Page 106 of Filthy Rich Temptation

‘Yeah.’

‘And yet, you’re still keeping the biggest secret of all to yourself.’

‘It’s not that simple.’

‘No?’

‘The last thing she wants to hear from me is that I love her.’

‘How can you know that?’

‘Because it’s exactly what Danny did to her. Every time he hurt her, he’d say it was because he loved her. That he was protecting her, keeping her safe from herself.’ The words rise like bile in my throat. ‘I was no better.’

‘You can’t seriously be comparing yourself to him?’

‘She did. She made that very clear.’

‘She was hurting, Theo.’

He rarely uses my forename, and hearing it now makes every word land like a punch.

‘Because ofme.’

‘And don’t you think it hurt more, because, deep down, she’s in love with you too?’

I hold his stare. Something kicks in my chest and I shut it down hard. ‘If she did, she certainly doesn’t now.’

He leans back, lets out a low, bitter laugh. ‘And I’m the one who doesn’t know about love?’

‘What the fuck’s that supposed to mean?’

‘Love doesn’t give a damn about logic. It digs in and it stays – to hell with what makes sense, what’s right, what’s fair.’

He hooks his fingers together in his lap, dark eyes staring me down.

‘If she loved you before, she’ll love you still. You might not feel worthy of it right now, but I’m telling you, she could do no better than you. And you owe her the truth. Hell, you owe it to yourself to tell her. Then I’ll let you drown your sorrows in peace. But until then…’

‘And what if she doesn’t want to hear it?’

‘At least you will have told her your truth, and the choice will be hers to make.’

I knock my whisky back. Let it scorch the hope clawing at my throat.

‘Since when have you not gone after what you want, Tanner?’

Since the day I fell in love with a woman I thought I could never have…

19

SADIE

I sit in the sleek, sunlit office of Empowered Publishing, palms damp, heart thudding like I’ve smuggled a secret into the building. Which I suppose I have. Me.

Dressed in a pale-blue, linen shift dress and white trainers – my busy-mum version of boardroom chic. Taylor was horrified when she saw me (‘You’re meeting a publisher, not doing the school run!’), but even she had to admit, with an OTT sigh, that it was ‘very you’.

As for Lucile Baldwin, she’s exactly how I imagined her – composed, warm, quietly fierce. Bobbed, blonde hair. Piercing, blue eyes. Mid-fifties. She’s already walked me through their vision: how they see the blog evolving, how the book could push my reach even further. She talks like I’m some movement leader when all I did was write. Write and survive.

‘I hope we’ve made it clear,’ she says gently, ‘that your story is safe with us.Youare safe with us. And we believe in what you’re doing.’