Page 286 of Modern Romance January 2025 5-8

‘God! Enzo... I want you, but not a relationship at arm’s length.’

‘Charlotte...’

That one word had her scraped raw. The strain in his voice. The longing in her for a life that was different was so consuming. If she could have been born anyone else, maybe they would have had a chance. If she didn’t crave what he couldn’t give. But that wasn’t who they were, and it made no difference to wish for it now.

‘You’re not someone who will truly let anyone in. You’re not someone who will love another, and I want that, Enzo.’ A sob she had tried so hard to stifle escaped her and had him trying to close the distance, but she couldn’t let him. Accepting his comfort would only make this harder. ‘Look at what we’re doing here. Hiding in your office. This is what we will have. Kisses in secret. Touches that no one sees. Whispers that mean nothing. I don’t want a secret affair. I want affection in the open. I want to be loved in the light.’

‘Charlotte, you know I can’t love you,’ Enzo said with a calm that made her want to rage. But his eyes betrayed him. They were anything but calm.

‘I know, and I won’t ask you to. You’ve been too hurt. Your heart is scarred and beaten and bruised, and I have to accept that. I don’t want to change you when I...’

‘When you what?’

He walked towards her, but this time she didn’t retreat. She simply stared up at him unable to say the words on her lips.

When I love you.

‘When you what, Charlotte?’

‘It doesn’t matter. What matters is that I fled one life without love—I can’t trade it for another. For whatever this relationship is. It would be too hard to be around you, Enzo. Ican’t.’ And that was when she lost control of the emotions she was trying so hard to keep a lid on. She wrapped her arms around herself, tears slipping down her cheeks.

Enzo could see Charlotte breaking apart in front of him.

And it made him panic.

He wanted nothing more than to pull her into his arms, to comfort and soothe her. To tell her the words she wanted to hear to make her stay. But he couldn’t do that. Not any of it. He had never lied to her, and he wasn’t about to start now. But he couldn’t let her go either. His body called to hers and hers to his in a way he had never experienced before.

Attraction. Chemistry.Whatever he had called this thing between them hadn’t been adequate. It was more than that. It was primal. It was a force of nature.

He couldn’t lose her. His body pulsed with...fear? Was he afraid of her leaving?

His breathing grew ragged as he realised that was exactly how he felt. He had feared nothing in his life, but he feared this. Everyone who had lied to him or betrayed him had been cast from his life, but Enzo didn’t want that with Charlotte.

Hecould notlose her.

‘You can’t leave,’ he said, his voice low, full of authority. ‘You’remine.’ He felt the truth of it in his bones.

But it wasn’t heat or affection he saw in her fathomless eyes in response, it was pure sparkling anger.

‘I amnot!’ Charlotte snapped, the strength of her tone surprising him even when he knew of the fire within her. ‘I amnota possession, Enzo. I am not my father’s to bargain with. I am not a trinket for Grant’s whims and schemes. And I am not yours. I am my own person. You don’t get to tell me that Ibelongto you just to make me stay. To control me.’

Control her...

That was the last thing he wanted to do. How could she get it so wrong? He wanted to hold on to her. Keep her by his side.

She was glorious in her rage, coming to stand toe-to-toe with him, but she didn’t reach out, and when he tried to, she shrugged off his touch, taking him back to a different time. A different woman.

‘I never wanted you.’

‘I deserve to be happy,’ Charlotte said, eyes shining with tears. ‘I deserve to be free.’

‘Free? What freedom will you have out there without me? Hm, Charlotte?’ Enzo challenged. Surely, she had to see the best life she would have was with him, with the protection he could provide? ‘Will you crawl back into the dark? Make yourself sick?’ He threw the slim card of antacids he had taken to keeping in his pocket in case she needed them onto his desk. ‘Live an empty life?’ The words were unkind, a wound he inflicted on them both, but they were nonetheless true. He hated the idea. He hated that she wanted to put an end to them. Hated that he would be the one left missing her when she could so easily walk away.

‘I’ve looked after myself before. I can do it again.’

‘Fine!’ he yelled, losing the tether to his self-control entirely. ‘You’re welcome to protect yourself!’ Teeth gritted, he curled his hands so tightly his arms trembled. And Charlotte? All she did was place her hand on his heart and, with a sigh, walk towards his door.

He wanted to grab hold of her wrist and yank her back into his arms, to kiss her until she saw sense, but he did none of those things because if she didn’t want to be his, she could leave.