Page 53 of A Secret and a Lie

Inviting me over to his place, insisting I stay, Henry’s suspicion…

How could I be sostupid?I’ve been blinded by my own cravings that I ignored the threat right in front of me.

In the doorway, I glance over my shoulder and add, “Marcus should also get the cleanup crew on standby.”

When the silver elevator doors part, I step into a small reception area, the noise my stilettos make echoing off the tiles like a bomb’s timer ticking down.

Click. Why’d he bug my phone? Click. That imbecile thought I’d never know. Click. What does he want from me?

Getting to the fortieth floor was easy as flashing my cleavage to the receptionist who couldn’t have been more than twenty, grateful that I chose to wear a black lace bustier beneath my blazer today.

As I now approach a middle-aged assistant named Edward, according to his nameplate, I take note of the security guard in the corner.

Pasting a pleasant smile on my crimson lips, I step up to the desk. “Is Mr. Crawford in today?”

This is the first time I’ve ever visited a client at their place of work, and it feels wrong, uneasiness sloshing through me.

Edward nods. “And whom should I report is hoping for an audience?”

His words slant as if in cursive British and my sticky smile softens a bit. “Allison.”

“A moment, please.”

He presses a button on his desk before getting up and opening one of the wooden double-doors behind him, leaving me here with the security guard.Shit, should I have brought Marcus with me?

Edward emerges a moment later, nodding to me as he holds the door open, and I stalk inside.

Ford is relaxed behind his desk, leaning back in his seat, looking every bit a king. His tousled, brown hair is frustratingly sexy today as he sits up, resting his forearms on his desk, and pinning me with twin tanzanite irises.

When the door shuts, my body begins to betray my rage as Irealize that I’m now shut in a room with the first man in years who I’ve felt anything for.

“What can I do for you this afternoon,Allison?”

His deep, liquid satin voice fills the room with tendrils of opaque vapor that threaten to suffocate me.

Coming here was a mistake. I should’ve called him. Or forced him to come to my office. What the fuck was I thinking?

But I’m here now, and I have things to confront him about.No man is worth going to jail over.

Moving farther into the room, I choose to stand directly opposite him, between two chairs, and hold his eye contact. “You bugged my phone.”

His eyebrows pinch, like he truly has no idea what I’m talking about. “What are you talking about?”

My gaze narrows, my left eyelid twitching.The audacity of this man.“Don’t play coy. I know you did it. I want to know why.”

His face is carefully blank as he gets up, and I drop my purse into the vacant seat next to me.I suspect that I’ll be here for a while.

He winds his way around his desk, past me, and I turn to track him and watch as he moves to the lounge area on the other side of his office, gazing out the expansive floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook the city, like a god perusing his domain.

“Answer me.” My patience is waning, and I cross my arms over my chest to hide the tremor in my hands. The longer he ignores me, the larger the tempest inside me becomes.

He appears to be the picture of relaxed indifference; it simultaneously makes me want to punch his handsome face and beg him from my knees to tell me what I want to know.

Finally, he turns back to face me, studying me for a moment as a tense, charged silence swims between us. He’s the one to break the quiet with a sledgehammer comprised of three words.

“Kneel for me.”

“What?No.” I shake my head, scoffing at his brazenness, lightly rolling my eyes. Could he read my thoughts?