Cash had waited outside Natalia’s flat, his impatience rising with each passing hour she didn’t come home. She hadn’t been very difficult to track down, but he’d been sitting in his car for hours with no sign of her. He considered the possibility that she had gone away for the holidays, but a light shone in the front room, so he hedged his bets and decided she’d simply gone out for the evening.

Antsy, he kept getting out of the car and pacing the street. He had an extremely high metabolic rate, which made sitting still quite difficult. His energy levels were crazy most of the time, and he would often go for a run or to the gym at weird times of the day and night to get rid of the excess, but he couldn’t do that at the moment because he had to wait in this fucking street for fucking Natalia.

God, he wished he was fucking Natalia.

He glanced at his watch. Almost one thirty. Perhaps she was staying out after all. He’d have to make his apologies over the phone.

He tapped Isaac on the shoulder. “Ten more minutes, and then let’s go.”

“Yes, sir.”

Cash leaned back against the headrest and closed his eyes.

“Sir, a cab has just parked up in front of us.”

Cash sat forwards and peered through the windshield. There was movement inside the cab, but he couldn’t make out if any of the occupants were Natalia. A girl and a guy climbed out and immediately started kissing. Relief hit him hard. The girl was much taller than Natalia, and she wore her dark hair in a short bob.

The possessive thought caught him off guard, but before he could examine what it meant, a young guy helped another woman out of the cab. Cash watched him bury his hands inside her coat and pull her close. Slivers of ice crept over his chest and down his arms, causing his fingertips to tingle as the couple began kissing. He’d know that fabulous shapely body anywhere, even if it was hidden underneath a baggy coat.

Caught in two minds, Cash hesitated, but when Natalia pressed her hand against the guy’s chest and tried to push him away, he launched himself out of the car. When Cash overheard the guy asking for a reward, he saw red. He gripped the top of the guy’s arms and yanked him backwards.

“Get the fuck out of here before I give you my brand of fucking reward.”

The flash of shock that crossed Natalia’s face was quickly replaced with a cold, hard stare.

“I can fight my own battles,” she hissed. “Go away, Cash.”

“What the hell is going on?” Natalia’s friend appeared from the other side of the taxi, hand in hand with the bloke Cash had seen her kissing. She hard-stopped when she saw Cash. Her gaze jumped between him and Natalia. “Oh.”

Natalia planted her hands on her hips. “It’s fine, Em. Cash was just going. As was Jack,” she added with hint of steel to her tone.

Em took one look at Natalia’s face and turned to the other guy. “You’d better go.”

Cash watched as the two guys climbed into the taxi. When he turned around, Natalia was halfway to her front door.

He jogged after her. “Wait.”

Natalia spun around. “No!” She said, holding up her hand. “You don’t get a say in my life, Cash. You made your feelings perfectly clear earlier today.”

He flinched as her barb hit home. “That’s why I’m here. I want to talk to you.”

“I’m not interested. I know you’re used to getting your own way, but newsflash, dickhead: you don’t always get what you want.”

Natalia linked arms with her friend and stormed down the path. She opened the door and slammed it shut behind her.

Cash sighed and then strode to Natalia’s front door. He knocked hard once, twice. No answer. He bent down and lifted the letterbox so he could shout through.

“Natalia, open up.”

A pair of stockinged feet appeared, and the chain rattled before the door opened a couple of inches. Natalia’s friend jutted her chin forward and kept her arm firmly across the doorway.

“She doesn’t want to see you.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, hitting her with his most charming smile. “I know it’s late, but I’ve been waiting out here for almost four hours to talk to Natalia. I’m sure she’s told you about my appalling behaviour earlier today, and I totally understand why she wouldn’t want to speak to me. I don’t even want to speak to me.” He let out a low chuckle at his own joke.

Her friend rubbed the back of her neck. “Look, she’s still pissed at you for what you did. Why don’t you leave it a while? Come back in a few days.”

“I can’t. Look—” He frowned. “Sorry, I don’t know your name.”

“Emmalee.”

“Emmalee. Look, I don’t want to upset Natalia any more than I already have—in fact, the very opposite—but I’m heading home to Ireland tomorrow, and I don’t want to leave without making my apologies. It’s the least I can do.”

Emmalee quietly considered his plea, and then she nodded. “Hang on.”

She closed the door. Cash stuck his hands in his armpits and shuffled from one foot to the other while he waited. About one minute later, the lock rattled, and this time when the door opened, Natalia was standing on the other side.

“Cash, it’s late. I’m tired. I’ve got work tomorrow. Just say what you’ve come to say, and then please leave.”

She turned her back, leaving the door open. Guess that was my invitation. He followed her into a small, cosy living room. A Christmas tree stood in the corner, a few presents underneath, and the embers from a dying fire glowed red in the grate.

“Nice place.”

“Thanks.” She sat cross-legged on the sofa, her eyes cast downward.

Cash hovered in the doorway, unsure whether to sit or remain standing. Uncertainty was a new feeling, and he didn’t bloody like it. He chucked his coat over the back of the sofa, sat beside Natalia, and reached for her hand, encouraged when she didn’t pull away.

“I regret what happened.”

She fixed him with a stare. “Which part, Cash? The part where you kissed me, put your hands on me, and then chucked me out when I tried to slow things down? Or the part where you think I’m such a weak little girl that I can’t fight my own battles and you have to swoop in and save me?”

Cash jerked his head back. “Are you kidding me? That fucker was trying to force himself on you.”

“Hardly,” she scoffed. “Em was right there, as was Neil. He was drunk, not stupid. I was handling the situation perfectly well until you turned up. You make a huge fuss about the article I wrote, which was harmless by the way, and yet you behave like a jerk in front of two strangers. Why aren’t you worried about that altercation getting in the papers?”

 Cash glanced over at Emmalee, who had settled herself into the chair by the fire and was taking a keen interest in their conversation.

“Would you mind giving us a minute?”

Emmalee’s gaze met Natalia’s.

“It’s okay, Em,” Natalia said.

“If you’re sure. I’ll be right next door,” she said, the warning clearly meant for Cash. He waited for her to leave before clasping Natalia’s hand once more.

“I don’t have an explanation right now for how badly I treated you today. I’m a bastard. I do know I was fucking mad, though. That article made me fucking mad.”

“Do you have to say fuck every other word?” she said with a disapproving glare.

He shrugged. “I’m Irish. It’s in the DNA.”

Encouraged when she smirked, he squeezed her hand. “Tell me what I can do to make it up to you.”

“You could try apologising like a normal person and mean it.”

Cash shrugged again. “Never have been good at saying sorry, and you can’t exactly put me in the normal bracket, sweetness. I prefer something a little more demonstrative.”

His hand grazed her jaw, and he began to lower his mouth to hers. He so badly needed to taste her again. But as their lips touched, she pushed him away and scrambled to her feet.

“No, Cash. For God’s sake.” She threw her arms to the side and shook her head violently. “You can’t just turn up here in the middle of the night, act like a complete jerk, then kiss me and think that makes everything okay.”

Jesus, was he losing his fucking touch? Turned down twice in less than twenty-four hours by the same goddamn woman. Rupe would dine out on that for a motherfucking lifetime.

He got to his feet and took a step towards her. She twisted the knife another couple of inches by taking a step away and holding her hands up. He gave a slow, disbelieving headshake. He didn’t have a clue how to deal with this. He spent his life fighting women off. A smile tugged at his lips at how egotistical that would sound.

“Do you think this is funny?” she said.

He touched his tongue to the edges of his top teeth and allowed his gaze to travel slowly over her body. A faint tinge of pink stained her cheeks, and her breathing sped up.

“Easy, sweetness,” he said, holding his hands in the air as if calming a scared puppy. “I owed you an apology, and a goodbye kiss seemed a fun way to make it. My bad.” He shrugged into his coat.

“You’re leaving?” she said. He was sure he detected a hint of dismay leaching into her voice, and he forced himself to control the smile that threatened.

“Yeah. I’m flying to Belfast first thing, so I need to get some shut-eye.”

He finished buttoning his coat and crossed over to where she was standing by the fireplace. He caressed her cheek with the back of his hand, and she blushed again. He pressed his lips to the reddened skin before backing away.

“See you, sweetness.” He threw a business card on the coffee table. “If you do ever want to demand my kind of apology, give me a call.”

He winked, turned around, and left.