Page 146 of Slumming It

At best, I'd been a bystander. At worst, I'd been a prop. No, not just a prop.Bait.

That fucker had used me as bait.

Maybe it shouldn't have mattered. After all, we'd come a long way since then. But somehow it did matter. It mattered a lot. That night at Solitaire's – it was the first time we'd slept together.

And this wasn't the only thing. It had been the first time I'd kissed him, the first time I'd thought of him as a decent person, the first time I'd wanted to feel his hands on my body and to caress his body in return.

Yes, I'd been crazy-attracted to him, but this wasn't the reason I'd fallen into arms – or into his bed.

It was that stupid rescue.

I'd thought he cared.

About me.

Not somebody else.

But he hadn't. Hestilldidn't, which was pretty obvious, based on his current attitude which waffled between cold indifference and sneering contempt.

This meant our whole foundation was based on a lie – a lie that Reese Murdock, that arrogant billionaire bigshot, had let me believe, not just that night at Solitaire's but during all of those weeks that followed.

It was time to face some cold, hard facts.

Reese Murdock hadnevercared – at least not aboutme.

Chapter 56

Reese

As I pulled out of the empty parking lot, I kept one eye on Emily in the passenger's seat. She looked stunned – and not in a good way – as she stared straight ahead without moving a muscle, not even to blink.

Whatever she was thinking, it couldn't be good.But hey, it was for the best, right?

We drove in silence for maybe ten minutes before she asked in a quiet voice, "Why didn't you correct me?"

I had no idea what she meant. "When?"

She turned in my direction. "At the club…after the thing with Morgan and Nikki. You remember what you told me, right?"

I'd said a lot of things that night, but what she meant now, I had no idea. Hell, I didn'twantto know, because nothing good could come of it – not for me and certainly not for her.

I summoned up my coldest smirk. "Hell, yeah, I remember."

"You do?"

"Yeah," I laughed. "I told you I wasn't a nice guy."

"But that wasn't…" But then her words trailed off into silence, and she once again turned to face the road. "Never mind. It doesn’t matter, anyway."

Like the asshole I was, I couldn’t let it go. "What, you didn't believe me?"

Her voice remained quiet. "No. I guess I didn't. And you know what?"

My chest was tight, but my voice remained cool as I replied, "What?"

"It's time for me to go home."

I'd been expecting it. But the words still hit like a hammer to the gut. Even so, I didn't flinch. And I sure as hell didn't argue. "Alright. We'll pick up your things on the way."