Page 34 of Blackmailing the Bad Girl

“The woman who owns the gym?”

She nodded.

At least she wouldn’t be alone in that place. “Okay. You can have the morning off.”

“Thank you.” She sounded as though the words caused her physical pain. But she said them. A moment later, she was gone, the door shut behind her.

He sat back in the chair. She seemed so quiet and unassuming. But that wasn’t who she really was. Underneath, she was a mass of seething emotions. She’d just learned to hide them.

Why?

Summer Delaney was an enigma. He might have promised himself he would keep his hands off her, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t find out exactly what made her tick.

He spun around in the chair, a smile tugging at his lips. Then he reached for the phone.

…

Ugh.

He’d made a bet that he could rehabilitate her. What sort of person did that? Reduced someone’s life to a goddamn game? She hated that she couldn’t just tell him to go to hell.

But she couldn’t risk that he might turn her in to the police.

And he’d been staring at her breasts.

The pervert.

She would sue him for sexual harassment, except he hadn’t actually harassed her.

She’d hated the way her nipples had tightened to hard little peaks under his stare. Heat flooding her belly, sinking lower.

Stop thinking about him.

Dreaming about him. How many times had she woken up, hot and bothered and so turned on, sleep had been impossible? She plonked herself down in her chair and picked up the phone, then dialed Harry’s number.

“Nik is back. He’d like to see you.” She slammed the phone down without giving the jerk time to make any snarky comments.

She’d been sort of kidding herself that this whole thing wasn’t too bad. That she would get through it. Obviously, that had been far easier when there was an ocean between her and Nik Masterton.

As it was, she was enjoying the job, though there hadn’t been that much to do. She’d spent time familiarizing herself with the structure of the company. It was huge. Spread out across the globe. One thing she had learned was that Nik had broken off business ties with Trenton Industries soon after he’d become CEO. She had no clue why, but she hoped it was because he didn’t approve of the other company’s underhanded business practices.

So maybe he wasn’t the bad guy she’d thought him to be. He was still a rich, arrogant asshole, though.

She was guessing that the workload would increase now that he was back.

She still felt a little disoriented, finding it hard to accept that she could do what she liked, when she liked. Eat whatever she wanted. There was every sort of takeaway imaginable, all within easy walking distance of the flat. She was working her way around the world: Chinese, Indian, Turkish, Thai…

In her spare time, she’d been riding on the Underground, getting off at different places and just walking for hours. She’d met Sherry, Danny’s new girlfriend. She was a social worker and a tough woman who seemed more than a little suspicious of Summer. She presumed Danny must have told her they’d been a couple, on and off. Summer hoped she’d put the woman’s mind at rest, because she was clearly good for Danny.

She switched on her monitor and started setting up the meetings for Nik. She was halfway through the list when a knock sounded on the outer door. It opened, and a man about Summer’s age popped his head around. When he saw Summer, he grinned.

“Delivery for Summer Delaney?”

“That’s me. But I didn’t order anything.”

He shoved the door wide open and then pushed a chair in ahead of him. A chair just like Nik’s. A chair that spun.

An inane smile tugged at her lips. He must have ordered her one.

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