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Her lack of business sense infuriated me. She had a lot to learn, and for some strange reason, I wanted to mentor her. She was so determined to succeed. I could work with that.

“This house is my legacy. I don’t have the life you do. I don’t have a family, parents, siblings, or anyone I can lean on.” She took a breath, fighting back tears, but her shaky voice betrayed her. “I have nothing but this house.”

That’s not true. You have me. I had to make her see that. Right now, the only option I had to assist her in accepting how serious I was about us was doing something drastic. Something that made no business sense at all. My colleagues would laugh at me for being so foolish.

I twisted my fingers in the ends of her long hair, resting my hand on her collarbone much like I had the first night we met. When I propositioned her to join me in my suite. If I had known what I knew today… I still would be here making the absurd offer I was about to present to her.

That was the consequences of my obsession. It was either her or my success with this project. I chose her.

“I’ll give you the money to pay your debt with the city.”

“What?” she whispered. “You can’t do that.”

“I can afford it.”

“That’s not what I mean.” She shook her head. “This is my debt, not yours. I can’t take money from you. I already told you that.”

“And I already told you how I feel about that.” I lifted her onto the counter. “I admire your independence despite your lack of a real plan. You have no idea what you’re doing, but that’s not your fault.”

She looked down at the floor.

“You are in danger of losing your home.” I cupped the side of her face in my hand. “And not because I want to buy it from you. You can keep telling me no, but no matter how long you avoid the inevitable, the odds of your property being taken from you are real. Do you want that to happen?”

“No.”

“Then I propose we go down to the tax office right now and handle this like a business person would. Like I would.” I brushed my lips along hers. “This will give you time to figure out what you want to do. You can get through the holidays without anything hanging over your head.”

“That’s not going to happen,” she mumbled.

“Why would you say that?”

It was difficult for me to read her. At first, I thought it was because of the years between us and the different lives we led, but now I wondered if it was because of her situation. Was she embarrassed about the direction her path was headed in? I could help her change her course if she let me. I had to be patient and show her my motives weren’t what she thought they were.

“It’s nothing.” She closed her eyes. “I don’t understand why you’re not being the ruthless man everyone says you are when it comes to me.”

“I don’t want to be him with you.”

It wasn’t as if I didn’t have skin in this game. If her house went into foreclosure and I didn’t get there first, that would be more of a headache for me. But for now, I wasn’t going to worry about that. I was in a position to assist her when no one else would.

“It has to be a loan,” she said. “You can’t just bail me out.”

“More determination.” I smirked. “Call it whatever you want.”

“You’re an attorney.”

“I am.”

“You could write up an agreement and I can sign it,” she said.

“I could do that, but I know you can’t pay me back, so if I know that I can’t really hold you to it. Not in good faith.”

“I can’t pay you back today, but maybe someday.” She rested her hand over my heart. “Not maybe. I promise I’ll pay you back. I don’t want charity.”

I gazed down at her hand, curious as to why she would vow on my heart. Am I reading too much into this?

“Do we have a deal?” she asked.

“I’ll draw up a contract.” I laughed. “Do you know how much I would charge to write up something like that?”