“I do, yes.”
Hmm. A good sign toward singleness. Then again, if he’s just a playboy…
I’m still debating whether I should outright ask if there’s anyone in the picture when, to my surprise, he speaks up.
“You do too, Manila.”
The sound of my name on his lips makes my chest ache and my groin tighten. But then I register what he’s said, and laugh bitterly. “Is it that obvious?”
“Only because you said you don’t have a partner, earlier.”
Oh. Right. Duh. My cheeks flare again. “Yeah, well…” I shrug one shoulder. “Guess I’m not the partnering type.”
Cassius leans forward, a furrow of concern between his brows. “Why do you say that?”
“Just…” Inadvertently, I glance toward the twins’ room. “Anytime I’ve tried the whole relationship thing, it always seems to go badly. Maybe it’s just not meant to be for me.”
“I don’t believe that for a moment,” he replies, with more heat in his voice than I’d expect. When I glance up again, he’s staring at me, intense and caring all at once. “What happened, if you don’t mind my asking?”
I tilt my head to one side, confused. “What happened with what?”
“Your ex.” He, too, glances toward the twins’ room.
I frown. “Which one?”
He blinks, squirming a little in his chair. “I… Well, I assumed there had been someone in the picture. When you had Luca and Lucie.”
I shake my head, laughing a little again. “I gave up on relationships long before they came around. Luca and Lucie don’t have a father.”
His face visibly tightens as I say that, his eyes narrowing and his mouth clamping tight.
Oh god. I can already imagine what he’s thinking. That I just had some one-night stand or… I hold up my hands, as if to tell him to stop. “It’s nothing weird. I just really wanted children, and I was at a point in my life where I had a stable job, and enough income to support—well.” I laugh softly. “To support one child, but I got lucky with a bonus prize.”
He’s still watching me, so intently that the air starts to do that magnetizing thing again. Every hair on my body rises, even as my shoulders turn toward him and I seem to gravitate toward him, leaning in slowly against my will.
“I was artificially inseminated,” I explain. “They’re test tube babies.” I smile sideways. “Best decision I ever made, no matter how difficult it might get.”
“Would you consider letting a man into your life now?” he asks, and I swear I nearly fall out of my seat in shock.
Why is he asking this? Is he actually thinking about…
But no. I’ve seen the way he is. Hot and cold. On and off. He’s just making small talk. Dinner conversation.
So I tell myself. But I also notice that neither of us has continued eating. Fine, if he wants to play this game… “What about you?” I reply, and I’m gratified by the slight startle in his eyes. “Why are you still single? You’re rich, you clearly love children, not to mention you’re hot as hell.”
To my satisfaction, his cheeks tinge the faintest pink at that last comment. “We’re talking about you right now,” he counters, and I notice that he’s leaning in too. We’re just inches apart, his breath on my cheeks, only the tabletop between us. “So come on. Would you consider lifting your ban on men, or have you sworn them off for good?”
His foot brushes mine under the table, and I jolt at the electric shock that sings through me. “I—I don’t…. Um…”
He grins slightly, clearly enjoying my discomfort.
I shake my head to clear it. “I haven’t sworn them off forever, I just… It would have to be the right man. You know. Someone who cared about children, someone who understood the responsibility that comes with dating a woman with kids. Someone who I can tell likes the twins, who would make a good father, like—”
I freeze, stopping myself dead.
He’s barely an inch away from me now. Those gray eyes of his are flecked with yellow at the centers, like tiny sunbursts. I can’t look away. “Like who, Manila?” he whispers.
“Like you,” I hear myself say, and I swear I can already feel his lips again, kissing me, claiming me…
But he doesn’t move.
I count breaths in the silence, listen to the racing pulse in my chest. He’s breathing faster too, I can feel it against my cheeks, hot as flames.
But then his eyes break from mine, and he glances down at the table between us. “You don’t need to lie to me,” he murmurs faintly, pushing away from the table. He picks up our plates, but I catch his wrist and stand beside him, holding him there, my fingers burning where they wrap around his wrist.