Van’s hold of me was distracting as he pulled me into his orbit. It would be too easy to stay within his gravitational pull, to give into the red sin. Thoughts of everything we’ve said cycloned within my mind. One thing in particular came to the top of my thoughts. I laid my hand on his chest, my fingers splaying over his satin tie. Beneath my touch, I felt the steady beat of his heart.

“Regardless of how attracted I am or how much I enjoyed the sex, I don’t want to marry you simply because I’ll regret the decision to marry you less than I would if I’d married Skylar. That’s what you said. The lesser of two evils isn’t the best choice.”

With one arm snaked around my waist, Van tugged my hand with the ribbon and pried open my fingers. “Maybe it isn’t red sin, but as you said, the white ribbon. One thing you should know about me is that I’m not the lesser of anyone or anything, including evils. I am that wolf you heard howling at the moon. Skylar Butler is an infant in the world of business. His father is a faltering piranha and Skylar is learning.”

I stared at the ribbon lying in a twist on my palm and back up to his gaze. “How do you know so much about the Butlers?”

“I pay attention. The world of high finance has relatively few significant players.”

“The Butlers are significant.” I wasn’t sure if I was stating or asking.

“No. They want to be.”

“My family?”

“Are they significant? No, but they could be.”

I tilted my head and looked up at Van. As his vibrant green stare searched mine, I shook my head and handed the ribbon back, placing it in his large palm. “I’m still sticking with my second answer. I can’t jump with two feet into what I just escaped.” Taking a step away, I freed myself from the warmth of Van’s hold and I took a seat at the long table. “Tell me more about the job, about writing your memoir.”

Van’s gaze narrowed as he pulled out another chair and folded himself into the seat beside me at the head of the table. It was impossible not to notice how handsome Donovan Sherman was in his expensive suit covering the muscles and toned body that only a few nights ago had been against mine.

“Are you saying,” he asked, “that you want the job, but not the proposal?”

“I’m not sure what I want,” I answered honestly. “You read me right the other night in the cabin. You said that somewhere there’s a man who did me wrong. You said that I was searching for a life that wasn’t planned out, and in the process, I ended up stranded in a snowstorm.