Chapter 48

*** Mark ****

The impromptu meeting with Mark's lawyer and the man's associate began after Solana went out. Mark was silent, half-listening to both men's advice about one of his mother's properties.

"Why did you kiss me?" Solana had asked. 

Why did you do it, Mark? 

The answer was simple. Because he wanted to. It was all he could think about. She was all he thought about. He should have let these words fall out of his mouth like they intended to when she asked. 

Just minutes before the kiss, he'd been standing by his window upstairs, telling himself that he would make do with looking at her from afar. But the sight of those flowers had triggered a great shift, dissolving his iron resolve. He hadn't even realized the transformation until he'd reached forward and taken her in his arms. She was meant to be his woman.

After the episode in front of her suite last time, he'd vowed to control himself. He'd kept to that vow no mat