Page 68 of Bling

In the living area of his suite, he pulled her into his arms for a tender kiss.

“Hi,” she whispered when he pulled away.

“Hi. I wish we could just go to bed but unfortunately, we need to talk about something that came up in the board meeting today.”

Isabelle leaned away to look up at him. “Is everything OK?”

He took her hand and led them to the couch.

“I think so, but you need to be aware of something that happened.”

Garrett opened his tablet and hit play on a video. She cringed as she saw herself walking down the red carpet in that yellow dress. Then she heard the reporter shouting a question about Solitaire and slowly turned to face him.

“Where did this video come from? I haven’t seen anything on the news. Not the way I’ve seen the kiss.”

Garrett shook his head. “Lance got it in an anonymous email. We haven’t been able to trace who it came from yet. That combined with the phone call you got from the reporter has us worried that we’re both about to be outed.”

“Oh Garrett, what are we supposed to do?”

He shook his head. “Right now, there isn’t a lot we can do, but the board wants to know if there is anything you need to be able to feel safer in this situation.”

“I’m more worried about you, Sir. You have a global reputation to worry about. I just have my family. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want them to find out, but there’s not much they can do to me if they do.”

He smiled and trailed a finger down her cheek. “That’s just like you to worry about other people before yourself. I’ll manage just fine. I’ve got crisis management firms on retainer for things like this, and my people are already crafting responses.”

“Where do I fit into their responses?”

He dragged a hand through his hair. “That’s more complicated. They’ll want to scrutinize you, see if you can damage my reputation, but I’m not going to let them, OK?”

She shook her head. “It’s really OK. If we need to stop being seen in public together, that’s OK too.”

His stern glare was instant. “That’s enough of that talk. Actually, one of my PR people suggested we get engaged and claim the reporter was asking about a diamond.”

She felt herself go pale.

“Relax, Doll. I’m not saying we should follow that suggestion. I’m just letting you know that not being seen in public together is not up for discussion unless your safety is in jeopardy.”

“So, what do we do for now?”

He held her hand. “For now, we go about life as normal. You’ll continue to let me or my driver take you places, I’ll continue working from Colorado unless I absolutely have to go home, and we’ll continue spending weekends together at the club where I plan to do my best to make sure we both forget about this mess for a while.”

She nodded and leaned into him, letting his now familiar scent wash over her.

“How long until you need to clock in?” he asked, kissing the crown of her head.

“Hour and a half,” she muttered into his t-shirt.

“You’re working from home tomorrow and by work, I mean you’re sleeping. I want you well rested for the party tomorrow night.”

She felt too exhausted to argue with him. He propped his legs up on the ottoman in front of the couch and encouraged her to stretch out with her head in his lap. They talked quietly until she dozed off.

When he woke her an hour later, someone was knocking on the door.

A hotel employee wheeled a cart of food in and Isabelle ate a sandwich under the watchful eye of her Dom. He kissed her roughly before she went downstairs.

At the desk, her boss pulled up a chair and sat with her. They discussed what kind of class schedule she might want and how much she actually had left to finish her degree. She signed paperwork allowing them to request copies of her transcripts and her boss promised that on Monday they would be ready to enroll her in a program. For the first time since she moved back home, she felt hopeful for a future that included following her dreams.

Working through the night was different knowing Garrett was sleeping just a few floors above her. At four in the morning, two hours before she was supposed to get off, the desk phone rang.

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