Betrayal clawed its way into her stomach, and nausea was instant and dizzying.
She’d been all out for anonymous sex—no names, no future, no nothing. And yet he—he had known. From the moment his driver had secured her name he had known who she was.
‘I tried to stop things,’ he said, as though reading her rampant thoughts.
‘Yeah, you tried really hard,’ she said, barely acknowledging the truth of his words, her fingers sweeping over her tingling cheeks.
‘I tried to take you home to your place.’
She nodded. ‘I remember.’
She remembered all too well. He’d tried and she’d pushed, seducing him until he’d bent to her will.
But she hadn’t known. He had.
‘I need you to go.’
‘I think we should talk this through.’
She looked at him, her enlightened gaze seeing him clearly for the first time, and the fool inside her shrivelled and died. ‘What? So you can lie to me some more?’
His eyes flashed. ‘That’s not fair. I didn’t lie.’
‘You lied by omission.’
She could see him struggling for an apt response, and his silence spoke volumes. Part o
f her wished he could smooth it over, make it all better, because the burn of humiliation was crippling her brain. She couldn’t process any of it—his deceit, the dogged attraction to him she still shamefully felt, Tony’s effing bail-out...
Christ—Tony!
The guy had truly surpassed himself this time. How could she have been so blind to his plans? And so trusting as to have delayed that sodding Shareholders’ Agreement.
Such an idiot. That would have prevented it all, for heaven’s sake.
But then, she’d never expected this. That he would actually jump ship and bring this potent heap of man trouble to her door.
It was a disaster.
An absolute fucking disaster.
‘You need to leave.’
‘Look, I understand that you’re angry, and you have every right to be.’
‘How big of you.’ Inwardly she winced. She sounded like a disgruntled teen and she hated it.
‘But the sooner we can put this behind us,’ he said, ignoring her little outburst, ‘the sooner we can concentrate on the future and get our working relationship on the right footing. It’s what’s best for the business, after all.’
Words failed her. The more he spoke, the calmer he became, and all she wanted was to mirror that control. The fact that she couldn’t made the situation a hundred times worse. And now he was using her business as a tool to reign her in.
Well, fuck that.
‘What’s best for the business is for me to understand Tony’s motivation for leaving and get my head around your arrival. Then we can talk.’
He nodded, his expression one of annoying understanding. ‘This afternoon, then? Or tonight? Over dinner, maybe?’
Afternoon...tonight...dinner...