Chapter 61

Elena’s face felt like it was on fire. Her heart was pounding, but with Richard’s handsome face so close to hers, her troublesome instincts quickly returned. Instead of backing down, she found herself wanting to provoke him just a little more.

“Call you what?” Elena blinked up at him, her lashes fluttering with exaggerated innocence. Trying her best to look like a harmless little rabbit that had wandered into the wrong place, she rested both hands lightly against his broad chest and deliberately softened her voice. “What exactly am I supposed to call you?”

She leaned a little closer. “I’m genuinely curious. There is such a thing as respecting your elders, after all. Even your daughter said you’re very particular about rules.”

Richard studied her for a few seconds, clearly trying to figure out what she was up to. “She told you that?”

“Well…” Elena cleared her throat. “Before Victoria invited my ex and me to that villa, she said something like that in front of me. Basically, she told me not to worry and just relax and have fun. She said that even though Mr. Sterling cares a lot about proper behavior, I probably wouldn’t run into you anyway, so there was no reason for me to be nervous.”

Richard raised an eyebrow. “Did she?”

A man like Richard didn’t need much explanation to understand what Victoria had really meant. She had been mocking Elena for having no manners. As for the deeper reason she’d invited Elena to the villa in the first place, Richard remembered what Jonathan had reported afterward. He had a fairly good idea of what his daughter had been trying to do.

“Yeah.” Elena watched his expression carefully. When she saw no sign that he was upset, she grew a little bolder. “Though I’m pretty sure Adrian was the one she really wanted to invite. They’re both brilliant academic types, after all—great minds appreciating great minds, I guess. They probably have plenty to talk about. I was just the extra.”

Richard didn’t answer. He simply looked down at her, his dark gaze resting on her eyes.

Elena had started teasing him because he seemed to be in a good mood, but part of her was genuinely testing the waters. She wanted to know more about his relationship with Victoria. If things between her and Richard were going to develop any further—whatever that eventually meant—it would be better to understand his family situation instead of stumbling around blindly.

“So…” Elena tilted her head and began tracing an absent circle over the front of his shirt. “If Mr. Sterling cares so much about proper behavior, maybe he’d prefer it if I weren’t so…”

Her fingertip moved slowly across the expensive fabric, following the firm line of his chest.

“…disrespectful to my elders.”

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She gave him her most innocent expression and immediately felt the muscles beneath her hand tighten.

“So really,” Elena continued, trying not to laugh, “this isn’t about whether I like calling you that. It’s about whether you—”

She straightened and tried to slide off his lap.

Richard didn’t let her.

He had actually been listening to her seriously until she suddenly started shifting around in his arms. The look in his eyes changed almost at once, and Elena noticed it a second too late. His gaze darkened as he looked at the woman in his arms who apparently still hadn’t figured out when to stop teasing him.

“You really do know how to talk your way around anything.” Richard caught her lightly by the chin.

Elena opened her mouth. “That was only—”

She never finished.

Richard caught the back of her head and kissed her.

There was nothing tentative about the kiss. It took Elena completely by surprise, and for a heartbeat all she could register was the familiar cool, woody scent surrounding her and the warmth of him beneath her hands. Richard kissed her with a force that made it obvious just how much restraint he’d been holding onto all evening.

Elena froze for only a moment before her hands found his shoulders. One slipped behind his neck, and instead of pushing him away, she pulled him closer.

The kiss deepened.

Her thoughts scattered, and somewhere in the middle of it she stopped remembering that she’d been trying to escape only seconds earlier. Richard’s breathing had grown heavier, and Elena could feel the tension in him beneath her fingertips.

Her other hand drifted down his chest, over the firm lines of his abdomen, until her fingers reached the buckle of his belt.

Richard’s hair brushed the back of her other hand.

It tickled.

Still caught up in the kiss, Elena absently ran her fingers along the back of his neck. The muscles there were taut beneath her palm, but she didn’t think much of it. Her fingers wandered farther to the side until her palm settled over the pulse in his neck.

Richard suddenly went rigid.

Elena felt the change immediately. This wasn’t the same tension she’d noticed a moment ago. She pulled back slightly, still catching her breath as she looked at him.

“What happened?”

Richard’s dark eyes remained fixed on hers. He let out a slow breath, then caught her wrist and gently but firmly moved her hand away from his neck.

He didn’t release it. Instead, he brought her hand to his lips and bit lightly at the base of her finger, the gesture somewhere between restraint and punishment.

“I haven’t had much practice being this close to someone,” he said, his voice noticeably rougher than before. “Most places are fine, but when someone touches me there…” His gaze flicked toward the side of his neck. “It’s uncomfortable.”

Elena blinked. “…My fingernails aren’t knives. If you think I can snap your neck with one hand, you’re giving me way too much credit.”

Richard laughed quietly. “No. It’s not you. It’s my problem.”

His thumb moved gently over her knuckles. “Years ago, I was targeted a few times. After that, for a long time, I didn’t like people getting too close to me.”

A strange ache rose in Elena’s chest. She knew feeling sorry for him was probably a bad sign, but when the emotion came, she couldn’t seem to stop it.

She turned her hand in his and wrapped her fingers around his. “Were you hurt?”

Richard paused.

The worry on her face was obvious. After looking at her for a moment, he took her hand and slowly guided it back toward his neck. This time, he placed her palm over the exact spot that had made him tense before.

His skin was warm beneath her hand.

Elena carefully moved her fingertips over the spot and felt a faint ridge beneath them. There was an old scar there, so subtle that she probably would never have noticed it if he hadn’t shown her where to look.

“Almost,” Richard said quietly. “The blade nearly reached an artery. A few millimeters farther, and I probably would’ve died there.”

Elena went still.

She’d been in fights before, but nothing that had ever put her life on the line. She couldn’t quite imagine what Richard must have gone through for that instinctive fear to remain in his body years later.

Richard leaned forward and kissed her forehead.

“I’ll get used to it.”

Elena looked at him for a moment, then nodded.

His hand was still covering hers, keeping her palm against his neck. Beneath it, she could feel his pulse beating steadily against her skin, warm and unmistakably alive.

She didn’t pull away. Instead, her fingertips moved gently over the almost invisible scar.

Then Elena lifted her head and leaned closer.

Very gently, she pressed her lips to the old scar on the side of his neck.