Page 69 of Pleasure Payback

He stared at me in rigid silence before he sighed. ‘This wasn’t how I intended to present this.’

‘Let me guess, you were going to set the scene, mellow me out with some more sex before you attempted your nice little takeover?’

He froze, a chill turning his eyes frosty. ‘Excuse me?’

‘Everyone has an agenda. Those wereyourwords. Did you plan all of this just so you’d get the leverage you need to cement your place on your precious board?’

‘Neve, you’ve got this wrong.’

‘Have I? Then tell me what’s in the document,’ I challenged.

His lips firmed and he exhaled hard before approaching. ‘It is a bid for The Mortimer Group to absorb Nevirna but—’

‘You bastard.’

‘Dammit, hear me out.’

‘Why? So you can chop me up and sell me off like you did with Cahill Hotels nine months after you partnered up with him?’

‘That washisproposal. He wanted out of the hotel business.’

‘Well, I don’t! God, to think I was beginning to trust you. To think I imagined we could be...’

‘Be what?’ he asked sharply, his eyes ferociously intent.

I swallowed my vulnerable words. ‘You should set your aunt straight on a few things.’

‘Why? What did she say to you?’

‘She seemed to be under a few misapprehensions about us.’

His nostrils flared. ‘Don’t give me broad strokes, Neve.’

‘She thinks I have some sort of power over you. That I’m capable of hurting you. I didn’t get round to telling her you were incapable of being hurt because you have a rock where your heart should be. That sex was all you really care about so she had nothing to worry about.’

‘You think I’m incapable of being hurt?’ The words were tersely spat out.

‘I think you gave two strikes, once with your parents and once with Penny, and decided you were out. No more chances for anyone else. Everyone else is used, then written off before they even have a chance to crack that fortress you’ve placed around yourself.’

His face turned to stone. ‘You think I used you?’

I somehow managed to summon a smile. ‘Are you or are you not planning on leveraging Fantasy Rooms with your board, Damian?’

‘Well, you got me. But what about you, Neve?’ His voice was a sharp scythe.

‘What about me?’

‘Tell me what your grand plan was. Or should I guess? Sex was your weapon of choice, wasn’t it? Get me to the point of obsession. Make it so I wouldn’t see bloody straight by the time you were done with me?’

My deep flush gave me away before he was done talking. But I still shrugged. ‘What does it matter now? You’re going to leave and I’m going to go back to being the forgettable screw who amused you for a little while.’

He laughed, a scraping, scary sound. ‘You think you’re forgettable? You think I didn’t wake up this morning knowing I had to make changes if I wanted—’

A throat cleared at the door, and Margret appeared. ‘Pardonnez-moi, Monsieur, but Madame Mortimer wants to know if you’re ready to leave.’

Damian didn’t answer. Not right away. He stared at me as if he wanted to say something more.

His silence cut me open, freed the burning question blazing through my heart. ‘If you wanted what, Damian?’

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