“I love you, Blake,” she whispered against my lips.
I kissed her again, gentle, but eager to get back to our penthouse later, where we could be alone. Where we could make love, like we did every night and most mornings. My staff loved Tessa, more than they loved me, I think, and everything was finally falling into place.
With one exception.
After getting lost in kisses, I brought Tessa back inside and waited a few more minutes before pulling Jace away from the others.
Something was wrong with the billionaire who transformed failing companies by prioritizing employees over profits, giving raises instead of pink slips. Fortune called him the Santa Claus of CEOs, measuring success by lives improved rather than dollars earned.
You’d think the guy wouldn’t look so damn haunted.
“We’re all worried about you,” I pressed. “We can tell something’s going on, but for the life of us, we can’t imagine why you won’t tell us what it is.”
He was silent for several seconds, but I studied him, making it clear that this time, I wouldn’t accept “I’m fine” for an answer. I’d wait. For as long as it took.
Finally, he cleared his throat, looking to the ground. “There’s something I never told you guys.”
I cocked my head. “We don’t keep secrets from each other.”
“Well, I did.” He flipped his phone over repeatedly. “We went through enough shit together. Last thing I wanted was to add another burden.”
“The whole point of our club is to be there for each other. Through everything.”
“And I needed that.” He met my eyes. “Maybe I was worried you guys wouldn’t have my back if you knew what I’d done.”
“Knox was convicted of murder, and we stood by him. What could you possibly have done that would make you think we’d support Knox, but not you?”
He rubbed his eye. “Let’s just say I have a dark past.”
“We all have a dark past.”
He leveled me with a glare. “You have to trust me.” His voice dropped. “We all have our sins and secrets, and mine are better left buried.”
With that, he turned and walked away, leaving me alone with the unsettling realization that the man I considered a brother—the billionaire with a heart of gold—might be hiding something darker than any of us could imagine.
EPILOGUE
TESSA
“You slept with your boss?” My eyes bugged out as I grabbed my wineglass for support.
The light in our dining room flickered across Scarlett’s face, highlighting something I’d never seen there before. Was that fear mixed with desire?
“On accident.” Scarlett took a long sip of her Merlot. “And not just once.” A blush crept up her neck as she leaned closer, lowering her voice. “I’ve never felt anything like it. With him, it’s like everyone else disappears.”
“How does one accidentally sleep with her boss?”
“Easy.” Scarlett’s laugh held a hint of hysteria. “You meet a hot-as-sin guy, spend a no-strings-attached weekend with him, and then when you go back to work on Monday morning, you discover he’s the new owner of your entire company.” She traced the rim of her wineglass. “Jace Lockwood.”
I nearly choked. “Blake’s friend?”
“The one and only.” She drew her fingertips to her lips. “I’ve tried to stop thinking about him because every time I do, myskin heats up. And whenever he’s near me, it’s like he electrifies all the particles in the air. And when he looks at me with those intense green eyes? It’s like everyone else disappears. Like he can see right through me.” She shook her head. “And now he wants more. A lot more.”
“Well, that doesn’t sound so terrible,” I ventured.
“It is when there’s someone at work who’s hurting me.” Her fingers trembled around her glass. “Every day at work is a battlefield because Jace is obsessed with finding out who it is. And when he does …” She left the sentence hanging.
“Why don’t you just tell Jace who he is?”
