Page 27 of The Wife Deception
"You can seduce a man in a garbage bag."
It was hard to take it as a compliment when he looked like he wanted to wipe any trace of my lips off him. "You're the one who kissed me."
"I know your game. Don't think you're getting a baby out of me."
"Trust me when I say this. I don't want your baby."
"That's rich coming from you."
What was he on about? We had agreed, after 'the kiss' or should I say the first kiss, that we will lie to grandfather that we would have his grandchildren, but in truth we would not touch each other again. But then he touches me, and on top of that accusesmeof baby trapping him. Dude was crazy.
"Oh, really?" he thrust his hand into his pocket and fished out of his phone. "Then what's this?" He played a recording. Aelin's voice boomed out of the speaker. Followed by grandfather's.
"A baby in three months, tops."
"Is it possible?" Grandfather sounded less sickly, but that was his voice alright.
"Easy as pie," Aelin said.
Goddamn those two.
16
Nolan
"How did you get that?" Her tone was accusatory. As if it was my fault for uncovering their sordid conspiracy.
Even after everything, I still wanted to kiss her again. After that explosive kiss at Kenneth's place, we agreed not to be near each other again. She understood, just like I understood, that the passion between us was too strong and one day it would explode, and neither of us wanted to deal with the aftermath. And it took me all of three weeks to forget that and rush into her arms like a prisoner freshly released. What was worse, I knew her plan and still I fell for it, regardless. In a way, she was right. Her mere presence wasenough to make me kiss her. The paint stained overalls made her sexier.
"Does it matter? It's you, isn't it?"
"And?"
I played the recording again. It would be an innocuous conversation if it was just that, but this was the Burgesses we were talking about. Scheming was in their blood. After the recording ended, instead of launching into an argument or plea, she stooped to pick up brushes that had fallen when we kissed.
"Aren't you going to say something?" I asked as she marched to the desk at the south end of the room and threw the brushes headfirst into some solution.
"What do you want me to say?" She went about picking up the ripped papers and throwing them into the trash. She had transformed the room into a quintessential artist's studio. There were light wood shelves filled to the brim with books on the south end of the room, and below was a row of drawers. A door was on the right that used to lead to the closet, but now was a storage room. Aelin took her painting and disappeared into the room. When she came back, she looked sterner than before.
"It's a crime to record people without their consent," she said.
"Tell that to your grandfather. We found this amongst the company's files." Kelly was the onewho found it. Kelly checked the files Burgess had given us to ensure everything was present and found that the old man's iPhone was synced to his work computer. And because whoever Kenneth had paid to scrub personal info out had botched the job, this recording, amongst others, was on it. Apparently, Kenneth Burgess had a penchant for recording people without their knowledge.
"Still doesn't absolve you from kissingmefirst. If anyone is the seductress here, it's you, not me."
"Are you saying you were seduced by me?"
Her cheeks flushed. "Simply pointing out that you're not the victim you claim to be."
"Never claimed to be one. All I want is honesty. Not a woman who's out to trick me."
She blanched. Her guilt was clear on her face. "And yet here you are, molesting me while I'm minding my own business."
"Molesting you!"
She marched over to where I was standing in a storm of righteous fury. "You know what I mean. I don't come into your office and plaster my lips on your face, now do I?"
I stepped back, realizing that I was too close to her again. Her overalls made her look sexy without even trying, and once more, my body was reacting to her with little effort. "It won't happen again," I said.
