Page 8 of Stripping Bare
Which was only one of the reasons Jonah had collected his own form of damages. Had demanded restitution forTessa.
“I can see what you’re thinking,” she said. “That we shouldn’t have let them get away with it. Believe me, I would never suggest it to a sexual assault victim. But at the time, my parents were doing the best theycould.”
Because they’d caved, Phil had been able to manipulate Micki for years, threatening to wrap a hangman’s noose around Jonah’s neck if she didn’t work for him. Lie and deceive for him. “Haven’t you thoughtabout—”
“Have you heard how Harrison Shaw’s life has turnedout?”
Yeah, he knew a thing or two about that fucker and the four others who’d used Tessa. After that night, Jonah had made it his business to find out their names, their social security numbers, and everything else he could dig up on Charlie Cartwright, Matthew Levine, Andy Bledsoe, and Brandon Johnson. But in answer to Tessa’s question, he just lifted a shoulder. “I haven’t exactly added him to my LinkedInnetwork.”
“He was a spoiled teenager, and as an adult, he’s pretty much self-destructed. DUIs. Drug possession. For a while his dad kept him out of real trouble, but a few years ago he washed his hands, let Harrison finally take the rap for drugtrafficking.”
At least she didn’t know about the incident—if “stealing” a hundred grand from his parents could be called an incident—that had started Shaw’s downhill slide into most of thatshit.
If she thought the guy had paid enough for his sins, she was sorely mistaken, but it wasn’t a conversation Jonah and Tessa would have. So he took a breath and said, “Apparently, after that party, the Shaws gave Phil Flynn security footage from inside their house. I was caught on camera when I left you to get help. Between that and the DNA under your fingernails, Phil convinced Micki he could pin me with…with…”
“Jonah, say theword.”
He swallowed, but it felt as though he had a medicine ball stuck in there. “He made her believe I could be charged with your rape and that conviction was a slamdunk.”
Because in the state of North Carolina, there was no statute of limitations onrape.
“And you want meto—”
“I know I shouldn’t ask, but if you’d be willing to tell the DA and State’s Attorney that I didn’t…didn’t…” Hell, for the past two years, he’d felt as if he’d attacked her that night in his office. Unable to sit beside her for another second without touching her, without wrapping his arms around her and probably scaring the crap out of her in the process, he jumped up and pulled a business card from his jeans. “This is my attorney’s card. You don’t have to say yes or no right now, but if you could call him by the end of the day with an answer, I’d appreciate it. Then I promise never to bother youagain.”
Because with the turmoil and need inside him, that was the way it had to be. He couldn’t see Tessa without wanting her. And he couldn’t have her without hurtingher.
And no man—him included—would ever hurt this womanagain.
With a control he didn’t feel, he placed the business card near her right hand on the step. Although his hand shook with the need to touch her, just a brush of his fingers over her shoulder, he drewback.
“Good-bye,Tessa.”
He turned away and walked back to his car. This time, he would stay out of Tessa’s life forgood.
If she hada hundred years on this earth, Tessa might never figure out JonahSteele.
Brilliant, broody, and possiblybroken.
Something told her she had played a part in hisbrokenness.
On his way to his car, he didn’t look back once, just focused on that Tesla as if it were a transporter beaming him up. His shaggy brown hair gleamed in the sun and his jeans hugged his long legs. He was built like a swimmer—lean, but with the perfect amount of bulk to propel him through any obstacle in hispath.
He was so good at bringing people together—to make games, to save his hometown, to create things bigger than just himself—but somehow, he seemed soalone.
Once again he was walking away from her, leaving only a hint of his leather and cedar scent behind. Just as he’d walked away the day he sold SteeleTrap.
After the night she and Jonah had sex in his office, he’d been more distant than ever. His employees had picked up on that, some of them no longer attending sessions with her. When Jonah sold Steele Trap, the new owner wanted her to stay on for the transition, so shehad.
But maybe now it was time to make a change in herlife.
“Honey, why was Jonah Steelehere?”
Tessa glanced back at her mother, who was watching Jonah’s car zoom down the winding driveway. “How did you know who hewas?”
“I recognized him from the cover ofFastCompany.”
He’d been on that magazine at the age of twenty-four, and Tessa had a copy of it stored in an archival box. She’d kept a clipping of every mention of him she’d ever come across. Business section articles, gaming magazine features, societypages.
