A Forever Love by Maggie Marr Read Free Book Online

blouse, his lips near her ear. Her body quivered as though she were a doe in a wolf’s jaws. She deserved to be afraid. Very, very afraid. No one stole from a Travati.
    “I believe you have something of mine,” he whispered in her ear.
    She pulled back and her eyes pierced him. Her head cocked to the side and there was a fierceness in her eyes like a lioness with a cub. “Really, Justin? I never thought you’d want what I have.”
    Years of closing tightrope, high-finance deals provided him with the discipline to maintain a face like stone while his body reeled and his pulse shot through the stratosphere. Was it fair, her assessment? When they’d worked together before, his lifestyle had been more similar to what Devon’s was now. He’d partied. He’d pursued women. He’d had no desire to settle down, make a family, create a legacy, but then, fifteen years before, he’d thought he had an entire lifetime for a wife and a family. Since then, his entire life had changed.
    “It would seem you miscalculated my desires.” Justin returned to his seat and held out his hand, an invitation for Aubrey to sit and join him. They had much to discuss and he guessed most of their talk would be uncomfortable for her.
    “Thank you for the invitation.” She nodded her head. “Unfortunately I’m needed here with our guests and then also in the kitchen.”
    “After.” Justin lifted his wine and took a drink. “I’m in the Rockwater Suite.”
    Her eyes widened. She hadn’t known, but she quickly recovered. “Lovely, isn’t it?”
    Deft and charming and still well trained in the art of obfuscation. If Max didn’t know who his father was until recently, he couldn’t be blamed, not with all the ducking and weaving at which Aubrey seemed so adept.
    “I’ll expect you around eleven.” Not a demand and not an order, but more than an invitation. Let her fail to arrive at his suite to begin discussions about his only son and see how quickly he traveled up the path to the farmhouse she shared with Max. His restraint at this moment, he thought, was exemplary. The urge to rush to the farmhouse and find his child was nearly impossible to ignore, but he’d give her more respect than she’d given him. More respect than she deserved. Speaking to her and telling her of the decisions he’d made for Max was more than she’d done when she’d stolen their son. Now he held the leverage and the power, and he wasn’t afraid to exert force if necessary.
    Aubrey smiled and tilted her head. A yes? He guessed so.
    “Enjoy the rest of your meal. The ravioli is superb. Family recipe.”
    His chest tightened. The smile he struggled to maintain froze on his lips. “Family? How interesting that you use the word family now, with me. Here.” He leaned back in his chair, and his eyes trailed up from her ankles, over her legs and hips and waist, and lingered on her breasts. “Did you nurse our son?”
    Red flamed up her neck and cascaded into her cheeks.
    He held her with his gaze. “I’m curious, because I have no memory of him as an infant. The ability to create such memories was stolen from me.”
    She swallowed. Her gaze slid about the room. Embarrassed? Perhaps, or perhaps, as when she was younger, she considered her personal affairs private. Whatever the reason, he didn’t care. His temper shook the cage in which he’d thought to lock the feelings of anger that threatened to consume him when he considered the many years he’d not known of Max.
    “Service should finish by eleven.” Aubrey’s voice was stiff and controlled. “I’ll see you immediately after.” She turned, and her head raised, she walked to another table and smiled and charmed them.
    If he didn’t know Aubrey, if he hadn’t pressed his cock deep into her once upon a time and made her shriek his name, he might believe her practiced nonchalance. But he had fucked her. He’d seen her lips quiver around his cock. He’d heard her call his name as he thrust into her