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“But you were sleeping with the embezzler.”
“Alleged. Yes.”
“The alleged embezzler. Who was your boss.”
“Yes,” she admitted, helpless now. Trapped.
“Your married boss.”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“Who promoted you to head of security after you started sleeping with him.”
“Yes.” This time she felt her lips move, but hardly any sound came out.
“And you were fired from that position for helping him embezzle money.”
&nb
sp; “No. I mean, yes. That’s why I was fired, but I didn’t help him.”
“Right.” He looked past her toward the mountains and drew in a deep breath. “But you didn’t stop him from taking the money.”
She finally felt a glimmer of hope about this. She’d made a lot of mistakes, but she could tell the absolute truth about that. “It wasn’t like that. I swear. I didn’t know what he was doing. Maybe I should have, but I didn’t. I didn’t even know he was married.”
Walker raised a doubtful eyebrow. “Yeah, that kind of thing is real hard to pick up on when you’re working with someone for months.”
“I didn’t know!” she yelled, starting to feel a little crazed that no one would believe her.
“Sure. Well, that gives you the right to look down on me, then.”
“I don’t look down on you, Walker.”
“No?” He chuckled, and the cool sound sent goose bumps down her arms. “You sure do a good job of pretending, then. For the past week, all you’ve done is make clear that I’m not good enough. Not good enough at working. Not good enough at applying myself. Not good enough at choosing who I sleep with. And certainly not good enough for you.”
“That’s—” She reached toward him, but Walker pulled his arms back so her fingers wouldn’t touch him.
“Oh, to be clear, I’m good enough to play with. That much is obvious. But I’m not the kind of guy you’d ever bring home to Mom, right?”
What the hell was he even talking about? “I’ve never said that!”
“‘You’re not my boyfriend, Walker.’ ‘It’s not serious.’ ‘You know how it is with Walker.’ Oh, and ‘Feel free to do Nicole, too. I don’t care. You just can’t have us at the same time.’ If you were trying to make me feel warm and fuzzy, you did a really shitty job. It felt strangely like you were letting me know my place. You’re good enough to fuck, cowboy, but don’t go getting attached.”
Her mind was spinning so fast she could barely grasp what he was saying. “I wasn’t trying to keep you in your place! I was letting you know I knew mine.”
“Your place? That’s a little comical considering I’ve always treated you with respect. Jesus, Charlie. I’ve always known you were too good for me. Better than me. Always. From the first moment I met you. But I guess I was damn wrong about that, considering what you are now.”
“But...I’m not...” She shook her head, trying to stop whatever he was thinking about her. “I’m not anything but myself. I just... I screwed up, yes, but I’m not that person. I don’t want to be that person.”
“So what the hell are you doing here?” he snapped.
“Here?” She looked around in shock at the Ability Ranch, trying to find one coherent thought to grab on to. “I’m sorry. I honestly didn’t mean to hurt you. Even if I’ve been deceptive and stupid and wrong, I never wanted to hurt you or anyone.”
“So you admit it?” Even beneath his beard, she could see the way his jaw clenched with fury.
“I already did.”
“You’re helping your brother steal money from the resort?”
