Page 148 of The Price of Scandal

My heart broke a little more for the lonely girl in the lab coat.

“By the time I was home throwing up while Lita watched, I couldn’t even remember what he looked like. To my mother’s horror, a few pictures had ended up in gossip rags. The worst of which showed me dancing on a bar at a drag club in South Beach. But the bigger scandal never became public knowledge. Until now,” she said, leveling me with her gaze.

“I didn’t find out until days later that the guy I didn’t go home with died. He’d driven through a DUI checkpoint, led police on a chase, and lost control of his car. He crashed into a concrete embankment and died on impact.”

“Jesus, Emily. You could have been with him,” I breathed.

“That’s what Lita said. Only now, with hindsight, I know she said it wistfully. She showed me the article. I didn’t even recognize his name at first. She knew him. And I think she arranged for us to meet. Maybe she was playing this game even back then.”

Lita had been. I was sure of it. I hated her. I hated her hatred and jealousy and greed. I hated that she’d hurt the woman I loved.

“But she never told anyone. She kept that secret. I thought it meant that I could trust her.”

“Instead, it meant she was waiting for the right time to use it,” I guessed. “You’re not responsible, you know. For what happened to him.”

“I know now. Maybe for the first time,” Emily whispered. “So now you know.”

“Do you see me running for the door?”

“You’re too hungover to run.”

She slid closer until our legs brushed. I had to fist my hands at my side to not touch her. Setting her coffee down, she took the pen from me and repeated the signature process. She had shadows under her eyes. Given that it was five in the morning, I assumed she hadn’t slept at all.

But there was an energy crackling off her, and I needed to reach out and touch it. Touch her.

Desire lanced through me like a lightning bolt. She was what I wanted, and I just needed to know the game we were playing so I could devise a way to win.

“Excellent,” she said primly. “Now, on to the next one.”

Another contract? Was it a restraining order? A buyout offer? A prenup?

Everything I needed to know about our future would be coldly sketched out in legalese.

She handed me the papers and then rubbed her palms on her knees again.

I frowned at the first page, wondering if I needed a stronger glasses prescription.

“What…” But the question never fully materialized.

“Sign it.” Emily gripped my wrist firmly.

“I can’t sign this,” I argued.

“Why the hell not? You just gave me half of your company.”

“Jesus, Emily. I thought—” I grabbed her instead and hauled her into my lap. I buried my face in her chest and locked my arms around her waist.

I could hear the soft rumble of her laughter, and then she was kissing the top of my head and hugging me back. The pieces of my stupid, shattered heart melded back together at the touch. Not wanting to be left out, my cock stirred to life.

“I thought you stupidly thought you could get away with breaking up with me and stealing my company,” I said, holding her tighter to me.

She laughed again. “I stupidly thought about it for about ten seconds. But I’m a very smart woman, Derek. You weren’t at fault for anything besides stupidly keeping me in the darkagain.”

“Go back to the part where you know I wasn’t at fault.”

She laughed again, and the sound of it was lighter than it should have been given the circumstances. “What about Flawless? What about the board and the IPO?”

“It ends today. This is what I want.”