Free Burn by Maya Banks Page B

said.
    The determination in his voice made her go still. He was so sure of himself. Of her. Of there being an eventual “us.”
    “How is your food?” he asked, shifting the conversation in a completely different direction.
    She stared down at her plate, realizing the steak was halffinished and she had no memory of eating what was gone.
    “It’s good,” she said quickly. “Excellent actually. I’ve never eaten here before. It’s too rich for my blood. What made you choose it?”
    The corner of his mouth lifted. “I own the hotel, so it’s only natural that I’d have a restaurant in it that I love to eat at. I’m glad the steak was to your liking.”
    Her jaw went slack. “You own this hotel?”
    His eyebrow went up. “You sound surprised. I told you that my partners and I own several hotels.”
    “I guess I thought you meant like a hotel chain or something small. This hotel is . . .” She grasped for the right word to keep from sounding like a complete moron.
    “It’s what?” he asked.
    “It’s so glitzy and obviously caters to the wealthy. I guess I thought you owned something on a much smaller scale,” she murmured.
    “Does that bother you?”
    She shook her head. “No. It just took me by surprise. I mean you look like you’re wealthy, but maybe I wasn’t thinking you were this successful.”
    “And you think that if you agree to what I’ve proposed that it makes you a gold digger?”
    He nailed it with one shot. The man was far too adept at reading her mind.
    “Let’s just say that I’m not in your league. Anyone looking at the two of us would immediately label me an opportunist. No one would ever believe that I wasn’t with you for the money.”
    “And would you be?” he asked bluntly.
    She couldn’t suppress her reaction. Her lips thinned and the corners dropped down in a frown.
    “Of course not! I don’t want or need you to support me, Ash. I don’t want your money. I want . . .”
    She broke off in horror at what she’d almost said. But Ash didn’t miss it and his gaze became all the more intense.
    “What do you want?”
    “You,” she whispered. “Just you.”
    Satisfaction gleamed in his eyes and a slow smile worked over his mouth.
    “Then you need to deal, Josie. Because with me comes all that I can give you, and it will not make me happy if you refuse anything I choose to give you or do for you. As long as you and I know the score, I don’t give a fuck what anyone else thinks and neither should you.”
    She licked her lips, his earlier words coming back to her. She had wanted to question him then, but the moment hadn’t seemed right and then the food arrived. But the question was burning on her lips, and she had to know.
    “You said earlier . . . I mean, when you said you’d give but that you’d take. A lot. What did you mean by that?”
    “Everything,” he said bluntly. “You in my bed. You in my space. You under my protection. I’d take everything, Josie, and you’d give it.”
    “That doesn’t seem very equal,” she murmured.
    “Nothing I can ever give you could compare to your gift of submission. The gift of your trust. Nothing is more valuable than that, and you can’t put a price tag on that kind of gift. I’d spend all my time catching up, because hell no it’s not equal. What you’d give me far surpasses anything I could give you.”
    “Wouldn’t you also be giving me yourself? I mean you said I’d give myself to you, but you’d give me you in return, right?”
    He paused a moment, still staring intently into her eyes. “You get me. All of me. What I choose to give you. Nothing more. And you have to understand that. If that bothers you, then you have to deal or make a decision because I can’t give you more.”
    She digested his words for a long moment and then glanced back up at him, her brow creased as she plunged ahead with her next question, or rather, condition. He might not take it very well, but she couldn’t even consider