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Gently, I withdraw from her, dispose of the condom, then return to gather her in my arms.
“You’re amazing,” she whispers. “You’re the first man I believe genuinely wants to know how I feel.”
“You’re so warm and beautiful, and I’m struggling to understand how every man you’ve ever spent time with didn’t see that and didn’t care.”
“It’s…complicated. Dalton? My first…”
“Your father set you up on a date?”
“It wasn’t a date.” She swallows. “It was a business transaction. I was fresh out of grad school. Dalton was thirty-five. A new tech billionaire. Dad sent me to dinner with him, told me to be friendly, give him whatever he wanted, and not to come home until he agreed to invest with us. I was naive. I thought Dad meant let the man order lobster and for me to laugh at all his jokes. I thought he meant to be persistent.”
Sick, roiling nausea slides through me. I know exactly where this is going.
“Your own father pimped you out?”
Her tiny nod is full of shame. “I felt flattered by Dalton’s advances. Well, at first. I had a crush on him when Dad introduced us. The fact that someone obviously well-respected and urbane liked me? I was thrilled. When I say it now, I sound stupid, but I grew up sheltered.”
“It’s not your fault. He took advantage of you.”
“Maybe, but I let him. After all the wining, dining, and conversation, he took me to his hotel room. The sex was horrible. It hurt. He thanked me for my virginity, then rolled over and called my dad to give him the account. Even then, I didn’t get it. After that, he dialed his wife, told her that he loved her, turned out the lights, and rolled over. I was so stunned. I didn’t know he was married.”
“What a dirtbag.” I’m completely furious on her behalf.
“As soon as he fell asleep, I cried. I eventually slept. But when I woke up, he was gone. The next time I saw him was at a big holiday bash we threw for our clients. He brought his beautiful wife and shook my hand as if he barely knew me. I was so humiliated.”
Forget furious. I want to kill this guy. What an absolute prick. But he’s a symptom, not the problem.
“I’m so sorry, sweetheart. What did your father say?”
“That I did a good job. In fact, he patted me on the back for being smart enough to know that business and sex mix just fine. He chastised me for letting silly emotions get in the way, of course. Then I got the speech about how there was no such thing as love, just power and control and having the balls to use the weapons at your disposal to wield them.”
What kind of man uses his daughter’s innocence and self-respect to make a buck? “He sounds like a goddamn monster.”
She gives me a little shrug. “He is who he is, driven and detached. Since Dalton brought a ton of prestige and cash to the organization at a time we needed it, it was hard not to see Dad’s point. So I buried how I felt and carried on.” She closes her eyes. “Dalton was the first. Unfortunately, he wasn’t the last.”
Oh, my god. How many random VIPs did her father coerce her into getting naked with? How has she coped? I can’t imagine what letting people use her did to Bethany’s psyche. No wonder she never felt real pleasure. I’m also not surprised she sought Lund out. Who could blame her for wanting sex on her terms? Or wanting to know if being with someone she at least liked would be different? I’m thrilled she responds so totally to me. That must say something about her feelings, right?
If I don’t find the gentlest way possible to explain why I pursued her and why I’ve completely changed my mind, the enormity of my betrayal… Fuck. It will crush her. And I doubt Bethany will never forgive me.
“What do you mean? There were…others?”
“Yeah.” And she doesn’t sound proud of that. “Dad occasionally asked me to close deals with other reluctant investors. Anytime I hesitated, he would tell me how much he needed me and how proud he was of me. So I didn’t always say no when I should have.” She winces. “It sounds horrible. I never wanted you to know because I didn’t want you to lose respect for me. I swear, it didn’t happen often. And it’s been years since a client touched me. After a while, I became less naive and more savvy. I figured out ways to persuade a potential investor to sign without crawling between the sheets.”
“Oh, my god…” I’m astounded by all the ways this man used his daughter. And I hate that she ever let him get away with it because it’s clearly taken a toll on her. It’s also probably why she developed a thick outer shell that I’ve had trouble cracking—until now. “Oh, sweetheart.”
