Chapter Ten
SUSAN LET HIS NEWS sink in. Lewis was going back to football. He would feel like he had a home again. “That’s…” It was a good thing. It was what he wanted. Rising from her chair, she threw her arms around his neck. “I’m so happy for you,” she whispered. Lewis was getting his dream.
Meaning hers was over. With his mission accomplished, there was no more reason for their arrangement. Stupid her, telling him the affair could end with their agreement. Had she really thought she could sleep with Lewis and escape unscathed?
“I couldn’t have done it without you,” he said. “You believed in me.”
“No, it was all you. You’re the one who did the work and actually changed. All I did was help get the word out.”
And now he didn’t need her. She blinked away the lump in her throat.
“Look at me. I’m so happy, I’m getting teary,” she said wiping her eye. “We need to celebrate.”
“That’s kind of the reason I wanted to go home.”
Her heart twisted at the words. Wouldn’t be too many more times she’d hear him say them. Not now that he no longer needed her. “How about we settle for a toast in the meantime? Champagne for me, water for you. I’ll go get it.”
Immediately he reached for her arm. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I want to.” She needed the moment to shake the thoughts from her head. “This is your celebration. You sit and let me wait on you.”
Pushing her lips into a smile, she scurried to the bar, choosing the one outside the ballroom so she could duck into the powder room and wipe her nose. Someday she’d get through an event without having to hide in the bathroom at some point, but not tonight.
And, because the world really wanted to mock her, Ginger and Courtney were seated along with a few of the PAs at the table nearest the door to the restroom. Both of them shot a trademark smirk in her direction as she approached.
Whatever. She didn’t have time for them.
That is, until she was almost through the door. That’s when she heard Courtney.
“Fake,” she said.
Susan stopped in her tracks. Stepping behind the door, she leaned her ear close to the crack to listen, the nerves in her stomach doing a tap dance.
It was probably nothing.
“…heard her clear as day,” Courtney said. “She told Linus that the whole romance was a scam to get him some publicity.”
“You mean they aren’t an item?” someone asked. “What about those pictures of them kissing?”
“Totally for the camera,” Courtney said.
Susan’s stomach felt like it had been punched. No wonder Courtney had smirked at her. She’d overheard everything. The witch had probably spent the whole party spreading the story to anyone who would listen.
What was she going to do? Lewis was going to kill her.
She found a different entrance and rushed back to the table. Lewis frowned upon seeing her. “Where’s your champagne? Did they cut you off?”
The ballroom wasn’t the proper place for this discussion. There were too many people still gathered at the tables nearby. If they hadn’t heard the story, she didn’t want them to overhear anything now.
“You know what?” she said. “Screw Linus. Let’s go home and celebrate properly.”
Under any other circumstance, the way Lewis’s brown eyes lit up would have made her knees weak. “Are you sure?” he asked.
“Definitely.” They’d talk when they got to her place.
As it turned out, Lewis gave the driver directions for his place.
That was fine. They could talk there, as well.
She chewed the inside of her mouth while he pressed the combination on his apartment lock.
It would be fine, she realized. Courtney could spread the rumor all over the company if she wanted.
She and Lewis could always debunk it. Who would they believe—a known company gossip or the two of them?
And even if they didn’t believe her and Lewis, it was only Collier’s.
Wasn’t like anybody who worked there was going to alert the press.
Yeah, she would tell Lewis and it would be fine.
The first time she saw Lewis’s apartment, she’d joked that it looked like a set for a bachelor-life reality show. Lots of chrome and retro-style furniture and a hot tub with a view to rival the London Eye. She thought that again as she dropped her wrap on the glass dining room table.
Lewis stepped up behind her, his large hands curling around her shoulders. “Finally,” he murmured. “I’ve been waiting all night to get you back here.”
Preoccupied or not, Susan’s eyes still rolled back at the growl in his throat. “Lewis, there’s something I need to…”
His lips found the curve of her neck and those were the last words she said on the subject. It could wait until morning, she thought as her head fell back against his shoulder. There was still plenty of time to nip the gossip in the bud.
It was snowing when Lewis woke up. Big slow-falling flakes like the kind in TV movies.
They blanketed the trees and parked cars with white.
He pulled a nylon jacket over his running shirt and grabbed a knit cap.
Running in the snow had always been a favorite pastime, even as a kid.
While his teammates complained and moaned about working out in unseasonable weather, he embraced it.
There was something strangely invigorating about cutting through the snowflakes.
Besides, he could always count on the snow to clear his muddled head.
This morning, his head was clear as a bell, but he had too much energy to sit still.
Susan was still asleep, wrapped up in the covers.
He smiled and for a second he considered waking her up instead of running.
But there would be plenty of time later.
It was going to take a lot more than a run to burn off his high.
Other than the Youth Ambassador Event, Lewis couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt this good about life.
All the pieces of his goals were coming together.
He was back in sports where he belonged, back on a team.
And maybe now that he was back on top, he could convince Susan to continue their arrangement a little while longer.
Being with her was as close to belonging as a man could get.
After a few laps around the park, he made a quick stop for scones and a copy of the Looking Glass.
The vendor sold Personal Magazine as well so he grabbed a copy of that too since Susan and he were scheduled to do that interview with the magazine later in the week.
He was half tempted to cancel since the article wasn’t needed.
On the other hand, he liked the idea of Susan gracing the pages of a national magazine.
Letting the whole country see more of her uniqueness.
That reminded him, he’d have to find a place for a Christmas tree. When he was done “waking up” Susan, he would ask her what she wanted to do for decorations.
The bed was empty when he unlocked the door. Susan was in the bathroom. It was that last loop. He knew he should have cut it short. Oh, well. He’d give her a few moments of privacy, and then join her. The shower wasn’t built for two for nothing.
As he kicked off his running shoes, he idly flipped through the paper where he’d dropped it on the kitchen island.
It was the usual headlines. The prime minister was fighting with Parliament.
One of the royal duchesses had made an appearance in an expensive designer coat.
He turned to page six and froze when he saw the headline.
Scam-pagne Lewis? Fans Duped by Publicity Stunt.
What the…? This was not good. Not good at all. This was…
He ran a hand over his mouth. This was a disaster.
Quickly, he scanned the article. It detailed how he and Susan had conspired to improve his image and get publicity for Collier’s at the same time, even implying that he was paying Susan and that he was the same drunken playboy he’d always been.
Half of it wasn’t true at all, and that mattered.
Once a narrative was cast, it was near impossible to sway public opinion.
This was going to ruin everything. Goodbye new career, new reputation. Men like Montclark would want nothing to do with him now.
Snatching the paper in his fist, he stormed into the bedroom and thrust open the bathroom door. Susan was just stepping out of the shower. Upon his bursting in, she grabbed a towel.
“What the heck, Lewis,” she snapped.
“We’ve got a problem.” He held up the paper so she could see the headline.
A curse escaped her lips. Taking the paper, she continued reading as she padded past him into the bedroom. Lewis followed, reaching the bed in time to hear her swear again.
She’d turned pale. “I didn’t think it would make the papers,” she said in a low voice.
“What are you talking about? Did you know something like this might happen?”
“Not this.” She ran a hand through her curls, sending droplets of water across the comforter.
“This is my fault,” she said. “I told Linus last night and Courtney overheard. I didn’t know she was there but at the end of the night I heard her and Ginger telling others.
I’m not sure how it got in the paper though.
One of the servers or bartenders must have heard her. ”
“Dammit. Didn’t we agree that we couldn’t tell anybody for this exact reason?”
“I’m sorry.”
Sorry wasn’t going to change the fact his reputation was ruined. Again. “Why would you tell Linus in the first place?”
“I didn’t set out to,” she replied. “He was going on about some family-bonding trip and it came out. I didn’t know Courtney was there.”
“Well, she was,” he snapped. “And now all of London knows.”
“I’m sorry.” Her eyes were wet with tears.