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“I didn’t know if you were going to be there today. It’s not like you’ve been there the last three days, and Lucas would rather cut out his tongue than answer questions about your schedule.”

Holding his glass between two slender fingers, he continued to stare at her. Belatedly, she realized he was waiting for her explanation of why she needed to talk with him.

“I wanted to ask why you were having me followed. I didn’t see one today, but I know I’m not imagining someone has been watching me.”

“How do you know I’m the one having you followed?”

“Who else could it be?”

“I can come up with several scenarios of why someone could be following you. You’re a lone woman, living alone; you could have a stalker from your time on your parents’ show. There could be other, more frightening reasons, such as sex traffickers looking for their next victim, ransoming you for your family’s wealth …”

Haley drained the last of her brandy. “So, you weren’t the person who was having me followed?”

“I was.”

“Then why were you trying to frighten me?”

“Payback.”

Twenty-Four

Twirling his brandy, Desmond told himself that carrying Haley upstairs to fuck her brains out before the door was closed on Janine was in bad taste.

His ex-mistress’ behavior had been cringe-worthy, which he had to reluctantly admit. Still, that Haley found it so amusing that she laughed at him irritated him more than Janine trying to steal one of his favorite prints from his bedroom. He had gotten it back then left his butler to watch her pack the rest of her belongings.

“Payback? For what?”

He narrowed his eyes on Haley.

“For laughing? I’m sorry, all right? It’s just … I’m sorry, but hearing a grown woman call a man who isn’t her father daddy, and men who enjoy being called daddy, is kind of weird to me. So, I laughed, okay?”

“So you know women who call men they are intimate with daddy refers to them taking care of her.”

“I get that. I just—”

“Would never call a man daddy,” he finished for her.

“Never in a million years.”

He almost laughed at the icky face she made.

“Got it. You have daddy issues.”

“I don’t have daddy issues,” she snapped, her expression becoming irritated.

Desmond raised his glass to hide his smile. “Hmm … then sexual issues.”

Red flooded her cheeks.

“I don’t have those issues, either.”

“Seems you have a little of both going on,” he surmised out loud.

“You’re changing the subject.” She clenched her glass. “Why were you having me followed?”

“I was having you followed for your own safety. Now, going back to your issues, if you decide to seek help, I can make myself available day or night.”

“Are you actually hitting on me while your girlfriend is still in your house?”

“Ex-girlfriend, and yes.”

The rosy coloring in her cheeks fled. Then Haley jerkily rose to her feet, setting her glass on the small table next to the chair before holding her hand out to him. “I’d like my phone back.”

Desmond had expected several reactions to his come-on, yet the hurt look she was giving him had him trying to repair the damage. “Haley—”

“Either give me my phone, or I’ll walk. I won’t stand here and be made fun of. When you aim for payback, you go full ninja.”

“I don’t understand?” he confessed.

Her hands on her hips, Desmond had to jerk his legs back as she strode forward, her knees bumping his. “You’re not exactly being subtle. Did I hurt your manhood so badly by laughing at you that you decided to bring me down a peg or two? I’ve got news for you. I’m aware that I am nowhere in Janine’s class of beauty, but I do have standards.”

Desmond set his own glass down. “Are you saying fucking me is beneath your standards?”

Rage filled him that Haley thought he was beneath her. Images of his childhood came back to haunt him of being the hungriest, dirtiest child not only in his neighborhood, but in all of Queens City.

Confusion filled her eyes. “What? No, that isn’t what I’m saying at all. You weren’t making fun of me?”

Snagging her wrist, he pulled her down onto his lap. Her soft, cushioned ass landed on top of his aching cock. “Does that feel like I’m making fun of you?”

Haley tried to wiggle off his lap, but he grabbed the nape of her neck to place her head in the crook of his shoulder.

“Let’s try this again. I’ve been attracted to you since we ate lunch together. So much so that I’ve been useless to Janine, or any other woman, whom I’ve tried to be with.”

“You have?” She searched his eyes.

Desmond admitted the truth to her, and finally to himself, the real reason he was desperate to get Janine out of his house. “I have.”

“Oh …” With her hands on his bare chest, she made a move to push herself off him. Before she could, though, Desmond placed his mouth over hers. Parting her lips with one stroke of his tongue, he delved inside, searching for the unique taste that only she was able to give him.