Chapter 13
ARI
Annoyed and frustrated that Nathan didn’t let me come, I slam the stall door shut with a loud bang when high-pitched chatter, from what sounds like a dozen or so female voices, suddenly fills the empty bathroom.
I slip off my heels before removing my ruined pantyhose.
“Asshole,” I mutter to myself under my breath and scrunch them up before throwing them into the trash can.
I still for a moment when a voice swoons words of admiration for the infuriating man I’m learning likes to play games. “Wow, Nathan looks hot tonight. Whoever got to sample his goods is one hell of a lucky lady.”
No, she’s not. She’s more frustrated than an author with writer’s block.
Flustered, I quickly and quietly compose myself, slipping my heels back on and tugging my dress down over my hips.
I’ll wait for everyone to leave before I make my exit—otherwise, they’ll know it was me who was the lucky, or perhaps not so lucky, girl who was with Nathan.
My skin is still flushed and the burning in my core lives on as does the incredible feeling of him stretching me.
Arousal is quickly replaced with annoyance. Don’t play with yourself or I’ll know. Who the hell does he think he is? He’s nothing special and nothing my vibrator can’t sort as soon as I get home.
I’m lying to myself. It can never replace his electrifying touch and the way he makes me feel: adored and worshipped.
Bile rises in my throat when the women on the other side of my cubicle continue talking about Nathan. “Why is he still single?” one of them asks, and another replies, “Since his father retired, he’s committed to his work.”
“I heard his dad took early retirement because he’s sick but I don’t know how true that is.”
This is new information to me. What’s wrong with his father?
“I don’t know anything about that, but I do know Nathan Hart will never settle down.” Another woman jumps into the conversation. “Which is such a shame because according to Vivienne Cavendish he has the stamina of a mountain lion on the hunt.”
“Relentless,” one says.
“Powerful,” another adds.
“Unstoppable until the job is done.” Someone else interjects and they all burst into cackling laughter, making them sound like a coven of witches.
God, that makes me feel sick, but they aren’t wrong. Nathan’s body is built for the long game. And whoever Vivienne Cavendish is, I’m jealous that she has first-hand knowledge of what Nathan fucks like all night.
I hold my hand over my stomach at the mention of him being with another woman, hating that she knows him like I do. Maybe I’m just another accomplishment for him, or another challenge. And maybe I mean nothing to him at all.
But there is no denying the chemistry between us. Every time we touch, sparks fly, causing warmth unlike anything I’ve ever felt to tingle everywhere. It’s exciting.
Maybe I’m delusional.
What seems like a lifetime passes and finally, when the commotion of people using the facilities finally subsides, I tentatively make my way out of the stall and thank the Big Man above at the sight of the empty space.
Walking over to the sink, I lay my purse on it and clean my hands, while my brain revisits the conversation between the women.
I shudder at the idea of another woman’s hands on Nathan’s body. It fills me with such intense jealousy, it feels as if I could tear the skin from my own.
The unease I’m experiencing makes me question everything about who I am. What we are. What we’ve become.
We aren’t exclusive; hell, we aren’t even friends. I’m his secretary, nothing more, but why do I feel like we are?
And I need to remember my big overarching why. Why I am working for him.
It’s temporary.
Being with him or getting close to him is inappropriate. It’s unethical and I need to put a stop to whatever is happening between us, immediately.
I finish drying my hands and dig my cell out my purse to ask my journalist friend, Julie, if she’s uncovered anything new.
Julie
Not yet. You?
Me
Nothing. I’m hoping to have some information soon, though.
Julie
I have a couple of leads on the traffic officer and detective who investigated the case but weren’t called to give evidence.
Is she sure about that? I swear the two investigators involved gave evidence. Strange.
Me
Great, let me know as soon as you have anything.
Julie
Will do.
I tuck my cell inside my purse.
Staring hard at my reflection in the mirror, I find it difficult to look at the woman I’ve become.
It’s time to focus my energy on the true reason I applied for a position at Hart Law: to uncover the truth and gather the evidence that Nathan’s father is a corrupt lawyer and the man who helped get my family’s killer acquitted in his trial.
I slept with the enemy.
And I liked it.
I had sex with the son of the lawyer who defended a criminal and got him out of a prison sentence.
Which makes me a traitor.
I’m as guilty as his father and the man who killed my family.
And I can’t sleep with him again.
Tomorrow, I’ll set the record straight with him.