“Look, I’ve started to understand your motives.”
“My motives in the beginning,” she corrected him, turning his hand over so her fingers could trace evocative patterns on his palm. “Things changed when I got to know you.”
Harrison’s blood heated as she inched closer. The entreaty in her eyes undermined his willpower. “I get it, but I can’t just go on as if none of this happened.”
“I don’t blame you.” She peered at him from beneath her lashes. “But I just want you to know that you changed me in ways I never imagined possible.”
“London...”
Before he knew it, Harrison found himself leaning in. Her feminine scent lured him closer still. He knew exactly where she applied her perfume. A dab on her neck, right over the madly throbbing pulse. Another behind her ear. The hollow of her elbow. Behind her knees.
“I know I have no right to ask, but could you ever...?” She bit her lip, unable to finish the question.
“Forgive you?” He was on the verge of forgetting everything except the driving need to delve into her heat as her palm coasted over his shoulder.
“I know it’s not fair for me to ask. But if there’s anything I can do.” Her other hand found his thigh and Harrison almost groaned at the tornado of lust swirling in him. “If there’s any way back to where we were,” she continued. “Or forward to something better. All you need to do is tell me what you need me to do.”
Harrison raked his fingers through his hair and blew out a giant breath while his craving for her warred with his shattered faith.
“My uncle told me a story about when he and Dixie were dating. He did something wrong and spent the following year trying to get back in her good graces.”
“If you think it’ll take a year for you to forgive me,” London said, so close now that it took no effort at all for her to slide her lips over his ear, “I’m for doing whatever it takes.”
Harrison shuddered as her husky voice vibrated through him. “You’d make that pledge without knowing if I could ever trust you again?”
“I trust that the man you are will play fair with me.” She tipped her head and let him see her conviction. “You are worth the risk.”
With his ability to resist her unraveling, Harrison said, “You know, when we first started seeing each other I got the impression you didn’t feel that way.”
“That you were worth the risk?” She shook her head. “Maybe at the very beginning I judged you for what you did for a living. But you were willing to give me a chance anyway.”
With a warm, willing woman sliding her hand farther up his thigh, Harrison couldn’t figure out why he was still talking. But while his body was revving past safety limits, his heart hadn’t yet recovered from crashing.
“You had great legs.”
She shook her head at that. “I wasn’t exactly your type, though, was I?”
“No. You were far too reserved.”
They shared a grin at how much that had changed and more of Harrison’s doubts began to fizzle and fade.
“If that was true, why did you approach me at the foundation event?” she asked, leaning more of her body against him.
“Truth?” He sighed as her soft breasts flattened against his arm. “Because you seemed interested in Tristan and I wanted to protect you from him.”
“Seriously?” She eased back a fraction and shook her head in wonder. “So, if not for my ill-conceived plot against your brother, we never would’ve gone out.”
“We might have.” But he didn’t really believe that.
“I don’t think so,” she said. “We were too different.”
While she’d caught his eye at the event, he’d initially dismissed her as not his type. Odd that they’d both nearly let their prejudices get in the way of something amazing.
“That means,” she continued, “in a fateful twist, the revenge plot brought us together.”
Harrison considered that for a long moment. “I guess it did.”
“I’m glad. I don’t regret a single second of the time I spent falling in love with you.”