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‘Tell me, did Temple tell you to screw me while you were spying on me? Or was I just lucky?’
‘I...? What?’ she choked, shocked by the barely leashed fury in his tone—and the crude accusation. ‘I wasn’t spying on you...’
‘Cut the BS. I’ve got evidence.’
He got off the stool and stalked towards her, the fury on his face becoming thunderous. Snagging her wrist, he slapped her phone into her palm.
‘Read it,’ he sneered, the command in his voice low with disdain. ‘Then explain yourself.’
She clicked on the touch screen to find a notification of Ash’s reply to her earlier text...
You slept with the fella Temple sent you to spy on??? OMG! The dress was even more deadly than I thought.
Cassie stiffened. And wanted to die on the spot.
A thousand and one ways she could defend herself against Luke Broussard’s claims flashed past. She’d never asked him for any information about his business. She’d tried to tell him why she had originally been sent to San Francisco by her boss and he’d shut her down.
But the fury and disgust on his face and the rigid stance of his body made all the denials freeze on her tongue. Because they reminded her of all the times she had tried to defend herself against the disapproval of another man. Suddenly she was a little girl again, bullied and belittled by her father and always, always found wanting.
‘No wonder you were so damn interested in my old man’s reputation,’ he sneered. ‘All part of the background check for your boss.’
She curled her fingers around the phone and shook her head. ‘I wasn’t asking for Temple. I just... It seemed so unfair. And I—’
‘Yeah, right...’ He cut her off again. ‘And to think I thought you were a virgin there for a minute.’
Cassie recoiled at the bitterness in his accusation. How had he guessed the truth?
‘That’s one hell of an act you’ve got going,’ he added.
She stepped back, away from the fury emanating off him. She knew he wouldn’t hurt her—not physically...that wasn’t the kind of man he was—but she could see he was only holding on to his temper with an effort. And she couldn’t engage with it. Because it would make her feel small and insignificant and defenceless, the way she had felt so many times as a child.
‘I didn’t come here to spy on you,’ she said again, her hands shaking now. How ironic that she hadn’t wanted him to know about her inexperience, and somehow he’d found a way to use it against her anyway. ‘I should go,’ she said.
‘Ya think?’ he sneered.
She needed to get away, humiliated now by the heat and longing still rippling through her body. How could she still respond to him when he had changed from the man she’d thought she knew to someone cruel and suspicious and judgemental?
But before she’d gone five steps his voice tore through her.
‘Just so you know,’ he added, ‘when we get back to the city I’m gonna be talking to my lawyers.’
She swung round. What was he saying?
‘I... I don’t understand,’ she said, keeping her voice even while her insides were turning into a gelatinous mass. How could she have put her career, and everything she’d worked for into so much jeopardy?
‘You snuck in here to get insider dope on me and my business for your boss. No way am I letting you use what you learned against me.’
The brutal pressure in her chest increased as the heat of his fury emanated off his skin, making his biceps bulge as he planted his hands in the pockets of his sweatpants. Unfortunately, that shifted the waistband of his pants lower, revealing the line of his hip flexors and the text of his tattoo—which read Laissez les bon temps rouler, she had discovered that morning, when she’d woken up in a sleepy haze and found him lying next to her.
Heat pulsed and glowed at her core. Damning her even more.
‘But I didn’t find out anything compromising about you,’ she blurted out, ignoring the painful tightening in her chest. ‘And even if I did, I would never use it against you. Not after—’
‘How dumb do you think I am?’
She heard it then—the insecurity beneath the anger—and suddenly she knew that the high school boy who had been ostracised in his hometown because of something his father had done still lurked inside this man, defensive and guarded. She couldn’t talk to this man, couldn’t make any of this right. The only thing to do now was to leave and hope she could repair what was left of her career and her self-respect. She’d fallen into his arms far too easily, given him something of herself she had never intended to give, and ended up being punished for it.
‘I’ll meet you at the plane,’ she said, feeling stupidly raw because she had given him so much ammunition... And for what? For a passing moment of physical pleasure...the chance to throw caution to the wind for the first time in her life. It had been exhilarating and exciting, and so much more than she had ever expected. But now she would be forced to pay the price for her naivete and her stupidity. ‘I think it’s probably best we leave as soon as possible.’
