Chapter 6
6
LUKE
S he was a journalist. A fucking journalist.
Not just any journalist, though. Ally Landis was an entertainment reporter. According to a career networking site, she’d been a salaried employee for a major national publication until a few months ago. But now her byline was on a variety of publications, including one from a few weeks ago about me and my scandal.
It all came together as I sat at my kitchen table searching her name on my phone, forgotten cup of coffee in front of me. The woman sleeping in my bed had deliberately sabotaged her car to get into my house. More than into my house. She’d gotten me naked and had sex with me. Was that all an act? Was she even a virgin?
My heart felt like it had been shattered into a million pieces. After a lifetime of relationships that weren’t quite right, I’d finally found the perfect fit. Learning it’d all been a deception was devastating. Beyond devastating. It made me want to pick up my guitar and hammer out a song about it.
“My clothes are on your living room floor,” a woman’s voice said.
I turned around to see Ally standing just outside the bedroom door. If she noticed that I had my phone in my left hand, she didn’t seem to think anything of it. She had a smile on her face and for a second or two, I thought maybe it hadn’t been a deception after all.
Larry hopped up from his spot on the floor and rushed to greet Ally, tail wagging. Traitor. He hadn’t gotten the memo that we were mad at this woman. He still thought we could trust her.
“Did you get what you came here for?” I asked, pushing myself to my feet and turning to face her.
She wore her panties and nothing else. It seemed a little unfair to confront her in that state, considering I was wearing the T-shirt and jeans I’d retrieved from the living room.
Her smile fell, and her gaze immediately dropped to my hand where my phone screen was still lit up. I wasn’t sure if she could see what was on it from where she stood.
“I didn’t know you,” she said. “My career’s been in the toilet. I needed something to revive it.”
“I was your meal ticket,” I said. “So, when you slept with me, that had nothing to do with the articles?”
“I mean, at first, I thought maybe I’d snap a picture of you while you were sleeping,” she confessed. “But then?—”
“You were going to snap a picture of me while I was sleeping,” I interrupted.
Maybe I’d been a little too forceful with my words. She averted her gaze and crossed her arms, shielding herself.
Damn it. I hadn’t meant to sound scary. I wasn’t dangerous, but that was what she thought of me. That’s what everyone thought of me.
“It was a bitter ex-girlfriend,” I said. “You can put that in your article if you’re going to use this experience for profit. I’m not even sure if she meant to insinuate I was abusive. That’s how your buddies in the media twisted it around.”
Taking a deep breath, I turned and set my phone on the table. I grabbed my coffee cup in the process. If we were going to have this discussion, I needed more caffeine.
“I believe in calling out actual abusers,” I said. “But I’m a nice guy. I may suck at relationships, but I can’t marry someone I don’t love. I know now that the magic just wasn’t there.” Even as I said the words, my stomach was clenching. “I broke some hearts, I won’t lie. But that’s what happens on your way to finding the person you’ll spend the rest of your life with. You enter every relationship hoping for the best.”
“I understand,” she said in a soft voice.
I continued. “I was just as disappointed as the women were when it didn’t work out. But with my most recent ex, if she hadn’t been so busy trying to figure out why I didn’t want to be with her, she would have admitted to herself that it wasn’t right.”
Normally, I would have avoided talking about my past relationships at all costs. But I was defending myself here. If this woman was going to trash me in the media, I at least needed to take a stab at getting my side of the story out there.
But I was lying to myself if I thought that was the only reason I was pleading my case right now. No, I wanted this woman to understand I was a good guy. I was a gentleman from start to finish.
“I can’t do it anymore,” Ally said.
She took several steps toward me as I sipped my coffee. My goal was to keep my expression calm as I waited for her to continue.
“I loved my full-time job,” she said, averting her gaze to my feet. “Until I lost it. I mostly rewrote press releases and interviewed celebrities. But freelancing is tough. It’s a race to get the most scandalous story.”
“And I’m that story.”
My voice sounded flat, emotionless. That was by design. I didn’t want to give her access to my heart.
Problem was, try as I might to keep her out, it was too late. I cared about this woman. I might even be in love with her.
But Ally was shaking her head. “You made me see that these are human beings I’m writing about.”
“You didn’t see us that way before?”
“I shut it out.” She sighed. “It’s funny how we can justify doing bad things when we want to. But I’d rather dance on a pole for a living than dig up personal business on people to sell.”
A surge of jealousy rushed through me at her words. As much as I’d enjoy seeing her naked on a pole, I didn’t want other eyes on her. That was for my eyes only.
“So you showed up here with plans to snap pictures of me,” I said. “Pictures you planned to sell to some shady website.”
“I don’t write for shady websites. I was going for the big entertainment publications. Everyone wants to know what happened to you.”
“It’s nobody’s business,” I said. “And I don’t care what anyone else thinks. Just...”
Just her. But I couldn’t bring myself to say those words. I was battling very real feelings for her here, and I was still struggling with her deceiving me.
“I can’t take back what I’ve already done.” She lowered her arms and walked toward me, breasts bared for me. “But I wouldn’t change it for anything. It brought me here.”
“Can you stick around a little longer?” I asked.
I set my coffee on the table, then turned to face her. My body was reacting to the sight of her wearing only panties. I wanted to set her on this table and fuck her until I was satisfied.
But I wanted so much more. I didn’t want her to ever leave.
“I know it’ll take time for you to trust me,” she said, taking a couple of steps toward me. “I plan to prove to you I’m not that woman.”
As I closed the remaining distance, I knew she wouldn’t have to prove much. I knew, deep down, she’d changed her mind once we got to know each other. Maybe sometime around our first kiss.
“I’m going to hold you to that,” I said as I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her toward me. “You’ll have to make it up to me.”
“I think I can do that.”
She wore a big smile as she reached for the fastening on my jeans. Now that was the kind of making up I liked.