I shivered involuntarily under his gaze. “Don't even start. Whatever happened between us has nothing to do with this.”
“Sure it does,” he said, the smirk returning to his face. “The idea that I would hit on somebody else has made you crazy with jealousy. Admit it.”
The fact that that thought had already crossed my mind made me more uncomfortable than the way he was staring at me. I refused to turn away, even though his grin was tormenting me.
“You need to take this seriously,” I said. “If she makes this official, you'll probably be fired.”
He shook his head. “She has no case against me. She has no proof, no witnesses, nothing that says I've even been near her.”
Only because you made sure of it.
“Well you'd better hope she doesn't find any because if she does, you can say goodbye to your career.”
“What would it take to get you on my side?” Radleigh asked, stepping towards me. “Maybe the possibility of Miguel finding out you kissed me?”
I should have seen that coming.
“You’re doing nothing to convince me of your innocence.”
“Leah, come on, this is bullshit! It’s all in her head!”
The level of agitation in his voice stopped me in my tracks.
Is he telling the truth?
No, of course not. Taylor was a mess. But if I kept looking into Radleigh’s eyes, I felt sure he’d somehow hypnotise me into believing his version of events.
“For someone who didn’t do anything wrong, you look extremely guilty.”
“Screw you!” he snapped, throwing his towel on the floor. After shooting a final glare in my direction, he stormed out of the gym, the door slamming hard behind him.
For the rest of the day, I couldn't force him out of my mind. The things he'd said, and the things Taylor had told me played in a continuous loop until I thought my brain might melt from working overtime. The worst part about the whole situation was that I wanted to believe him. I’d found McCoy to be pushy, persistent and infuriating, but not once did it cross my mind that he’d force himself on someone. Why would he need to? For every woman who turned him down, there were probably ten more who were willing to get on their backs – or whatever the preferred position was – for him.
Taylor’s distress made it real, and Radleigh’s defence was pathetic. If she had thrown herself at him, he wouldn’t have hesitated for a second. I’d seen the ‘I wanna get in your pants’ glint in his eyes on more than one occasion.
He did it.
And I was the idiot who let him kiss me.
Chapter 9: We’ll Be Announcing Our Engagement Any Day Now
It wasn’t a huge surprise when I received a phone call from Richard, summoning me to work early the next morning. I’d expected that Radleigh would instantly figure out some kind of counter-attack to help him wriggle out of Taylor’s accusations. Throwing something at me to deflect from what he did was definitely his style.
To say I was nervous was an understatement. Freya drove me to meet my fate, sacrificing an extra hour in bed to ensure I arrived on time. I gave her the key to my office so she could nap on my couch if she wanted, then went to find Richard.
“Don't look so worried,” he said with an amused grin. “It's nothing you've done wrong.”
“Oh, good. The last time you called me here it was because of McCoy.”
He tapped his pen against the edge of his desk. “Well …”
“Really? What now?”
Richard put his pen down and looked at me closely. “When McCoy made the complaint about you, you said he’d been suggestive towards you. I wondered if you wanted to elaborate on that.”
My stomach dropped. This had to be about Taylor. It was too much of a coincidence to be anything else. I’d barely slept the night before because every time I’d drifted off, my dreams flashed with images of McCoy and Taylor. Of him touching her, and her fighting to get away.
“Does this have anything to do with a certain young blonde who happens to be dating Jesse Shaw?”