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She’d had misgivings about going to the launch as Luke’s date—she’d told him that—and he’d introduced her to everyone—including all the people she’d interviewed for her investment report—as if they were properly dating. As if they were a couple.
Had he known how that would make her feel? Had he done it deliberately? Or did he simply not care enough about her to be cautious.
She suspected it was just Luke being Luke—commanding, arrogant, nurturing, but also possessive—but she also knew that he didn’t understand how deep her feelings went...how delusional she had become in the last few days. So he had no idea the damage he was doing.
Still holding the torn silk to cover her nakedness, she said, ‘I have to book a flight home.’
‘What’s wrong?’ Luke asked, coming up behind her. He placed his hands on her hips to turn her around.
Humiliation washed over her. He was already dressed—all he’d had to do was zip his flies. And she was still naked and shivering, with the afterglow still racking her body, making her want what she couldn’t have. Shouldn’t need.
He gently cupped her chin to lift her gaze to his. ‘Who’s the message from? Has something happened?’
Her heart shattered a little more at the concern in his eyes. He cared about her—just not in the way she had come to care for him. Why did that make it hurt so much more?
‘Temple. He needs me,’ she said.
The thunderous frown on his face came from nowhere. And when he spoke, the lash of contempt in his voice shocked her.
‘You have got to be kidding me! What are you—his lap dog?’
She stiffened, reeling from the unprovoked attack, and from what she could see in his eyes—which wasn’t anger so much as...jealousy?
‘He’s my boss,’ she said slowly, feeling exposed and small. ‘This is my job. It matters to me.?
??
‘Oh, come on. This isn’t about your damn job. He clicks his fingers and suddenly you’re hightailing it across an ocean to do his bidding?’
She pressed the torn material to her breast, shaking now... But somehow, from somewhere, she found the courage she needed to cover the hurt and humiliation burning in her gut.
‘What are you implying?’ she said, her voice surprisingly calm given that everything she knew about him, about herself, was imploding.
‘Just tell me one thing—have you slept with him?’
‘You bastard,’ she said, his accusation slicing through her heart. ‘You’re the only man I’ve ever slept with.’
‘What?’ he asked, his face a picture of shock. ‘What did you just say?’
‘Nothing—it doesn’t matter,’ she said, desperate to claw the words back, their truth making her feel so insignificant, so foolish.
‘Damn it, Cassie. Was I your first?’ he said, as if it mattered to him.
But she could hear the demand in his voice. And she knew that if she admitted the truth it would only make her more lost, more vulnerable, more unequal.
‘Tell me the truth,’ he said.
She shook her head. She didn’t owe him an explanation. Didn’t owe him the truth. Because it wouldn’t change the real truth. That she’d given him far too much of herself and all the time she had never meant that much to him.
‘It isn’t important anyway,’ she said, wanting desperately to believe it. ‘Because you certainly won’t be my last.’
He tensed as if she’d struck him. ‘Why the hell did you lie about it?’ he said.
But when he reached for her arm, she jerked it out of his grasp. ‘Don’t touch me, Luke,’ she said, knowing she had to protect herself now. She couldn’t worry about him and his demons, because her own were already consuming her. ‘I don’t want you to touch me,’ she added. ‘I’m leaving, and I won’t let you stop me.’
She knew she’d hurt him—saw him flinch as he dropped his arm. But she turned, ran into the bedroom and locked the door, before the great gulping sobs could overtake her.
How could she have given so much of herself and been prepared to get so little in return? She’d succumbed to his will all the way along and lost herself in the process. Opened herself up and told him things about herself that had given him a power over her she couldn’t get back. And he’d never done the same. He’d remained closed off—in control the whole time.
