They sat out on one of the patios one evening, surrounded by softly flickering candles, with the canopy of stars bright and astonishing above them. Addison leaned back in her chair and stared up at them, aware on some level, that time was passing even in moments like this one when she felt outside of time altogether.           ‘Don’t forget what temporary means,’ she advised herself. ‘Don’t pretend that any of this can last. That he is yours… That this is going to be your life from now on… Because it’s not, and never will be…’           Across from her, Andrey was finishing a call with a CFO at one of his New York companies. He frowned out toward the dark ocean as he talked, his voice growing increasingly more impatient.           While sipping at her wine, Addison watched him, imprinting that impossible face

          Perversely, it only made him want her more. He’d told Addison that she was the only person he’d ever had any kind of close relationship with, and the stark truth of that haunted him. She was the only person alive that he had EVER trusted.          He had allowed her unparalleled access to all parts of his life. To him. No employee had ever been so entrenched in his personal life before and Andrey had certainly never allowed one of his women anywhere near his business. Only Addison bridged those worlds. Only Addison. And his time with her was almost up.          Giving in to an urge he hardly understood, as if it might ease the sudden heaviness in his chest, Andrey reached over and took her hand. Addison’s eyes flew to his, but he concentrated on the slide of her fingers against his. The way they fitted toge

          Andrey had forgotten all about it, until now. Had she been warning him? Had she known that she would get into his blood like this, poisoning him from the inside out, making him a stranger to himself?          He frowned out the window now, through the rain lashing across the glass. For the first time in almost twenty years, he wondered if it was worth it, this great empire he’d built and on which he focused to the exclusion of all else.          Lately, he wondered if, given the chance, he would trade it in. If he would take her instead. Not that Addison had offered him any such choice.          His intercom buzzed loudly behind him. He didn’t move. He didn’t know, anymore, if he was furious or if he was simply the wreckage of the man he’d been. And he didn’t like it, either way.

          Andrey looked as though he wanted to take her apart with his teeth. Addison fought to control herself… Control her pounding heart, her galloping pulse, that heaviness in her stomach that couldn’t decide if it was desire or anxiety. Or some combination of both.“If you would like to beg, don’t let me stop you,” Andrey bit out after a long moment, though his midnight amber eyes gleamed. “You can begin on your knees.”          Addison remembered that day in Bora Bora with picture-perfect clarity. She remembered crawling to him across the polished wood floor, smiling up at him from between his strong legs. Wanting him more than her next breath. She still did.          Heat flashed over her, and Addison was afraid she turned bright red. His eyes were narrow and hot, and she knew b

          For what felt like a long time, whole ages, perhaps centuries, Addison could only stare at him, stricken, too deeply shaken even to weep. She felt cracked open by his words. “And you do, Andrey?” she asked eventually, in a belligerent tone, though her voice quaked. “You know what love is?”           Andrey’s eyes were brilliant. Dark and gold and molten fire, burning her alive. He reached over and took her hands in his, and Addison should’ve jerked away. But instead, she exulted in the feel of his skin against hers after all this time. It pumped through her like heat, as though there was no part of her that wasn’t his no matter what she told herself. Or told him. “Let me tell you what I know, Addison,” he said to her, his voice low, intense, urgent. “All I know is I want you so badly that my body literally hurts. I want you in ways that I don’t understand and I