Page 16 of Nothing to No One

And there was Roman, sitting in the middle of the couch.

“Oh, Roman,” she said and rushed away from Magnus to go to him.

His lazy eyes widened above a grin. “Heya, gorgeous,” he declared. His tone slowed her. “Wow, you’re something.”

“I… what?”

To her surprise, the heartthrob grabbed her wrist to pull her down onto the couch beside him. “I’m sorry about this, sweetheart.”

Resting a hand on the front of her thigh, he slid it up beneath the hem of her skirt.

Something weird trickled through her. This wasn’t like last night. This wasn’t arousal or crazy surging hormones. Seizing his wrist, and using quite a bit of strength, she pushed his arm away. The other snaked around her, holding her close to him. His body felt different; he felt different. The air around him, everything was off. Why? What was it? Sickness weighed in the pit of her stomach.

“Roman, this is serious,” Magnus said. “Very serious. We’ve worked hard to build your reputation. Now we’re looking at tape of you drinking and fooling around with a stranger.”

“I’ve seen it,” he said and scooped her hair from her neck to bow and kiss her there. “You’re a beauty, Bambi.”

Sleazy. Something in his voice was sleazy. Opposite to last night. No. Pushing away from him, she put space between them, seeking his gaze. Maybe if she could look at him… his eyes were too busy checking out every inch of her.

The man in the hotel basement made her feel cherished, special. He’d been in no rush and let her lead, he sensed her needs. How could he be so different just a few hours later?

Being hypnotized by his allure, she’d assumed, was his star charisma doing its thing. If it was, it failed them both. The trauma of the morning erased every trace of that instinctive attraction.

Roman reached for her again, but she pushed his hand away. “How did they get that footage?”

“I don’t know,” Magnus said. “We’re investigating. We’ll get together with the lawyers to find out if we have any claim against the hotel or event organizers. Best we can guess, someone in security leaked the tape from the inside.”

“But we can’t deny it happened, can we, Sugar?” Roman asked and scooted closer.

She scooted away. Get the hint. This guy was creeping her out. How could she have been drawn in by him? The man had to be the world’s best actor, beyond Oscar worthy. Either that or she was having some sort of psychotic break.

“We can’t put a claim in against the organizers. I am the organizers. I work for them.”

“You do?” Magnus asked.

She turned to Roman. “You didn’t tell anyone that?”

He shrugged and slouched deeper into the couch to finger the hem of her dress. “Guess that detail slipped by me with everything else we were doing.”

“You forgot?” she asked, pushing his hand out from beneath her skirt… again.

Sliding along to the arm of the couch, far from him, her face sank into her hands. She’d thought last night was a sign of inner strength. That she’d taken control of her own sexuality. Turned out she was a lousy judge of character, maybe she just had awful taste in men. Roman seemed mature and attentive,like the breath of fresh air her love life needed. She’d fuzzed it up again. How could she have fuzzed it up this bad?

“You smell amazing.”

Lifting her head from her hands, she found Roman at her side again. Up close. Too close. That was rich when she’d been rolling around with him not so long ago.

“Roman, your rep can’t take a scandalous one-night stand. Especially after the island. Your contract with the network states you won’t get up to old antics. They can drop you in a heartbeat and if they do it’s over,” Magnus said and, judging by his expression, lingered on a thought. “You can’t have a casual affair with a stranger, so what if she wasn’t a stranger? What if she’s the exact opposite of a stranger?”

“I don’t understand what—”

“What if she’s your fiancée?”

Roman laughed while she gaped. “His fiancée?”

His fingers curled around her knee. “Guess you’re stuck with me, Sugarlips.”

“No,” she said. “No. No.”

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