Page 68 of Miss Trust

Tory

Idressed quickly while Chance disposed of the condom, and was already heading to the door when he came out of his bathroom.

“Why are you in such a hurry to leave?”

Because leaving him ensured I stayed in control while staying meant becoming vulnerable. This was sex. Nothing more. Sleeping with the boss hadn’t been one of my best ideas, but I’d come to terms with it. At this point, did it matter if we’d done it once or three times? Nope. The deed had been done. As long as I kept matters in perspective, I could let my body convince my mind this wasn’t my worst idea. I’d never truly enjoyed sex before now. Never seen it as an equal exchange or anything I’d find myself thinking about during the day. Thinking about and even, dare I say, craving it was a foreign sensation, and not one I was ready to give up.

“I need to go check on Penelope. She has chemo tomorrow, so I like to sleep with her the night before.” At least that part was true. But I had to be imagining the disappointment in his eyes. There was no way Chance Maxwell wanted to cuddle with a woman after sex or wake up with her in the morning.

“I’m leaving for Europe tomorrow. I’ll be gone a couple weeks.”

“I hope you have a safe trip. I’ll email you with any dates or details about the remodel as they come.”

Damn. Him standing there unabashed in his nudity was doing nothing to stem my libido. I needed to leave now before I did something foolish like hop on him for another round. “Good night.”

As much as I’d have liked to have gone straight to sleep, I went to the kitchen first for a glass of water. Jesus, maybe I needed to begin doing cardio and get in better shape. Then again, by the time Chance returned in two weeks, we might no longer be sleeping together. Hell, for all I knew, he had a woman in every city he visited. Perhaps some came along for the plane ride too. The thought made me sick. One more reason I shouldn’t spend the night with him and develop some illusion we were exclusive or this was anything more than sex.

After taking down a glass, I filled it up with the filtered water and took a healthy gulp. My attention shifted to the folder on the counter. Where had that come from? I thought nothing of opening it, thinking perhaps it was something Lorna had left. But the words I read on the papers inside had me stunned.

What. The. Fuck. Termination of parental rights paperwork, signed by none other than John Fitch.

“I intended to show you those and explain.”

I jumped at Chance’s voice. Anger flooded my body from his interference and presumption. “But not until after we’d had sex?”

He sighed. “It wasn’t deliberate.”

“But going to see my ex behind my back and having court papers drawn up was.”

“Yes. If something happened to you, he could at any time make a claim for Penelope. Hell, given how desperate he seems for money these days, he’d only have had to get wind of you living in this house or working for me and try to go after her.”

I hated his valid point. But it didn’t negate his absolute disregard for my privacy and the way he’d crossed a hard line into my personal affairs.

“The second document in the folder is a will giving guardianship to your sister if anything were to happen to you.”

I couldn’t access the logical part of my mind which told me a will was a smart idea. Instead, fury ruled my emotions.

Apparently clueless, he decided to kick it up a notch. “If you’re contemplating the child support being a deterrent, don’t worry. I intend to pay off your medical debts.”

I was so angry I was shaking. “It’s all about the money to you, isn’t it?”

“No, but I don’t want you to worry about it.”

My fist clenched. “You had no right.”

“Would you rather risk your ex going after the most important thing in your life?”

“She’s not a thing. She’s a person. And so am I. You can’t go making these types of decisions without involving me. You say you are different than any of the men in my life who have taken away my power, yet you’ve done the same thing. The only difference is you try to justify it to yourself. Is this what you did to Reid too? The ends justify the means?”

His mouth gaped. “I was thinking of Penny and of you.”

“You only think you were. But if you’d truly been thinking of me or of Penny, then you would’ve involved us in this decision from the start. You wouldn’t have thrown money at everyone, lawyers, me, and expecting—what? A thank-you at the end?”

“Nothing is filed yet. You need to make a decision about if you want to forgo child support from the last four years and in the future. Then, the matter still has to go before a judge. A statement from you stating he abandoned you should seal the deal. I simply got the ball rolling.”

“But you never even consulted me.” I turned away from him, struggling to explain how he made me feel. But then I realized it didn’t matter. Not to a man like Chance. He simply did whatever the hell he wanted, consequences be damned. After downing the last of my water, I expelled a long breath. My adrenaline had run its course, and now instead of anger, I felt spent.

“You know what? Do what you want. Trying to justify things after the fact does nothing but soothe your guilty conscience, if you even have one. I’d ask for you to stay the hell out of my business, but you wouldn’t listen. You do what you want, when you want, and to whom you want. Far be it from little old me to act as though I have any say in the matter.”

I walked out without another word.