“No, I won’t. I’ll just give her a good kick in the pussy.”
“Don’t,” I say, pushing my forehead against hers so she can’t look away. “I mean it. If you can’t behave, you stay here.”
“Right … because you think I can’t handle myself.”
“No, because I don’t want you to get into trouble. I’m not doing this the wrong way.”
“There is no right way.”
“It must be legal, Lesley,” I hiss.
“I know, I know.” She sighs. “I just want to help.”
“I know you do,” I reply. “But help can also do a lot of damage.”
“I’m not going to make it any worse, I promise.”
“If people find out that you work for me, and that we’re a couple, and you visited her … we could be in real trouble.”
“A couple?” she repeats. “God, that sounds so weird when you say it like that.”
“Really?” My eyebrows rise. “That’s the part you focused on?”
“It’s called selective listening. You should try it sometime.”
“Oh, I do it all the time … but I only listen to your oh’s and ah’s. They remind me of something else.”
She smiles like a little vixen, pressing her juicy tits against my chest, and it makes me wanna grab them. “Is that all you ever think about?”
I purse my lips to stop myself from grinning like a motherfucker. “Pretty much.”
She bursts into laughter. “God, you’re such a horny bastard.”
“But I’m your horny bastard.” I grab her hand and kiss the top, but my tongue can’t help but dip out to lick it up all the way to the tip of her finger, after which I suck it off in my mouth.
“Seriously?” she mumbles.
“You know you like it,” I taunt, bringing her finger down my chest and making a sizzling sound. “Ooooh.”
She laughs. “You’re too funny sometimes.”
“I know, babe,” I say. “It’s what breaks the tension.”
“What tension? I didn’t know there was any,” she retorts, and she backs away just in time before I got one of the most massive boners ever.
Goddamn, she’s so fucking sexy up close.
“I’m gonna go gather some intel,” she says, winking as she walks backward.
“Don’t be too obvious,” I say. “People are gonna notice.”
“I’ll be as sneaky as a rat,” she says, tiptoeing to the door like she’s already started her mission impossible. “You won’t even notice I’m gone.”
I smile, watching her open the door. “I do expect you to do the rest of your work, you know.” I check my watch for emphasis. “The work never ends.”
“I know, I know! I’ll do it all and then some,” she yells before closing the door and leaving me alone.
It only dawns on me when she’s gone that I haven’t got the slightest clue what she’s going to do, and that it scares the living shit out of me. I don’t want this to get any worse than it already is. But can it? Because I know that once the other board members see this newspaper, I’m done for. And no amount of truth searching or begging from either me or Lesley is going to fix it.
I let her go because she wanted to. Because I could see she wished to help me.
To make her feel good.
To give her the idea there’s still hope.
But I’m guilty. This stupid heart of mine just can’t let go, even when I know it’s a lost cause.
Chapter 27
Lesley
While TJ calls his brother back and tries to put his mother at ease, I’m busy figuring out how I’m going to turn this bad news around. On my way out, I stop by Gillian’s desk and ask her for the address of TJ’s previous intern. She reluctantly hands it over after I tell her I plan to trick her into telling the truth. She’s wary, and I get it, but I’m not like that girl. I care too much about TJ to let this get him down. And I guess she sees that in me too because she actually gives me the details, writing them down on a flimsy piece of paper.
“Don’t disappoint him, please,” Gillian asks. “He’s been through too much.”
“I won’t, I promise.”
“You sure?” She raises her brows at me.
I place my hand on the desk. “I know about his filthy secret. I’m still here.” I wriggle my eyebrows. “Enough proof?”
She purses her lips, carefully examining me before nodding. “I believe you.”
“Finally.”
“Like you don’t know why I had to treat you the way I did.”
“Uh-huh … You’re sure good at your job. That I gotta give you,” I muse, and I sashay away.
“Thanks, I guess,” she says. “But don’t think I’m going to go easy on you because you won him over.”
“I don’t expect you to,” I say as I briefly glance over my shoulder. “Besides, I like the challenge.”
I walk down the stairs with the note tucked firmly into my pocket and stop by the doggy daycare to grab Pepper before I go outside. We go back to my place where I can scheme. I need to think this through before I go in for the attack. Just because I know where that woman lives doesn’t mean I can just go over there and demand she tell the truth.