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‘My problem, Mrs. Montoya, is that you have made me look like a fucking fool,’ he advanced on me, causing me to step back until I had nowhere else to go and was pressed against the wall.
He placed his hands either side of my head, caging me in. My legs trembled as he glared at me, but the rest of my body thrummed with energy and anticipation.
‘Did you think I wouldn’t find out that you’ve been lying to me, puta? Have you been fucking him? Is that where you two really go every afternoon?’
I blinked at him. I couldn’t have been more shocked if he’d slapped me across the face. ‘I haven’t been fucking anyone,’ I snapped as the anger started to pulse through my veins. And while I didn’t know much Spanish, I knew what puta meant. ‘And don’t call me a whore!’
‘Then where do you go? Because I have just had a very interesting conversation with Mrs. Grant, who tells me that you attended one charity lunch three weeks ago and they haven’t seen you since.’ He edged even closer to me, closing the gap between us to barely an inch as he stared down at me. ‘So, tell me, puta, where the fuck have you been?’
I looked up at him. God, he was infuriating! ‘For a start, Mrs. Grant and her bunch of smiling sycophants might call what they do charity work, but it’s just an excuse for them to get drunk every afternoon and throw a party once a year for whatever charity happens to be fashionable. Do you know what this year’s event is for? A new wing of the school. That fancy private school that already coins in millions of dollars a year. Of course I never went back there. I have nothing in common with those women. I wanted to help people who are actually struggling,’ I snapped at him.
I saw the confusion flickering over his face as he frowned at me. ‘So, where the fuck have you been going?’
‘To the women’s shelter downtown. If you bothered to pay any attention to me and my life, then you would know that,’ I shouted as I pushed him in the chest.
He didn’t budge an inch. He narrowed his eyes, searching my face as though he was trying to determine if I was lying to him.
‘Go and look through my purse if you don’t believe me. I have plenty of paperwork in there. I do their books for them. I’ve been fundraising for weeks. Or check my phone. Every single day, I’ve spent hours on the phone to potential donors,’ I sniffed as I tried to stop a tear from rolling down my cheek.
But it was too late. All of a sudden, the tears started falling from eyes and I couldn’t stop them.
All the pent up tension and anger and frustration of the past few weeks wanted to tumble out of me and I had to let it.
I had thought that the two of us were getting somewhere. I’d thought we were finding a way to survive this complete sham of a marriage without driving each other crazy. And now he was calling me a whore, and accusing me of cheating on him.
He continued to stare at me, his jaw working as he considered what to say next. I didn’t expect an apology from him. I doubted he’d ever apologized for anything in his life. ‘I didn’t realize that,’ he said quietly.
‘How could you accuse me of sleeping with Hugo?’ I sniffed. ‘Of all the things you could think, you accuse me of having sex with someone else?’
He frowned at me, his hands still planted beside my head on the wall. ‘Well, we don’t … It wasn’t a huge leap to assume you were getting it elsewhere.’
‘Like you do?’
His frown deepened into a scowl. ‘No. I have never broken our marriage vows, Alana. Not once. As much as I’ve been tempted to. I have needs.’
I swallowed. Was that true? Surely not? Whatever, it didn’t matter right now.
‘Well, I’ve gone twenty-five years without giving into temptation, I’m not about to give it up now for someone who is paid by my husband to be nice to me. Besides, I’m not a cheat. I would never do that.’
‘What?’
I tried to press myself closer to the wall, but there was nowhere left for me to go. He didn’t know that I was a virgin. And now I felt even more vulnerable around him. ‘Nothing,’ I said quietly.
‘Alana, are you telling me you’ve never had sex?’
I nodded.
‘But what about your boyfriends?’
‘I never had that many. I was always busy on my father’s campaign. Even in college, I had to work every weekend. I was saving myself for marriage, or at least for someone I really loved,’ I shrugged.
‘You’ve never been in love?’
‘No. I told you, I didn’t really have time for relationships. I was always busy helping my dad.’
He dropped his arms and took hold of my hand. His skin was warm and rough and his touch felt like a spark of electricity. ‘Lo siento, Alana,’ he said softly. ‘I had no idea.’
I looked up at him and blinked away the tears. Despite how much I hated him, my body hadn’t got the memo and it was drawn to him like oxygen is drawn to a flame. I felt my blood thundering around my body as his gaze roamed over my face.
