Page 60 of Bossy Trouble

“Or were you just dating me to get to my dad?”

Damn. Or she would hit me right in the money.

I couldn’t lie to her, not with the pain in her eyes, so I said, “Your dad was…a factor.”

“Fuck,” she swore uncharacteristically, face twisted in pain. “I knew it.”

“Hey, hey,” I said, going to her as a tear dropped from her eye. Damn, I was an absolute shit stain on humanity for doing this to someone who cared about me. I reached for her, half expecting her to slap me. Instead, she wrapped her hands around my neck and sobbed into my chest.

“Don’t cry,” I said. “You’re not supposed to cry. This is the part where you hit me and call me a soulless bastard and a user. You’re supposed to makemecry.”

“I can’t.” She wailed legitimately now. “I love you.”

“You don’t,” I said firmly. That much I was sure of. No one could love a heartless bastard like me. “You love the idea of me. You’d fly running if you knew the real me, and I wouldn’t blame you.” Any woman would.

Georgia knows the real you. And she’s still here. Sure, she left before, but she’s here now.

Yes, but Georgia also doesn’t know your secret.

“Will you stay?” she asked me, her voice sounding so small and sad. “At least for a little while.”

I sighed. I had a feeling it would be a bad idea, but I’d already done a lot of damage to this woman. The least I could do was try and make it better. “Sure. I’ll stay.”

23

GEORGIA

Itried to bring up the issue of the stranger again.

Perhaps I was better off letting it go, but I couldn’t. Donovan might be in danger, and I couldn’t just stay aside and do nothing.

Especially since the whole situation was causing him so much stress.

I could tell. The next morning, when I walked into the office, I went to his desk and casually put the coffee down in front of him.

He didn’t even look up. He’d seemed pretty tense the entire morning and had made more phone calls than I’d ever seen him make in one session. He handled it all himself, refusing to let anyone in the office help him.

It bothered me.

I thought I would have some satisfaction from seeing Donovan Dresden rattled, but I didn’t. I didn’t like the tautness of his shoulders or the line on his forehead. I wanted to rub it away or kiss it away so that he never had any stress in his life again.

Stop being so sappy, I told myself.And don’t tell me you’ve fallen in love with him again.

No, I hadn’t. At least, I thought I hadn’t, but then I couldn’t explain why it twisted me up inside to see him like this.

In either case, I needed to get to the bottom of what was going on. If not for him, then for my sanity.

“Lots of work today?” I asked, easing into the conversation.

“Something like that,” he said without even glancing up at me.

“Do you want me to help you with something? Or anything?”

He shook his head. “No. I can take care of this.”

More like you don’t want me to find out about your secret criminal dealings.To my surprise, the fact that he’d possibly engaged in some corporate crime didn’t bother me as much as the idea that he may be in danger for it. He needed my help even though he didn’t know it. And he needed my help before it was too late. “Does any of it have to do with the man who came here yesterday?”

Donovan finally peered up at me. “No. Why are you so interested in that visitor anyway?”

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