Page 19 of Persuasion (Temptation 2)

“You obviously already know the answer,” I shot back, averting my gaze. Partly because I couldn’t bear to look into his pained eyes. Partly because I didn’t want him to see the uncertainty in mine. “Why else would you have agreed to my proposition?”

He took a timid step toward me, brows scrunched. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, come off it.” I threw my hands up in frustration. “You can stop with the act now, Chris.” I glared at him, lip curling in the corner. “Or should I say Lachlan?”

He inhaled a sharp breath, eyes going wide.

“That’s right. I know who you are, too.”

He opened his mouth, but I continued before he could say anything.

“So you can stop pretending you just put the pieces together when it’s obvious you’ve known all along. You’re simply trying to cover your ass because you must have seen me on the Morning Show earlier today. When my segment aired right after they did a piece about you and your sister, you realized you needed to do damage control since the chances were high I’d seen it and figured it all out.”

He looked at me quizzically. “Figured out what exactly?”

“Why you agreed to my proposal. Why you baked a fucking cake with me, for crying out loud. It wasn’t just to get laid.”

With every word I spoke, my resolve that he had to have known increased. It would be too much of a coincidence to think otherwise.

Eyes on fire, I leaned toward him. “You hoped by fucking me, I’d tell you what I refused to tell your sister.” I placed my hands on my hips. “Well, I’m sorry to be the one to inform you, but I do not speak to my ex-husband. Why the hell would I?

“Since the truth about all that shit came out…” I gestured to his phone, “I’ve done everything I can to put it all behind me. To protect my daughter. The absolute last thing I would ever do is jeopardize her safety. So when your sister accosted me in public, in front of my daughter, I had no choice but to keep her as far away from us as possible.”

I took a deep breath, calming myself. “So now, if you’re done pretending to be blindsided about who I am, please see yourself off my property.”

Ignoring the nagging voice in my head that sounded eerily like Naomi’s, urging me to at least listen to what he had to say, I spun, my feet not carrying me nearly quickly enough toward the house and my escape.

It probably took only a few seconds to reach the sliding glass door, but with the heat of Lachlan’s intense stare scalding my skin, it felt like hours, each step I took away from him filling me with an increasing sensation of doubt.

Then a barely audible whisper cut over the sound of the crashing waves, the sincerity and raw vulnerability within giving me pause.

“You’re wrong.”