In response to their failed dinner plans a week back, he opted instead to conduct this dinner in a more intimate setting. And what was more intimate than the terrace of their bedroom? Jacqueline had done a spectacular job in arranging the small table for two. Her fine attention to detail in the white French table linen to the long stemmed gold candleholders and the beautiful china dinnerware that housed two intricately folded napkins was well and truly appreciated. And while Dominic sat in quiet contemplation, trying not to peer down at the expensive watch around his wrist, he reminded himself to increase her pay, if for nothing else, than her tireless devotion to him.

He reclined back in the chair and raised his arms, crossing fingers to cup his head. Fully aware of her tardiness, Dominic fought against his surmounting irritation and instead pondered at the details of his plan. But then he felt it, that indiscernible influx of warmth that he’d come to associate solely with her presence washed over him, and his eyes peeled open to search for her. He didn’t have to look too far, for there she was standing a few feet away from him a vision in dark skinny jeans that encased her sexy legs, smooth, caramel legs that had once upon a time wrapped around his waist in full anticipation of his thrusts. His fixated stare slid languidly upwards to perfect sized breasts enhanced by a short-sleeve shirt. She was fresh-faced, the lack of make-up made it possible to admire her flawless complexion. The three dark beauty marks on her cheek he remembered so well stood out, and he wanted to trace his tongue in the small triangle they formed. Her luscious, full pink mouth conjured images of what he wanted to do with those lips and he was instantly hard. He sat up, cleared his throat, and fought to find a comfortable position.

“You’re late,” he murmured, reproach in his deep dark voice. As she walked forward, his eyes shot to her feet and noted that she was barefooted. Cute and sexy came to mind, provoking a wry smirk. Rising, he came around to pull her chair out for her; a move he realized stunned her as she stared owlishly at him. “I am capable of being gallant,” he uttered drily. “Sit.” He followed his command with a gentle grasp of her forearm to help her slide into the seat. Once she was seated, Dominic lingered for a beat, inhaling the scent of jasmine and rose that permeated from her skin. Disciplined enough not to lower his lips to the graceful column of her neck, despite how bad he wanted to, Dominic stepped away from her and returned to his seat.

“You look lovely,” he said graciously, watching as the knit at her brow tightened at the compliment. Her slim tautened shoulders were nearly to her neck. She sat there like a doll, refusing to meet his gaze as her legs bounced furiously beneath the table. Nervous tension peeled off her so strong that he could taste it. “Try the wine,” he advised. At that, she looked to her right at the wait staff who’d appeared from seemingly nowhere, dutifully pouring wine in the stemware at her side.

“No, thank you,” she said curtly. “I want that divorce and you said—”

“All in good time, pet,” he cut her off, raising his own glass to his mouth. Wine was not Dominic’s drink of choice, but he knew she enjoyed the Bordeaux. The rich and voluptuous aromas of mocha, chestnut, and cedar danced enticingly on his tongue, reminding him of the kisses he’d stolen from her.

She made a noise that was born of frustration. “I told you I’m not going to play your game. You wanted me to come to dinner, I’m here. Tell me how I can get you to sign those damn divorce papers so I can go.”

“I asked you to dinner. We have not had dinner yet; therefore, I am unwilling to discuss anything further until we are both well and thoroughly fed.”

“Then tell them to serve us,” she said through clenched teeth.

“I enjoy a little conversation with my dinner,” he injected smoothly, setting his glass down and sitting back. “Tell me about Liam.”

Eden’s irritation was far too potent to be contained beneath the veneer of cordiality he was conducting. She didn’t know what he was doing. Why he was acting this way when they both knew he was the furthest thing from civil. His sudden change of behavior was at complete odds with the monster she knew him to be. What did he want? Aside from her body in his bed, there was something else he wanted from her, something else that gleamed behind those smoldering green eyes. She didn’t like not knowing. She didn’t like not being able to read him, because that only meant trouble for her. In addition to that, his sudden inquiry and interest in Liam made Eden wholly uneasy.

Having bonded with her child throughout her pregnancy, then going through the agony of giving birth to him, and nurturing him now, Eden was unwilling to share that part, that bond with Dominic. Of course he had every right to know his son, and a small part of her knew the inevitability of that moment, but selfishness and self-preservation made her reluctant. Eden knew Dominic. She knew more than anyone what he was capable of. How emotionless and self-serving he could be. Liam would not benefit from knowing his father, because Dominic was not capable of simple human emotions. He was incapable of love and affection, and Liam would suffer for it, because his father would never give him what he would certainly crave. Dominic’s interests laid only in himself and how best he could manipulate and use those around him to his benefit.

“There’s not much to tell,” she murmured evasively.

“Come now, pet, surely there’s something you can tell me about my son.” The imperceptible quirk of his lips made Eden look away. “No…nothing? Well how about the incident that nearly killed him. Tell me about that.”

Eden’s head whipped to face him, her luminous golden eyes widening like a doe caught in the headlights. Silence stretched as she finally reached for the stem of the wide mouth wine glass with tremulous fingers and brought it to her lips. She did not sip, but gulped it down until there was little left. “How do you know about that?” her voice barely rose above a whisper.

He shrugged his broad shoulders. “I know many things. Tell me what happened,” he prompted levelly, noting the pallor of her skin and the array of emotions playing across her beautiful face. It was something that he knew she did not want to discuss, but Dominic reasoned it would take her mind off wanting to leave him. He was quite good at slinging mud. In fact, it was the only way he knew how to deal with her. Sentimentality had certainly never been his forte, and it didn’t seem like it was a quality Dominic wanted to acquire any time soon. Although the adage of catching more flies with honey than vinegar certainly rang true in this situation.

Eden took in a shuddering breath, setting down her wine glass. “I don’t owe you anything, least of all an explanation.” She rose to her feet and thanked God that they weren’t as wobbly as she was feeling inwardly. “If you have nothing more to say to me then I’m leaving.”

“Leave and you can forget about my offer.”

“You haven’t made it yet.”

He studied her as if she was an odd little specimen caught beneath the lens of his microscope and though she stood over him, stared down at him, Eden couldn’t have felt smaller or even more insignificant than she was in that instant.

“Sit down,” he said with a quiet calm, stretching out a hand to indicate to her seat. “If you do not wish to discuss the matter then I will not pursue it.”

It took a long moment for Eden to reclaim her seat and was saved from saying anything when the food arrived. Had this been another time and probably with different company, she would’ve enjoyed the steak that paired so beautifully with the Bordeaux. But unfortunately for Eden, things were not different at all; she was in the now, and the man seated across from her was a sociopath who, if given the chance, would suck away her sanity until she was just as demented as he was. Given her lack of appetite Eden stared across the table at him, inexplicably drawn to the way he ate his steak.

Control freak that he was, Eden was not surprised to see him eat in the same controlled, structured way that he governed everything else around him. He sat erect, knife and fork working to cut into the porterhouse and bring it to his mouth. Watching him chew and then swallow was sickeningly fascinating and it was only when she found his dark green eyes fixated on her that she looked away, a dark flush overtaking the high bones of her cheeks. After that Eden occupied herself with her own steak, finding it far more interesting and safer to look at than the man who sat across from her, undoubtedly laughing at her if that smirk was any indication.

Dinner couldn’t have been over fast enough for her, and though he refused to say anything else until they’d properly eaten, Eden had had just about enough and promptly refused dessert when it was offered. “We’re done with dinner.”

“Yes, it looks as though we are,” he drawled.

“Dominic.”

“Spend the next six months here with me, as my wife, and at the end of that time I will have my attorney draw up the divorce papers. I will make sure that you are well and truly cared for afterwards.”

Six months in his company playing a role that Eden had come to find demeaning and intolerable. He’d humiliated her, debased her in front of his friends in the worst way possible. He’d treated her as nothing more than a whore for years, and now he was asking her to do it again. Be his convenient little arm candy and sex doll. But at what cost? Was her freedom worth her degradation? “I won’t play your whore.”

“Not publicly, no. But you will not deny me the pleasures of your body when we are alone.”

“I am not going to sleep with you!” She remained adamant on the subject, the obstinate set of her jaw indicating that she would not yield on the subject. Curbing the kneejerk instinct to fire back and force her to acquiesce to his demands, Dominic found himself relenting, not on the off chance of having suddenly sprouted a conscious, but with the full knowledge that she would eventually end up in his bed.

“Very well, pet, sex will not factor into the agreement without your consent.” He was quite capable of playing nice when he wanted to; being bad, however, got things done a lot quicker.

“My name isn’t pet or sweeting or whatever else your twisted mind might think up to call me. It’s Eden, it has always been Eden, and it will always be Eden, so give me the courtesy of calling me by my given name.”

“Very well…anything else?”

“I want you to call off the bodyguards you put on me. Jenna is my best friend, and she has been really good to me through all this. I want you to hire her, make her Liam’s nanny. You are not allowed to threaten to take Liam from me at any time, and when this is over, you will relinquish all your parental rights and let me leave with him.”

At that proposal, Dominic paused for a moment, seized by a sudden memory. He felt like he was reliving a scene, one that had undoubtedly been an integral part of shaping him into the man he was today. A mother, a prostitute, a drug fiend accepting a paltry sum to sell her child, a child who would’ve stupidly, trustingly remained at her side if she’d given him the choice. A child who had loved and needed her despite the horrendous way she had treated him. Dominic remembered the memory, tasted the pungent acridness of that day like it was sustenance; it coated the walls of his mouth, slithered down his throat, and worked itself through his system, wrapping and constricting a heart that was as black as the night sky. He had never wanted a child, but losing this boy after only knowing him for such a short time produced an emotion so fierce in Dominic that he was nearly bowled over by it.

Eden noted the instant change in him and shuddered at the menacing look in his eyes.

“Let us be clear on this one matter. Regardless of what I have said or how I have felt in the past, Liam’s presence in my life will remain a constant, even if you and I part ways.”

“I won’t let you turn him into you.”

“And what exactly am I?”

“You’re a monster.”

His deep, dark chuckle lacked any humor or warmth as it failed to reach his impenetrable gaze. “I am the monster I was created to be.” The deprecating smile remained in place as he regarded her in kind. “Liam will know me as his father; that is not negotiable,” he said with finality, daring her to challenge him.

But Eden couldn’t challenge him even if she wanted to. There was too much at stake for her to go against him. She would lose, she was sure of it, because his show of knowledge earlier about what happened with Liam in those early weeks of his life, was a warning, a little precaution to Eden that he knew things about her, things he would not be afraid to bring to light and use against her if she did not tread carefully. “Fine, you can spend time with Liam. We both know how fleeting that’s going to be anyways. At least when you lose interest, he’ll be too young to understand.”

“Well, time will tell, wont it?”

“When this is over, we’re done. You’re going to sign the divorce papers and give me back everything you took from me, and we’ll go our separate ways,” she announced.

“As you wish.”

Eden took in a bracing breath, sure that she was doing the wrong thing, sure that she was bargaining with the devil himself and would inevitably burn from this. “Make it legal.” She pushed her chair back and came to her feet. “I want everything on paper, and I want my own copies.”

Dominic stood as well and smoothly walked around the table to stand at her side, temporarily blocking her path. “Of course.” When he looped an arm around her waist to draw her close, Eden gasped at his boldness, her eyes instinctively flying to his face. “Should we kiss to seal the deal?”

He didn’t give her a chance to deny him as he slanted his head and touched his lips to hers. It was rather unfortunate how easily she responded to him, how embarrassingly pliant and willing she became when he traced the seam her lips with his tongue demanding access to delve deeper. “If I can’t be buried inside you, at least I can have these sets of lips instead,” he murmured raggedly, his voice a low growl against her warm, wet mouth.

The instant he slackened his hold, Eden did not struggle long before he released her completely. She didn’t linger but rather fled to her bedroom, refusing to look back even at the sound of the throaty laughter that followed her.