Page 38 of Wrong Idea

“Oh god,” she cried.

“It’s okay. It’s going to be okay,” I soothed, rubbing her back while holding her hair back.

“It’s not,” she cried. “Life sucks.”

“Baby—“

“No.” She shook her head. “This is my life. My own mess.”

“What are you?—“

“I threw up all over your shoes and office. And wanna know the shitty part? I’m going to be the one who has to clean it up. I can’t let Bertie take care of this! God, my life sucks,” she muttered, giving me some of her weight. She looked up at me. Those big beautiful brown eyes made my knees weak. She had just thrown up and told me off, but to me, she was still the most gorgeous creature I had ever seen.

Right then and there, I knew I would be the one cleaning up this mess and any others. Berta nor Max or any other employee would.

“I wish I didn’t love you,” she said, and my heart soared with hope. Hope that was quickly replaced by concern as she passed out cold, right in my arms.

I picked her up like a grown would his bride and side-stepped the puke, not that it mattered since my shoes were covered in it. I carried my girl to the elevator and up to the penthouse suite Stan insisted we keep on hold in case of nights we didn’t want to walk across the resort to our rooms.

My priority was to take care of her.

Carefully, I cleaned her up, taking her puke-stained clothes off, and slipped her into one of the resort robes before setting her down in the big bed. She didn’t stir once. I knew she didn’t drink, and by the looks of what I had seen, she’d had two bottles of wine. I stroked her face, brushing her damp hair out of her face, when her eyes opened gently, and Max reached for my hand.

“Can you lie to me for one more night?” she whispered, obviously still drunk.

“Baby—“

“Sleep with me? Before I have to be all alone again.” She licked her lips and shut her eyes. And before I could answer her, she started to snore softly.

I sighed and looked down at myself. I couldn’t hold her while she slept the way I was.

I hurried back to the bathroom and took a quick shower. After tossing my shoes into the trashcan, I peeked my head into the room with a towel around my waist to make sure my girl hadn’t jetted out while I was in here. Thankfully, she was still lying in bed, completely knocked out.

I went into the walk-in closet and changed into a pair of navy-blue dress slacks and a white button-up I had stored in there in case of emergencies. Then I stepped out and dragged a chair to her bedside.

Everything inside me wanted to hop back in bed with her, wrap my arms around her tightly so she could never let go. But I didn’t. My girl didn’t drink, and tonight, she got drunk because I had broken her trust in so many different ways.

Now I had to get my ass on a road of redemption, so to speak.

Show her she could trust me once again and hopefully keep loving me.

ten

max

I woke up slowly,and even in that half-awake state, I knew it was going to suck to open my eyes. There was a throbbing at my temples thanks to the wine I drank the night before.

All of it came back like an avalanche.

The sexy massage. Car telling me that he was in love with me and needed to tell me something just before the world exploded. Or my world, at least. Had he been ready to tell me who he was? He had kept saying there was more we needed to talk about, but I had kept changing the subject. Had I somehow known he was holding things back?

“I know you’re awake,” Carver’s deep voice sounded, and I exhaled slowly as my eyes opened and blinked the sleep out of them. “Morning, princess.”

“Don’t,” I whispered. It hurt to hear him call me that after everything.

He was my boss and had known it all along.

He’d had cameras at my place. Watching me when I didn’t know it.What else did he do?I licked my lips and sat up, pulling the robe I was in tightly around my body.

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