Maid for the Billionaire(40)

Not so much as a twitch in response. Damn, these guys were good.

Abby closed her eyes and let herself drift off into a restless sleep.

Abby woke to Dominic lifting her off the couch like a small child. The plane was moving on the runway and Dominic was carrying her toward the bedroom.

He threw her on the bed.

She opened her mouth to say something, but he stood over her like some conquering pirate looking down at his share of the spoils and coherent thought flew right out of her head. His eyes were still dark with fury. His muscles were bulging with barely contained anger and Abby thought he'd never looked sexier.

Surprise filled her as she realized that being kidnapped by the man she loved was more than a little sexually exciting. However inappropriate, she wanted to give in to this fantasy and be taken with all the emotion throbbing through him. The cold mask was gone. In its place was a deep hunger that mirrored her own. He just didn‘t look as happy about it.

"Sleep in here," he growled. "I've got some calls to make."

Abby rubbed the back of her hand over one of her eyes and rolled over onto her side as she asked huskily, "Where are we going?"

"Not back to the United States, if that is what you're hoping," he ground out.

Remorse trumped fantasy. Abby sat up. "Dominic, if you'd just listen to me, I could explain about today."

His breath came out as harshly as an expletive. "I don't have the energy for your lies, right now, Abby -- if that's even your real name."

"I never lied to you, Dominic,‖ she defended.

His eyes narrowed. ―You‘re good, but you can stop the pretense. You won‘t be getting whatever incentive they offered you. I‘ll make sure of that.‖

Abby smacked the bed on both sides of her in frustration. Why was he so determined to continue to believe the worst of her? "How can you think I was part of some scheme against you? If I remember correctly, when we first met I told you I didn't want to see you again.

You're the one who insisted I get in your limo back in Massachusetts. I didn't ask to come to China with you. How could I have planned any of this?"

Dominic turned away from her. "No wonder Zhang chose you. The lies fall from your lips with ease. I should have left you in China."

If that was what he really thought, then this was not the sexual fantasy she‘d been building it into nor was it their chance to repair the damage their relationship had sustained that day.

Abby sat up on her knees and fired back at him. "Then why didn't you?"

He looked back at her over his shoulder, his expression twisted with torment. "God help me, I couldn't. You're like a sickness under my skin."

He closed the bedroom door behind him with a hand she thought she saw tremble.

A sickness? Abby rolled over and groaned into one of the pillows in frustration.

For the first time, doubt began to settle in. What the hell was she doing? He didn‘t love her.

If his expression was anything to go by, he didn‘t even like her. Lust was a poor substitute for love.

Her earlier belief that a simple explanation could return what they‘d shared the night before now seemed na?ve. What she‘d thought of as emotional intimacy had clearly been his idea of extended foreplay.

No, she thought. That kind of openness could not be faked. They had connected. She wasn‘t wrong about that. She couldn‘t have misread that situation so dramatically. Beneath his harsh words, he was still hurting.

And it was her fault.

She could have spared him the public humiliation if she had told him everything last night.

That was the only part of being with him that she regretted. Maybe that was what she had to say, what he needed to hear, before they could move forward.

She was off the bed and down the halfway to the main room in an instant, determined to not give herself time to second guess her decision. Upon her entrance, he looked up from the papers he‘d been scanning. His expression was cold again, giving her fair warning that he did not welcome her intrusion.

She stopped in the middle of the room and forced her arms to stay at her sides rather than wrap protectively around her waist like they wanted to. This was about reaching out to him, righting a wrong. There was no place for defensiveness in a sincere apology. ―I‘m sorry,‖ she blurted out and waited.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. ―I‘m sure you are. At least, sorry that you were caught,‖ he said tiredly.

She took an awkward step toward him. ―I‘m sorry that I didn‘t tell you right away when I learned that Scott was reporting back to Jake. I overheard a discussion between the men yesterday at the hotel. I should have told you last night.‖

Dominic‘s gray eyes were almost black with emotion when they reopened, dark and unreadable. Abby forced herself to continue. ―I‘m also sorry that I didn‘t tell you that Zhang had arranged to meet with me today. She warned me that your deal was in jeopardy and told me that I could help you.‖

His voice held a harshness Abby was unaccustomed to. ―Even if that is true, I warned you that someone might try to use you to influence the negotiations. You played right into her hands.‖

Abby gulped down her guilt. ―I know.‖

―You had plenty of time to tell me.‖

Abby studied her bare feet and admitted her weakness. ―I was going to, but last night was so beautiful. I was selfish. I knew things would change once you knew. I told myself that there would be time in the morning to admit everything.‖