When he’d brushed the blunt tips of his long, elegant fingers down her spine, up her nape and into her hair, she’d felt desired, cherished…loved.
But it’d been a lie. The naïvegirlshe’d been had perceived every touch, kiss, and stroke as love when it’d only been sex. Hot, erotic, dirty sex that could be easily gotten and walked away from.
And he hadn’t hesitated to do exactly that.
The reminder banished the onslaught of memories, leaving her encased in ice. Best she remember not just who stood across from her, but what he’d left behind him: a broken, grieving mess.
Never would she return to that black, vulnerable place. Never would she allow anyone to reduce her to that agony-filled, needy creature again. A creature so dependent on a man and his imagined love, she couldn’t think, couldn’t function. No one would ever again be so important to her that she’d lose herself.
That wasn’t love. It was craziness.
“Frankly, I’m surprised you’re here. I thought you weren’t interested in what your father had to say. And yet, here you are.” She splayed her hands wide, the gesture encompassing the townhome.
He glanced over his shoulder, his blue eyes shuttered. “You don’t know why I’m here?”
“I’m your father’s personal assistant, not his Mother Confessor.”
“So he just states an order, and you carry it out, no questions.” He turned back to finish brewing his coffee in the single-cup coffeemaker, his tone devoid of emotion. Still, she caught the accusation and censure in the question that was a statement. And bristled at it.
“It’s my job,” she snapped.
“Right. Your job. No matter who your employer uses or what underhanded, questionable tactics he engages, it’s your job. I wonder where that line is for you, Hayden. Or if there is one.”
“Your issues with your father aren’t mine.” There’d once been a time when they would’ve been, when his enemies would’ve been hers. When those who’d sought to hurt him would’ve had to come through her first. But that was before he’d left her weeping and shattered in a dark bedroom. “He’s never been anything but professional with me.”
Facing her, cup in hand, he leaned a hip against the counter. Snorted. “He’s Joshua Sutherland. Shame on you if you let your hatred for me blind you to that fact.”
Heat poured into her face. “Did it not occur to you that my choices for my life might not revolve around you? They haven’t for five years. The last decision was when I begged you to take me with you.” Ohfuck. Why had she allowed that last,tellingpart slip?
The ice in his eyes melted a fraction, his full lips softening from its grim line. “Hayden…”
“No.” She shook her head. “I’m not going there with you.We’renot going there. Ever. Now,” she drew in a breath, crossed her arms, not caring if it betrayed the vulnerability racing through her, “why are you here, and why have I been passed around like chattel?”
His gaze narrowed on her, his body going as still as a statue. The sensual curves of his mouth flattened once more, and she braced herself. Maybe he didn’t intend to heed her warning and pursue the line of conversation she refused to discuss. Travelling that pitted road into the past would only lead to pain. His.
Several seconds passed before he lifted his mug and sipped, studying her over the rim.
“I’m here because my father stole a piece of land I wanted from under me so he could blackmail me. If I want him to sell it to me, I have to remain in Houston for the next two weeks if I want him to sell it to me.” He bit the explanation out, every word coated in a red shade of bitter. As she struggled to digest the information, he continued. “You’re here, because if I have to suffer, than you’re going to be sitting right beside me in this hell. Be thankful. He originally demanded a month, but I bargained him down to a couple of weeks.”
“You don’t find that petty and oh, I don’t know, childish?” She advanced a step, gripping the edge of the granite bar that separated the kitchen from the living and dining areas. “It didn’t even register that this stunt is messing with my job?”
She hadn’t taken two consecutive weeks off since she’d started working for Joshua two years ago. She couldn’t afford to. Not when others would leap at the chance to occupy her position as the PA for a Sutherland. An image of her temporary replacement flittered across her mind’s eye. Young, skinny, pretty, blonde. And ambitious. No doubt she would use the next fourteen days to ingratiate herself to her employer. Knowing Joshua’s penchant for her type, the thought was more than a little frustrating…and panicking.
She’d worked her ass off to obtain this position and keep it. Working for Griffin’s father was just a step toward her ultimate dream and goal: founding and owning her own financial consultant and management firm. In her ten year goal, she would have enough capital, experience and connections to work for herself, dependent on no one. Be able to provide for her mother so she didn’t have to clean house for one more wealthy family a day in her life.
But Griffin, with his thoughtlessness, had thrown a kink—a potentially massive kink—in her plans.
“My father might have a screwed up moral compass, but he’s not an idiot.” Griffin arched a dark eyebrow. “Besides, think of this as a mini-vacation. For the next two weeks you don’t have to field calls from my mother and lie about Joshua attending ‘evening business dinners’ when you both know he’s out fucking his latest mistress. Or you don’t have to worry about getting your jewelry orders straight. Y’know, praying you don’t mistakenly send the wife the side-piece’s pair of earrings? I’m sure all that deception can really wear on a person. You can thank me later.”
The denial hovered on her tongue, but she didn’t utter it. Hell yes, the lies and juggling of Joshua’s blatant infidelity became tiresome. It was the one aspect of her job she detested. Joshua had never tried to hide his actions from Hayden. Though a brilliant businessman, as a loyal husband, he sucked. Not that Audrey Sutherland seemed too bothered by his cheating. How could she when she stayed? Whenever Hayden delivered an excuse about her husband’s whereabouts, his wife always paused and stated her pat answer.
When my husband isfinished, please have him call hiswife.
Oh yeah, she knew. Hayden had known Audrey for nineteen years—well, as much as the housekeeper’s daughter could know the regal lady of the manor—and the reigning Houston socialite was not a stupid woman. So either she didn’t care, or she craved this lifestyle and the governor’s mansion too much to allow her husband’s side slap-and-tickle make her leave Joshua’s side.
What must it have been like for Griffin growing up, knowing his parents weren’t faithful to each other? Having a ringside seat to infidelity and the mockery of marriage?
He’d never spoken so candidly of his father’s adultery before—he hadn’t mentioned it at all—but since she doubted Joshua’s serial cheating had begun when she’d started working for him, Griffin had to have known.
