Page 16 of Savage Temptation
“Just because I’m right doesn’t mean I should be an ass.” He tucks a stray strand of my hair behind my ear. “I’m just happy that you’re safe.”
“H-how did you k-know?”
“Ashley called. She made me promise to keep it a secret.”
“Wh-where is she?”
“I sent her back to the states. She wanted to come with me to pick you up, but I was afraid if I kept her around, I’d kill her.”
“It wasn’t her fault.”
“I still don’t have all the pieces of the puzzle. You went with her to a drug den. Who were you supposed to be meeting there? What kind of guy are you dating?”
“I’m not dating anyone…” My voice trails off when I realize Lance must have gone to Atticus regarding my fake boyfriend, as I had expected him to.
“Then why did you tell Lance that you were?”
“Because…because of you. You won’t invite me to company events anymore, and I needed a reason that wouldn’t make Lance want to kill you. If he ever found out…” I can’t say what I’m thinking because I realize I’m edging toward panic again.
He sneers his lip up. “Are you really trying to pin this on me? Like my lack of trust isn’t justified.”
I cock my head to the side. “When have I ever given you reason to mistrust me?”
“How about the night I caught you stalking around my penthouse?”
My face falls. With everything that had happened between us, I forgot it had been me who’d trespassed.
“I’m sorry for entering your penthouse without your permission,” I finally say. “But it’s rather hypocritical that you’d fuck me before banishing me from your life. Well, I don’t know if the right word is hypocritical. Maybe awful. Or inexcusable. Reprehensible, even.”
He scoffs. “I was too stupid to realize what you were up to until after the fucking took place.”
“What I was up to?”
“Don’t even try to fucking hide it. I get it—you love uncovering fraud. But I don’t have to steal other people’s work or sell to the unscrupulous sorts. I have billions of dollars to buy whatever I damn well please.”
That got my attention. “You thought I was investigating you?”
His brow lifts. “It makes sense. You do PI things, and I’m sure the people that were trying to nail me were aware of your proximity to me.”
“Atticus, I would never, ever, in a million years, investigate you for anything. Even if I was positive you were committing fraud, I’d leave it to someone else to deal with.”
His body turns toward me, his face contorting in confusion. “Then what the hell were you doing in my room?”
“Ashley dared me to put porn on your virtual reality device. It was Richard Scarlet’s idea. I was tipsy and took the dare.”
He blinks back at me for several seconds, then burst into a fit of laughter.
“You really thought that I was investigating you?” I say, hurt. “Scarlet wanted me to set your device to some Avengers knockoff porn. Something about Chris Hemsworth. It was supposed to be funny, and I had already drank so much that I wasn’t thinking of the repercussions.”
He calms, sucks in a breath, then looks at me with sorrowful eyes. “That night had me confused.”
I nod my head. “That makes two of us.”
“I’d been drinking. I remembered everything perfectly, but looking back, I guess I lacked context. I thought you were seducing me, then when you left so suddenly…I guess I jumped to conclusions.”
“I guess the situation was so crazy, it makes sense that you would have been confused and misunderstood my intentions.”
“I really fucked this up, and I’m sorry about that.”
