Page 51 of Sweet Possession

“Hi,”I said when I opened the door and found the same member ofstaff as yesterday holding a tray of food.

“Good morning, Miss Clarke,”she said brightly, stepping into theroom and putting the tray down on the dining table.“How are you today?”

“I’m okay, thanks,”I muttered glumly.

“Wonderful. Well, I hope you enjoy your breakfast,”she replied,evidently missing the somberness in my tone.

“Thanks.”

As she turned to leave, I caught Fox’s wallet on the side. When she’dcome yesterday, there’d been a moment of awkwardness when she’d hovered, waiting for a tip. Of course, I didn’t have any money to give her, and she’d left with a forced smile.

I’d mentioned to Fox at dinnerthatI felt awful for not tipping her, andhe’d said he’d make sure to leave me some money the next day.

“Oh, wait.”I grabbed his wallet and pulled out a $10 bill, handing itover to her.

“Thank you,”she said, a warm smile on her face this time.

When she closed the door behind her, I went to shut Fox’s wallet, butthe corner of something glossy stashed behind a credit card caught my eye. I didn’t want to snoop but curiosity got the better of me and I pulled it out.

My heart sank.

It was a photo of a gorgeous woman lying on a bed, only her face,shoulders, and chest visible. Mussed-up blonde hair fell to her shoulders, bright blue eyes stared at the camera, and rosy red lips were puckered as if she was blowing a kiss.

Her ample breasts were covered by a lacy bra, her nipples visiblethrough the white material.

Tears stung my eyes. The woman was the complete opposite of me.She looked confident and sexy, and I imagined she had legsthatwent on for days, and knewexactlywhat to do to please Fox.

I turned the photo over and found a message scrawled on the back.

Daddy,

A little something to remind you of me when we’re not together,

Love Lily.

Lily.

The woman Fox had been sleeping with before we met. He’d told mehe had broken things off with her because she’d developed feelings he didn’t return. So whythen, was he still carrying her photo around?

I turned the photo back to look at her as a tear slid down my cheek,and the evilest of demons playing in my head asked me a question I had no answer to.

Why would Fox want me when he could havesomeone like her?

My heart leaped into my throat when the door to the suite opened andFox called out my name. It was a little after eleven in the morning, and I hadn’t expected him back until much later.

I quickly brushed away the last set of tearsthathad fallen, hoping hewouldn’t notice.

“Hey, you haven’t eaten your breakfast,”Fox said, coming into theliving area where I’d sat staring out at the view.

“Yeah, I wasn’treallyhungry. I’m sorry,”I replied, trying my hardest tokeep the anguish out of my voice.

I didn’t try hard enough.

“Baby girl, you’ve been crying,”Fox said, dropping to his knees infront of me.“What’s wrong?”

My bottom lip quivered, fresh tears threatening to fall at his kindness.“Nothing, I’m fine.”

He reached out and brushed a thumb over the tear-stained evidenceon my cheek.“Please don’t lie to me, Cora. Talk to me. I can’t help if you don’t tell me what’s wrong.”