“Thanks for accepting my invitation.” Mr. Lindstrom sat to my right in a back corner of the swanky French restaurant, Freniere’s.

“It’s always hard for a teacher to turn down a free meal, Mr. Lindstrom.” I smiled and draped my napkin across my white skirt. “Especially from somewhere as fancy as this.”

“I’m glad, and call me Bill, please.”

The server poured wine for us as I perused the menu. “I’m afraid I’m not up on my French.”

“Neither am I.” Bill handed his menu back to the server. “I’ll have a ribeye, medium, with green beans and mashed potatoes.”

The server frowned, but nodded. “And for you?”

“I’ll have what he’s having.” I passed my menu and sat back in my chair as a string quartet began to play somewhere in the crowded restaurant.

Once the server disappeared, Bill leaned forward. “I’m sure you know why I invited you here tonight.”

“To discuss your son.”

“Yes.” He clasped his hands on the table. “As you know, I didn’t agree with his methods.”

“You didn’t do anything about it, either.”

He grimaced. “No, I didn’t.”

“Why not?”

“I hoped he’d come around to the correct conclusion on his own.” His eyes brightened. “And he did.”

“I don’t appreciate being a teachable moment for your son.” I sort of liked my pointed tone, though it surprised me, perhaps even more than it did Bill.

“That’s not what you were.” He shook his head. “Not at all. You were so much more than I even knew. That day we talked in the library and I told you about how hard it had been to raise him, about his quirks, his lack of feeling. You took all that information and you solved the puzzle of Sebastian. The thing I’d worked for his entire life to do. You did it like—” He snapped his fingers. “Yes, you learned about him as you went, especially after our talk, but in the end, you’re the one who taught him.” His brow furrowed. “Don’t you see? You taught him love. He started at obsession—the moment he saw you, that switch flipped. Hell, it’s still flipped.” He shrugged. “You’re it for him. But after that, you found parts of him that I’ve never seen. Parts that I thought would stay locked away forever. You opened the most important door in anyone, but especially him. Love.”

“And you’re here to talk me into going back?” I tried to keep the emotion from my voice.

“No.” He paused as the server brought a basket of bread and two pats of butter. “I’m here to tell you that you are free. As free as you could ever wish to be. I’ve set up a trust for you. No ties to him whatsoever. This is between the two of us. To show my gratitude.” He opened his weathered hand on the table as tears pooled in his eyes. “To tell you how much what you’ve done has meant to me. I’d given up trying to get to him. But you did it. You gave me a gift that I can never repay. Hope.”

I slid my palm into his. He peered into my eyes. So much like his son, but not. He had a softness that I’d only seen in Sebastian when he was holding me.

“Thank you.” He squeezed my hand. “I mean it.”

I returned his warmth. “You’re welcome. But you didn’t have to set up a trust.”

“I did.” He smiled as a tear trickled down his wrinkled cheek. “You deserve that and more. I’ll have the paperwork sent over to your place next week. And I knew you’d say I didn’t have to do it, but I wanted to. Don’t take this the wrong way, but I think of you as a daughter.”

I arched a brow. “You’re laying it on even thicker.”

He chuckled as the server set our plates down, the food sending delicious scents into the air. “I know, but I can’t help it. You’re a dream for my son. But you’re also a dream for me. A chance at family, a future, love. Everything I’ve wanted for him and for me.”

“It’s not that simple.” I couldn’t just overlook Sebastian’s sins against me.

“I know it isn’t. I understand.” He patted my hand and gestured to my plate. “Let’s eat, and I’ll see if I can quit crying like a nancy.”

I nodded and dug in. The awkward tension drained away as we ate and drank like old friends. Our conversation strayed away from Sebastian and into my interests in botany and the Amazon.

“If you’re into trees, I’m sure we’d love to have you on the Lindstrom team.”

I sat back and patted my full stomach. “I like trees as much as the next botanist, but the real discoveries are in smaller species, especially ones that haven’t been lab tested or otherwise investigated.”

He frowned. “Surely, I can think of something to tempt you.”

“I love teaching.” I shrugged. “It was my true first love. I wouldn’t want to do anything else.”

“I used to have that sort of passion, for business of course. And then for Mrs. Lindstrom.”

My interest piqued, I turned toward him. “Can you tell me more about her? Sebastian never said much.”

“Harmony was an amazing woman. Strong-willed, smart, and curious. Beautiful. Any man who had half a brain wanted her on his arm.” He laughed. “Convincing her to date me took a while, let me just put it that way.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t that bad.”

“When we had Sebastian, we were both over the moon, of course. Harmony was running a successful cosmetics company at the time, but took some time off with him. He was a happy baby, never too bothered by much. Things that would have set another baby off, he’d just move right along. No tears, no problem. We didn’t realize it was a symptom of a much bigger issue until he got older. When he was diagnosed, they characterized it as a version of Asperger’s. And sure, he had some of that, but we eventually took him to a specialist who did a series of tests. Psychotic. It sounds scary, right? And as parents, we were terrified.”

I couldn’t imagine.

“And that’s when Harmony changed. Like the light inside her went out. She didn’t interact with Sebastian as much anymore. I gave him more attention to make up for it. I sort of became his single parent.”

“Oh.” I couldn’t wrap my head around a mother doing that to her child, psychotic or not.

“No, sweetheart, don’t blame her.” He patted my arm. “With a situation like we had, everyone reacts differently. She supported me, and I supported Sebastian. When I’d have a breakdown about something he’d done—and there were several times—she’d put me back on my feet. All the encouragement she used to give him, she gave it to me instead. Now, I realize that was the only way it could have worked. I needed her. He needed me.”

“I get it.” I’d never been in that situation, never had to face something so difficult. But I understood tough choices.

He glanced at something behind me and nodded before pushing back and rising from his seat. “Excuse me for a moment.”

The hackles on the back of my neck rose. “He’s here, isn’t he?”

“I couldn’t resist a little gamesmanship.” He kissed the crown of my head and strode past me.

His scent hit me first, the fullness of it giving me a heady buzz. He could bottle it and sell it for any price he wanted.

“Camille.” His voice slid across my skin like silk as he took the seat his father had vacated. “I hope you liked the orchids.” He was a lady-killer in a perfectly fitted suit, light blue dress shirt, and dark blue tie.

I swallowed thickly, unsure if I should storm out or crawl into his lap. “Yes.”

“Good.” He smiled as his emerald eyes flickered to my lips. “I’ve missed you.”

My mind finally clicked into motion. I slapped my napkin on the table and rose.

“Camille,” he called.

“Hey.” I stopped a passing server. “Quickest way out of here?”

He pointed toward the back. “Leads to the alley, though.”

“Fine by me.” I hurried into the dim hallway and burst through the heavy door. The cold air assaulted me as I rushed toward the busy Manhattan street to my left.

“Stop.” Sebastian was at my heels.

When he grabbed my arm and pushed my back against the brick wall, I gasped.

“Get off me!” I shoved at his chest, but he didn’t move.

“Calm down, please.” Genuine concern in his voice felt like a blade to my heart.

“What are you doing to me?” Tears threatened as I stopped fighting and stared up at him. “What is this?”

“Love,” he said it as if it was the simplest answer. What’s two plus two? Four. Why are you holding me against a wall while I’m losing my mind? Love.

“You aren’t capable of love.”

“I would have agreed a few months ago.” He smoothed his palm down my cheek.

God, I was starved for his touch. I wanted more of it, just like an addict wanted the next hit of their eventual death.

“Let me go.”

“I don’t have you.” He kissed my forehead. “You’re free to do what you want.” As if to prove it, he stepped back. “Run if you want.”

I didn’t move, only stared up at him as my world rattled off its hinges.

He returned, pressing against me, one hand at my throat. “But I’ll always chase you. I’ll never cage you again, but I can’t stop my pursuit. It isn’t possible.”

“This is the obsession thing your dad mentioned.”

He grinned, giving him an even more villainous air. “Precisely.” Running his fingertips down my throat, he leaned closer, his lips at my ear. “Your heart is racing.”

“I-I was running from my kidnapper.” I held onto his shoulders.

“Right.” He kissed my throat, his teeth grazing my jugular. “That’s the only reason.”

A shudder shot through me and ended between my legs. I wasn’t falling anymore; I was at the bottom, his arms around me as we sank into the deepest pit of hell, welcoming the damnation together. I turned my head so he could have better access. He took the opening and placed a kiss against my skin that made my knees go weak.

“How about this?” He ran his hand along my thigh. “I give you what you need right here, right now in this dark alley. Then I let you run a little more, if that’s what you want. I’ll let you go. I don’t want to.” His fingers edged higher to the lace of my panties between my thighs. “I want to take you home and fuck you all night. Leave my marks all over you. Watch you suck my cock. Eat your pussy until you beg me to stop. I won’t, though.” His fingers skirted past the fabric and slid down my wet folds. “Fuck. Just tell me what you want. I’ll do it. You want me to walk away right now? I will. You’re in control. Tell me.”

My eyes rolled back as he sank a finger inside me. “Don’t stop.”

He growled, the sound more animal than man, and claimed my lips with a fierce kiss that seared me in places that had never seen the sun. I wrapped my arms around his neck as he lifted me, my heels digging into his back. His hard cock pressed against me, right in the spot where I needed it. His tongue caressed mine, his lips bruising mine with the force of his passion.

I went up in flames as he drew his finger to his lips and licked my taste, then pressed the same finger into my mouth. One hand between us, he pressed my panties to the side and, after only a moment, his cock head stroked down my slick skin as I sucked his finger.

“Fuck, yes.” He pushed against my entrance, forcing his way in with the most delicious sting of pain and the deepest swell of desire.

Arching off the wall, I pushed my hips against him. His cock slid deep inside, and I bit down on his finger.

He grinned and withdrew it, then took my mouth, fucking me with his tongue to the same rhythm as his cock inside me. With both hands, he grabbed my ass and yanked me onto him with vicious strokes. The sound of flesh slapping ricocheted down the alley, bringing the sordid sound back to my ears. I moaned into his mouth, and he swallowed the sound, then matched it with a groan that sent a skitter of electricity rippling through me.

Every thrust hit me deep, pain and pleasure in a never-ending dance as he owned me, gave me something I couldn’t get anywhere else. He squeezed my breast through my shirt, then yanked it and my bra down and sucked my nipple into his mouth.

I squealed as he bit down and then soothed the sting with his tongue. My hands in his hair, the feel of his cock pounding deep inside me like my own heartbeat, and the pressure of his mouth on my taut nipple had my legs shaking.

When he reached between us and pressed his thumb to my clit through the fabric of my panties, I pressed my head back into the bricks and fought for each gulp of air. He seized the opportunity to bite my throat as he stroked and pistoned into me.

“I know what you need.” His hoarse voice told me he was on the edge of control.

I wanted him to lose it right along with me. Grabbing onto his hair, I yanked his head back and bit his throat right above the collar of his dress shirt.

“Oh fuck, Camille.” His grunt punctuated his pace as I licked the bite, then gave him another.

His thrusts grew more erratic as his thumb strummed me just how I needed. “Fucking shit. Come with me.”

His words threw me over the edge, and I came, my pussy gripping him as I tightened and released in waves of bliss. I pressed my lips to his neck as he thrust deep and came, his masculine groan in my ear as we both gave ourselves over to the recklessness of pure desire. My orgasm surged and rolled until it ebbed and faded away into heaving breaths. He kissed me all over. My face, chest—any inch of bare skin.

“I love you.” His voice in my ear took my breath away.

I felt it. At that moment, if I’d said it back, there would have been nothing truer in the world. But I didn’t. I locked the feeling away to examine later. Scientifically. Without the haze of lust coloring my thoughts.

Pulling out, he lowered me to the ground and handed me a handkerchief from his pocket. I took it and straightened out my clothes while he scanned the alleyway.

“Did someone see?” I glanced up at him.

“Don’t think so.” He tilted my chin up and kissed me. “Your secret is safe with me.”

I smoothed my hair out of my face and tried to orient my thoughts away from what we’d just done. In an alley. In Manhattan. Only a stone’s throw from a busy street.

“Are you going to run more?” He adjusted my top for me.

“I…” Was I? “I’m going to Veronica’s for the night. As planned.”

He wasn’t skilled at hiding disappointment, but he stepped back and offered his arm. “At least let Anton drive you to her place.”

“I can get a cab.” I took his elbow, and we walked out of the alleyway as if nothing unusual had just happened.

“I know. But I’d rather he drive you. I’ll stay behind so you can have it all to yourself.” He gave me a sidelong glance. “Unless you’re into the chloroform play after all.”

I glared at him. “Leave it to you to make jokes about kidnapping someone.”

“It wasn’t a joke.” He helped up his hand to signal Anton, who was parked twenty feet down the block.

“No, psycho. I’m not into ‘chloroform play.’”

He smiled. “Okay, it was a joke, but I rather like it when you get all riled up.”

I slapped his arm as Anton pulled to the curb in front of us. “There is something really wrong with you.”

“I know.” He walked me to the car and opened the back door for me.

I slid in.

He leaned down and kissed me, gently this time. “Until the next time I catch you.” With that, he closed the door and I could finally take a breath.