Time To Heal [COMPLETED]

CHAPTER SIX: THE UNEXPECTED ALLIANCE

The suspense was killing him, he was waiting in his limo just outside the motored courtyard, and there was not a soul in the vicinity of the Forrester mansion. Devin was sure that Ana was still in Rochester, she couldn't go back without at least having a decent conversation with him, could she?

After their first date in Milan, Dev had inexorably been forced to admit that Ana had been even more conniving than her father to have fancied right at their first meeting that marriage would be the price to pay– there was no doubt that she was the true daughter of her father. To survive, he'd kept a fixation in mind about the woman he'd wanted to be instead of the real one, not investing more than necessary in their relationship so that he would not sway when the right time arrived.

And he hadn't.

When the wedding hour had struck, he'd been stashed away in Rio to lick his wounds about the failure of his mission. Ana had been far from his mind, there was absolutely no way he could go through that sham when he wasn't going to get what he'd intended.

It had also been almost a poetic revenge for his mother who'd been jilted by her lover, so he'd publicly humiliated Ana back. But he wasn't as ruthless as the father, it had taken him all his self-restraint to actually not sleep with her. No, he couldn't have lived with that on his conscience.

God knew that he had almost lost control that one night.

Decadent memories filled him, as flashes of naked skin zoomed through his mind, and he groaned loud to stop the influx as always. No, he would not allow himself to remember – Ana would never be his. But even as he repeated the sentence as a mantra, the images forced themselves into his brain, and he finally unlocked that memory he'd so fiercely blocked for five whole years.

Ana, walking in his hotel room, wearing minimal make-up, her forest green lace dress in complete contract with the blue fire of her eyes, but which somehow she managed to pull off with her usual panache. How had he ever thought of her as plain? Her simplicity was precious, something pristine which he had beheld with utmost reverence.

"Dev," she'd greeted, her infectious smile generating an answering lift from the corners of his mouth. "I hope you're hungry. I brought pasta," she announced, closing the door behind her, while balancing a tray which seemed on a precarious balance.

"Here," he jumped to stabilize the platter, his body leaping in one graceful movement as he titillated on his tiptoe. He felt her watching him from under her thick eyelashes, appreciating his backside as he bent to retrieve the culinary utensils. Gulping, he was glad that she was faced with his back, and could not see his raging hard-on springing.

There was nothing more to it than pure unadulterated lust; he was a red blooded male faced with a beautiful woman, there was bound to be temptation, especially after months of starvation. And there had been no question about what was on offer, at least from her side. He closed his eyes in bittersweet pain, when she hugged him from behind, resting her head against his back in a way he found endearing despite himself.

"I can't wait for our big day," she sighed, the happiness evident in her house, and Dev gulped down his guilt. What was wrong with him? It wasn't like he was betraying her, she was also going to be filthy rich after their marriage, appropriating his Crighton shares. Although they'd never actually discussed it, he was sure her father must have filled her with enough details. She'd attained her objective without much effort, marriage to a billionaire and usurping his money.

Patting her hand in a friendly gesture, not knowing how to react, he tried to disentangle himself but she was clinging to him. Whenever she touched him, zillions of sensations sizzled through him, feelings which made him uncomfortable. A sudden longing seized him, so intense that he had to shake his head to clear it off. He'd been taught at fourteen that he was not a normal kid, so craving for things which came naturally to others was like wishing for the moon. Yet, tonight he was tired of fighting. For once, he wanted to take something from life for his own selfish need.