Page 28 of The Reluctant Siren
He felt a brow rise over his eyes. “Stranger?”
She shrugged. “Well, I never really knew you.”
He wasn’t letting her off so easily. “Oh, you knew me, baby.You knew me in pretty much every way a woman can know a man.”
“I knew your cock, Jensen.” She gave him a sarcasticthumbs-up. “Good for you. You know how to work it. But the rest, I didn’t knowat all or I would have realized what a betraying motherfucker you would turnout to be.”
“I did it to save you.” He knew she wouldn’t understand buthe had to try. “Things were getting dangerous, and if you stayed you would haveended up in Mexico with me. They would have used you to manipulate me.”
“Oh, that wouldn’t have worked. They would have figured outquickly Jensen Wiley doesn’t have soft spots to exploit.”
She was so wrong. “I assure you the minute they took youinto custody, I would have given it all up.”
Her purple hair shook. “Tell yourself that so you can sleepat night. I don’t care. I have everything from you I ever want. I have areminder to not trust a man like you again. It still aches every time it rains.I was fairly certain he was going to rape me.”
He felt those words like a kick to his gut. It forced him tostep back. “You weren’t alone with him for more than a few minutes. The copswere coming. I had confirmation they were on the way.”
“And you slipped out the back so you didn’t have to face theconsequences,” Harlow accused. She had her tough-girl face on, the one she usedwhen she shut out everyone. “When your friend realized the cops were on theirway, he turned on me. He broke my arm, shoved me over a table. I was lucky, butI will never forget that it was my loving boyfriend who left me there.”
He was going to be sick. “I wanted you out, and I knew youwouldn’t leave without finishing your case. I got her out. I did that for you.”
“You did it for your own conscience. You didn’t do it forme. Look, you seem to think you can make me believe you actually cared aboutme.”
“I loved you.” He felt his fists clench at his side.“Harlow, I still fucking love you. I know you…”
She put up a hand to stop him. “Don’t care. Anything I feltfor you died when you left me behind and didn’t even give me a heads-up. Idon’t love you. I don’t trust you. I don’t think about you. You are a mistake Imade and I won’t make again, so whatever this is, you can stop. It won’t work.”
This was his nightmare. She didn’t even want to hear himout. “But you have another Dom? I thought you wouldn’t make that mistakeagain.”
“I have a real Dom this time. One who truly cares about me.”
Oh, she had these little tells. Nothing big, but when shewasn’t entirely telling the truth, her brow raised the slightest bit, as thoughbegging him to challenge her.
She didn’t know if this mystery guy honestly cared abouther.
Or she was worried because her last boyfriend nearly got herkilled.
“Did you meet him at your club? It’s here, right? TheHideout?” He wasn’t about to tell her he knew damn near everything since he’dhad someone watching her for months.
He should have had someone watching her every minute theywere apart. Then he would have known how much damage he’d done.
Would he have stayed away? Would he have kept his head downand worked if he’d known how much she was hurting?
He wanted to say no.
She took a deep breath. “It doesn’t matter because you don’thave any part in my life. I have a job to do. Unless you want to give me someintel, we need to be done here. Is this whole club a front for Cliff Hamilton’sdrug operation? Has he been using a delivery app to run his drugs and possiblylaunder his money?”
Fuck. She’d put that together quickly. “I’m going to haveyou kicked out. I don’t expect to see you here again.”
She stared at him for a moment, eyes narrowing. This wasn’ther tough-chick persona. This was her “I will murder you and bury you on somefarmland” persona. “And I’ll shout to the top of my lungs your real name asthey haul me out. I’ll make sure you can’t work undercover ever again. You’rein my city, Jensen. My family owns a nice chunk of it, and that includes cozyrelationships with important people. I can have you kicked out of Dallas.Honestly, I might like to see how you handle getting arrested.”
He did not like the fact that his cock hardened when shechallenged him. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“I would, and I know you’re sitting there stewing in yourown misery because how could the sweet, loving woman you idealized in your headever do something so terrible to you? How could I do it knowing how much youwant revenge for your brother? Because I do not care about you, Jensen. Youkilled the woman who loved you. She’s gone and she’s not coming back. If it’s achoice between your useless, selfish revenge and my client’s life, I’ll sellyou out in a heartbeat, and don’t think I won’t.”
Who the hell was she here for? Who sent her in?
How was she looking at him like he was nothing to her?
