callan is looking at me now, as if I’m exactly what he’s been looking for, for a long, long time. “There are other people who can do that job a thousand times better,” I whisper.

“I doubt that.”

He holds my gaze.

Love doesn’t lie. Everything I’ve never known I wanted, I see in his eyes. It’s taken time for me to look past my fears and my plans, and now here he is. Here I am.

“Whatever you want to do, do it now—there are no guaranteed tomorrows, Olivia,” he says, jaw clenched as he looks at me.

“Life goes by in a blink, Livvy. Here we are, trying to make sense of it. Stop thinking and just live it. I don’t want another second without you. Not one.” He shakes his head, then pauses and takes my chin again, leaning closer. His voice drops to a low, deep rumble. “I once told you I didn’t know if I could love anyone deeply. I can and I do. More than I ever thought I could.”

I’m speechless. For the first time in my life, really. Everything I never knew I wanted sits next to me in six-feet-plus of muscle and man. My friend and my mentor and my lover and my . . . love.

“I told you I loved you,” he says, softly, when I don’t respond.

My voice sounds soft as cotton. “I remember. You just said it.”

“Any chance I’ll ever hear you say it back?”

I nod frantically fast, trying to find my voice.

“Climb the terrace we’ve built and come to the edge, and take a look, Olivia. I’m standing right there.”

I croak out, clenching my fingers into my palm, “What are you doing standing there?”

“Waiting for you, you adorable, infuriating, irresistible girl.” He thinks about it, then laughs as if at himself, then eyes me meaningfully. “I want you pregnant with my children. I want your DNA permanently woven with mine.”

He waits. Then . . .

“Remember when I told you the worst things are never planned?” he asks. “In my case, I think it’s the best things in my life I never planned. I never thought I’d own my own business one day. I never planned for my friends, Saint and Roth. I never planned for my brother. You are one of those things. The thing. I never planned for you in my life, Olivia,” he says, watching me. “I guess you can say I had a thousand small business plans, never a personal one. You know me. I don’t like leaving things to chance.” His lips quirk a little in amusement. “It always felt too iffy. For twenty-eight years, I was proven right not to have planned for it. But then, there was this lovely little blonde on the terrace of Carma, and she asked me for a hit, and I wanted all of her like I’d never wanted anything. Those wide, scared eyes, that mouth running away from you.”

I’m melting and yet I’m still sitting here but I don’t even know how. I feel so much love that it suddenly infuses every pore of my body and enlivens every particle and atom of my being.

If I was strong enough to fall for him—for a man like him—I’m strong enough to be with him. He won’t be easy. And the realization that I don’t want him to be, that the challenge excites me, brings out the best in me, fills me with excitement and relief.

“I don’t want you to work for me, Livvy. I want you to be my partner in every way, in every sense. I want to plan good things with you. A future with you. And I’ll ride it even if some things don’t go our way; all I know is that I want all of it with you. You make it better. You make me better.” He cups my face and squeezes gently as he looks into my eyes. “I’ve fallen so deeply in love with you I’m drowning here. I’m fucking drowning here.” He shakes his head. “I blinked my eyes and you were gone. It went by so fast, I don’t want to blink a second time and find you gone again, not for a second.”

I take his jaw and press my lips to his. He groans and grabs the back of my head, angling it so he can kiss me harder.

“I wanted to stay,” I breathe as I rain loving pecks on his mouth. “I wanted to say I loved you and I was afraid.”

“Say it,” he gruffly commands.

“I love you. You fucked up my plan and I’m glad you did.” I laugh when his lips hike up at the corners and his hand clenches convulsively around the back of my head. Callan couldn’t look prouder if he’d taken over the galaxy. “It’s the first time I’ve said it to your face. It feels good to tell you.”

He stands and lifts me, his hands on my ass, anchoring me to him. “I brought you something.” He shifts me on his thigh and reaches into his back pocket.

He hands me a box of cigarettes, and a melty sensation runs along my spine. I open it and, to my disappointment, there’s nothing inside. “What kind of gift is this?” I complain.

I turn it upside down, as if magically a cigarette will appear, and out falls a heavy diamond ring onto the center of my palm.

I’m in shock. All I’d asked for was a cigarette. Really. Just a smoke.

“I’m all in,” he whispers, looking down at me, his eyes brilliant with happiness as he tips my chin up. “Are you?”