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I collapsed on the stairway leading from the WNT building, then proceeded to stuff my face with Swiss chocolate I couldn’t even taste and was already regretting.
I was into my seventeenth truffle when someone plopped down beside me. A large someone. A tall and muscular someone who smelled like wild woods and leather and sex.
Someone Ireallydidn’t want to talk to right now.
“So.” Riggs reached to steal a Black Forest truffle before popping it between his lips. “When’s the next show? I didn’t even have time to make it to the concessions.”
“Ugh.” I hiccuped into my chocolate box. “I’m mortified. This is the first time this has happened to me.”
“That’s supposed to be my line.”
“That’s your pep talk?” My head shot up. “A sexual innuendo?”
“Well, now that I know I’m beinggradedfor it ...” He took another truffle, sucking on the cherry-jam topping. “How about this? ‘Tomorrow is another day. The best days of your life are still to come.There is no such thing as bad publicity. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Our biggest breakthroughs often come after the darkest times.’ How am I doing so far?”
I glared at him with open annoyance. “You sound like my Pinterest inspiration board.”
He chuckled softly. “You okay, Poppins?”
“No. Clearly, I’m never going to be okay.” Wasn’t he there a second ago, when I’d annihilated my entire reputation and career? “I made a complete eejit out of myself. I should just move back to England and change my identity.” I covered my face with my hands.
“Yeah, that’s not gonna fly.” He ribbed me. “You owe me a marriage.”
“You’ll have plenty of eligible women to choose from,” I said, realizing I was probably right. He was handsome and worldly and oozed big-dick energy. Not everyone wanted to marry a walking, talking wallet.
“But I don’t want an eligible woman. I want an unhinged one who yells at her boss and laminates random documents and arranges her salad dressings by date, fat percentage, and list of ingredients.”
Well, excuse me for not wanting to eat my greek salad with blue cheese dressing. Not all of us thrived in chaos.
“There’s a fine line between insanity and genius,” I reminded him primly.
“And you straddle it like a seasoned stripper.” His aqua eyes sparkled with mischief.
“Everyone must think I’m mental.” I felt my lips wobbling and knew I was close to tears. More than anything, I was gutted to be comforted by my boss’s lover. No one promised me he wouldn’t go straight to her afterward and tell her about this pathetic scene.
“And you care about what people think because ...?” He elevated an eyebrow.
“Social standing equals power.”
“Not giving a fuck about what people think equals power,” he corrected me, tapping the tip of my nose as if I was an adorable fawn. “And right now you’re choosing to be powerless. Change that, Poppins.”
“I still want to run away and change my name.”
He stroked his chin. “Would you consider Desiree?”
This was the second time he’d brought up this name.
“Why on earth would I—”
“Got your name wrong accidentally in front of my boss.”
“You cad.” I gasped. “We’ve been living together for—”
“Relax, it was before we moved in together.” He waved a flippant hand. “It’s all different now. I know everything about you.”
“You do not.”
“Try me.”
