My Husband's Father Wants Me

Chapter 9

9

My gaze remained glued to his designer tie, my heart hammering wildly against my ribs as I fought the urge to look up into his face. "W-what?"

"I want you, Arabella Morgan," Damian said, his voice dropping to a low, unyielding promise that resonated in the quiet room. "I want you as my woman."

My composure finally cracked. Hearing those words spoken with such bold, unrestrained confidence sent a wave of shock through me. For a long, suffocating moment, I couldn't breathe, let alone form a coherent reply.

I had spent three years knowing Damian Sterling as a distant, intimidating patriarch—a cold, domineering force who commanded every room he entered. I had never imagined him looking at me like this, stripped of all restraint.

"Is this how Mr. Sterling approaches every woman?" I rasped, trying to shield my rising panic behind a layer of skepticism.

"You're the only woman I've ever approached like this," he answered without hesitation.

I swallowed hard, my throat parched. Desperate to erect a wall between us, I reached for the most obvious defense left. “Even if the divorce is finalized tomorrow, you'll still be Ethan's father. I'll still be the woman who was married to your son. Don't you think I am the absolute last woman you should be saying these things to?"

Damian’s jaw set slightly. "You've spent the last three years convincing yourself that you know exactly what a man wants from you."

My brows pulled together. "What is that supposed to mean?"

I forced myself to look up. His face was a mask of stern control, but something darker, far more deliberate, burned in his gray eyes.

"I don't want your gratitude," Damian said, taking a measured step closer. "I didn't buy your designs out of pity. And I certainly don't want you just because you're Ethan's soon-to-be ex-wife."

My breath caught in my chest. "Then why?"

He closed the remaining distance between us. He didn't touch me, but the sheer gravity of his presence wrapped around me, pulling all the air from the space between us.

"Because I've wanted you long before tonight."

My heart stumbled over a beat. I stared at him, my mind spinning as I tried to process the weight of his confession. "How long?"

A faint, almost humorless curve touched the corner of his lips. "Long enough to know this isn't some fleeting impulse I woke up with today."

My chest constricted tightly. Suddenly, the events of the past twenty-four hours rushed back to me: the moment he pulled me into his arms outside the club, his voice murmuring that I was safe, and the dangerous possessiveness in his tone when he dealt with that attacker.

The strange intensity in his eyes anytime he looked at me… Those looks I had dismissed for months were suddenly painfully clear.

"You..." My voice was barely a whisper. "You've felt this way for that long?"

"I kept my distance because you were married to my son," Damian admitted, his jaw tightening as if the confession tasted bitter. "I respected that boundary, even when it became increasingly difficult to do so."

I took a shaky breath, completely rooted to the floor.

"But you are no longer his wife," he added softly.

"We still haven't signed the divorce papers," I pointed out, my voice trembling.

The words hung between us, thin and fragile. I knew I should have turned around and walked out of the office right then. Instead, I stood frozen under his unwavering gaze.

Damian’s eyes flicked down to my lips before rising back to meet mine. "I won't pretend this is appropriate," he said quietly. "It isn't."

My pulse raced faster.

"But I have no intention of lying to you about what I want, either," he continued, taking one final step until the heat of his body brushed against mine.

His voice dropped into a calm, absolute cadence. "I want you, Arabella. Not as Ethan's wife. Not as a woman I rescued, and certainly not as some helpless victim who needs my wealth."

He paused, letting the raw sincerity of his words settle into my chest.

"I want you simply because you are you."

I opened my mouth to speak, but no sound came out. My thoughts were a chaotic mess.

"You heard what your own son said about me, didn't you?" I asked, my voice cracking slightly as the humiliation from earlier resurfaced.

“We've been married for over three years... I've known him even longer than that. Yet he thinks I am worthless, boring, and incapable of evoking any real feelings in him. How am I supposed to believe you see me any differently after just a few brief family dinners?"

Damian’s brow furrowed into a frown. "Are you really comparing me to Ethan? That spineless scumbag? That blind fool who has no idea what a priceless treasure he's throwing away?"

The bluntness of his outburst caught me completely off guard. The formidable Damian Sterling had just openly branded his own son a scumbag—all for my sake.

Before I could stop it, a startled laugh burst from my lips.

I quickly pressed a hand over my mouth. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to laugh."

Damian stared down at me, the harshness in his features softening as his eyes flickered with a rare, quiet warmth. "What is so funny?"

"It's just…it seems I don't know you at all," I murmured, shaking my head as the tension in my shoulders eased slightly. "I always thought of you as aloof, strict, and completely detached. Hearing you say something like that... it feels like I'm looking at a stranger."

"I only spoke the truth," Damian replied evenly. "You can know someone for years and still never understand what lies beneath the surface. Are you sure you're a good judge of character, Arabella?"

My small smile faded, replaced by a dull ache in my chest. He was right. After everything Ethan had done to me, I had proven to be a terrible judge of character.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and let out a long, slow breath. If my judgment was this flawed, how could I possibly trust another man—let alone someone as dangerous and powerful as Damian Sterling?

“Mr. Sterling,” I said, lifting my chin as I gathered the scattered pieces of my pride. “Thank you for thinking so highly of me. But I can't be the woman you want.”