The desire hadn’t gone away. Not even for a moment. She could see from the molten heat in his eyes that he felt the same. “I’ve never been playing with you,” Maxim replied, his voice intense. “Please know that. I’ve handled things badly, but hurting you was the last thing I wanted.” “Still, you did hurt me,” Michaela concluded. “We promised we were going to talk about things, but we didn’t. You just shut me out, and I have no idea what happened to cause it.”           He raised his eyes and met hers… the stark, raw emotion in them shocked her. “I know,” he said roughly. “You can’t imagine how sorry I am. Please come with me, Michaela.”           She nodded slowly and let him lead her from the villa. When she realized where they were headed, Michaela stopped. “Maxim... No… I can’t…” “Tr