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things.”

    She licked her bottom lip. Shame and guilt sapped all the amusement from her eyes. “I made a mistake, and I have to prove myself. Good enough?”

    “I’ll take it.” He pushed off the door, restless at her answer and his need to know more. Now would be the perfect time to head inside and let go of all the things that intrigued him about her. Victoria started to tense up again in the silence and the shame continued to darkened her brown eyes.

    Sweet Mary. He needed a knock to the head sometimes. “But now I’m going to wonder what you did. Got pissed at work and hit on your boss. Slapped your nosy coworker. No.” He tutted. A woman like Victoria wasn’t defensive because she wanted to be; she was defensive because she’d learned to be. “A man.”

    She blinked, and he knew he hit the mark. He nodded. “Your masochistic tendencies make sense now. You must hate all men, but you just can’t help yourself when around them.”

    “What do you know about S&M?”

    “Enough to know it’s not my kink, but I’m willing to be curious with you.”

    “Really. It’s a miracle.” Her face flushed with anger.

    He took the obvious bait to get to the answers he wanted. “What’s a miracle, lass?”

    “No woman has punched you in the throat yet.”

    Callan caught the laugh in time but he had to break their gaze until the need passed. When it had, he stepped forward. “Most women are too busy wondering how big my cock is.” He talked over her shocked gasp. “So this man who fucked you over…”

    “You are—” She just sputtered for a second. “He didn’t. I did it to myself.”

    “Auch.” He hated the way shame had filtered into her voice again. “What a prick. I would never let you do that to yourself.”

    An expression filled with exasperation crossed her face but she said, “Unless I ask because you’re polite like that.”

    She’d caught on to him being an arse and was teasing him back. He liked her more for it. “Who made the actual mistake?”

    She crossed her arms over her stomach. “You’re not going to let this go?”

    Listening to her voice fluctuate through almost every emotion was riveting. They washed over him and staved off the cold. “I’m curious now.”

    She sighed. “We were in a relationship.”

    His shoulders tightened. “Colleague or a boss?”

    “My boss,” she said in a very matter-of-fact way. “It was a small business, but well-respected. Anyway, he needed me to sign off on something. I hadn’t seen it, but I trusted him so I did. Turns out the item was an impressive forgery.”

    Understanding settled into him down to his bones. He narrowed his gaze. “He blamed you. Awright. A prick.”

    “Yeah.” She gave him a self-deprecating smile. “He threw me under the bus, but I made that mistake.”

    He frowned. “You didn’t make one.”

    “I trusted him. I believed he’d take care of me if the shit ever hit the fan. He didn’t. I chose him. I loved him so that’s on me.” She shrugged.

    Her every action made sense now. She threw up boundaries because of his cousin’s rules. That was logical and admirable. But if Ian said she could fuck Callan six ways to Sunday, she’d find another excuse to say no.

    The problem now was it felt like a challenge to be the one she’d risk the consequences for, to be the one she trusted. A woman like Victoria didn’t break, but she’d bend and it would be a thing of beauty.

    A rush of need strummed through him. He preferred ordinary women. Digging into her motives and inspecting her make-up made it clear Victoria would be anything but…They should go inside and end this.

    He took another step, dropping his hands at his sides.

    She held her ground, lifting her chin. “More questions?”

    He balled his hands to keep from brushing his knuckles across her stubborn chin. “Know now I’d never ask you to risk your integrity.”

    “Ask, no.” Her breathing quickened. “Demand, probably. Sex