Page 8 of Dirty Little Secrets
“No,” he answers flatly. “I would not.”
“Not even for two million dollars?”
He struggles to keep his composure as he grunts out, “No.”
“Hmm.” Shrugging, I push myself out of the booth. It’s getting late. Driving in the dark can be dangerous. “It appears you and I might have something in common after all.” I grab the check off the table and rip it into shreds, sprinkling the pieces like flakes of a winter storm. “Neither would I.”
“Wait—”
“Enjoy the rest of your evening, Mr. Cavanaugh.” I toss him a parting wink. “Maybe I’ll see you around.”
“You will.”
Is that a promise? Or a threat? Either way, how exciting.
Or not.
THE HIDDEN TRUTH
DAMON
What thefuck?!
Heaving, I whip my suit jacket across the foyer of my penthouse, garnering a startled gasp from Josephine. She left! She just left? Who does she think she is? I am Damon fucking Cavanaugh, and I haveneverin my thirty-three years of living on this godforsaken planet had a womandisregardme. Saynoto me. Fuckingdismissme!
I’m out of practice. That must be the problem. That’s the only logical explanation for whatever the hell it was that unfolded at Lux.Some things are not for sale. Hah. What a joke. She’s a comedian. An alluring, tantalizing, intoxicating fucking comedian. She spoke to me like I was beneath her, like I was just another greasy, groveling, generational wealthy simp. I shouldforget about her. Her sultry voice. Her lascivious lips. Her deep, secretive stare. And I shoulddefinitelyforget about the fleeting moment in which our eyes locked, and I felt alive, for the first time in years.
“Damon, what’s wrong?” Josephine skitters into the living room and picks up my jacket, her forehead creased with worry. “Did the meeting go bad? They won’t sign?”
“Of course, they’ll sign! Do I look like an idiot to you?” I bark, storming into the kitchen and grabbing a bottle of Perrier out of the fridge. I twist the cap and chug half the bottle before whipping my fuming head at Josie. “Well? Do I? Do I look like an idiot, Josephine?”
She blinks, fiddling with her rosary. “I?—”
“Because she sure as hell treated me like one,” I continue, pushing past Josie as I streamline toward the sectional and collapse down. “Worried you’ll lose?” I mimic the vixen’s stupidly seductive tone. “The audacity to speak to me like that! The client relations at that establishment have clearly taken a detrimental turn. I’m surprised Georgina isn’t bankrupt by now.”
“Ah…” Josephine hums, a wide grin stretching across her aging face. “Finally.”
I give her a deadpan glare. “You’re smiling? I am clearly in distress and you are smiling?”
“Yes, mi cielo, I’m smiling—” Josephine sucks in a breath of relief as she waddles to the foot of the couch. She places her hand on my shoulder. “It’s been far too long since you’ve shown this type of emotion.”
“You’re pleased that I’m angry?” I ask, huffing like a fucking child. “How inappropriate.”
Josie shrugs. “Yes, I am.” She bends down, kissing my cheek. “It’s better for you to be angry than to be void of all feelings. Plus,” she pats my head, “I sense a woman is at the root of your current attitude, which,” she grins even wider, “is very pleasing indeed.”
I swat her hand away. “She is not a woman.” Sulking further into the couch, I mumble out, “She is the devil.”
Josie clicks her tongue, sighing. “The devil? Why? Because she didn’t want to go home with you? That now makes women devils?”
“I am not discussing this with you anymore,” I grunt. “Don’t you have laundry to wash or something?”
“Little shit.” Josephine smacks me upside the head. “It’s 2 a.m., I am going tosleepnow. The only reason I stayed awake was to make sureyougot home safe.” She mumbles a couple of curses at me in Spanish as she walks to her room. “God help me…”
“Fuck!” I swallow my pride and call out after the woman who raised me alongside my parents, “I’m sorry, Josephine. I didn’t mean?—”
She whips around, fists planted on her hips. “I make your food, Damon. It would be wise to keep me happy, otherwise…” She shrugs. “Who knows what could happen?”
I blink at her. “Are you threatening to poison me?”
