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“Of course,” he said, his face flaming with embarrassment. This was no longer a gorgeous secret they shared. It wasn’t a quiet whisper he could offer into her ear to make her smile. There was no more titillation in this for her; it was all betrayal.
Her eyes looked furious and frightened.
“I’m sorry, Beth,” he said. “I can’t… Listen. When we met, you thought I was my brother because of the name tag on the table. He was supposed to have been working the booth that day.”
“Well, that explains the first fifteen seconds of our relationship,” she snapped.
“I know. I mean, I knew at the time that it wasn’t right. I did try to correct you—”
“You’re kidding, right? Did you try really, really hard, Eric?”
“I—”
“This is…this is horrible. You lied to me just to…”
“No, it wasn’t like that. I swear.” Eric felt sweat prickle along his hairline, and his stomach turned as he registered the hurt on her face. “Beth, I’m so sorry.”
“Why would you do that? I don’t understand.”
“I don’t know. At the time…at the time you said you’d heard of my brother, you knew his reputation, and maybe that made it easier.”
“You pretended to be him because you thought that’s who I wanted?” she shouted.
“No. Not that. I knew you wanted me.”
Her gaze had been shifting wildly around his office, but her eyes flew to him at those words. “You should have told me. Right at the start. Or later, when we met for wine. Or—” Her voice stopped as if the words had been cut in half. They’d met for wine the first day of the expo, and he’d touched her in that hidden booth, making her come while the rest of the bar moved around them unaware. The memory seemed to flash over her face and turn into shame.
“Who are you?” she growled, her hands clenching to fists.
“I’m Eric. Donovan,” he clarified stupidly. “I’m Jamie’s brother. I thought it would be easier if…” Hell, what else was there to add? He was the brother of Jamie and Tessa Donovan and he helped run the brewery. There was really nothing more he could think to say. That was all there was. Which
was why he’d been able to talk himself into this mess in the first place. Because he hadn’t been willing to risk ruining the brief, wild spark that had arced between him and Beth. He’d needed that moment to be someone he’d never been before.
Beth closed her eyes and shook her head. “You thought it would be easier,” she whispered. “Easier to get me into bed.”
“That’s not what I meant. I swear to God, Beth, that wasn’t it. We were just… It was all just a fantasy, wasn’t it? I didn’t want to make it…”
“Real?” she filled in. And yes, that was what he meant, but it sounded cruel now. It sounded horrible.
Tears flashed to life in her eyes, and Eric reached for her, knowing he shouldn’t. She stepped back and his hand fell, but she watched it as if it were a snake.
“You made me into a fool.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“And now—” She swept an arm in the direction of the barroom. “Now I let everyone know you made a fool out of me. Jesus.”
He shook his head.
“I did,” she insisted. “But that’s okay, because I wanted everyone to know that you were the one who should be ashamed. Not me.” She pressed a finger to her mouth. Her eyes looked far away. “I didn’t want it to be me feeling that.”
“You shouldn’t. I wasn’t trying to trick you. I just didn’t know how to stop and say, ‘Can we start over? My name’s actually Eric.’”
“That’s no excuse.”
“No, it’s not.”
“You should have told me then. Or last night. Or anytime in the past six months.”
