Page 262 of Theirs to Desire (Club M: Boxed Set)

SHANE

W hen I walked in, I told myself that I wasn’t invested in tonight’s outcome. Adelaide Byard was lovely, but she wasn’t unique. There were other women. I mocked Theo's nerves.

She’s taken me by surprise.

I can lie. No, not lie. I can hedge. Pay her a pretty compliment or two. I can be charming when I want to be. I could smile at her, say something pleasant, and make her forget about her line of questioning.

But something tells me she will see right through me.

I hesitate. I don't like the idea of anyone rifling through the inner workings of my mind. Nobody, not even Theo, knows the real reason I want to sleep with Adelaide Byard. If I were to tell her the truth, I would reveal things about me I’d rather keep hidden.

I’d be opening a window into my heart. And I don’t do that.

If I tell her nothing, she’ll walk. I can read it in every line of her body.

When Theo talked about seeing her at Club M so many years ago, she smiled in memory.

For a few brief minutes, she’d let her guard down.

But now she’s tense again. Her back is ramrod straight, and her expression is unreadable.

“I'll tell you. But in exchange, I want something.”

“Yes, I know. You want to scene with me.”

“No.” She quirks an eyebrow, and I correct myself. “I do want to scene with you, yes. But this evening, I want something else. You're suspicious. You don't trust us. That’s fair—you don't know us. You have good reasons to assume the worst of people.”

“Okay?”

“Here’s the offer. I'll tell you the truth. The complete, unvarnished truth. And in exchange, you tell me why you're here. Why, despite your mistrust, you're still in this room.”

She hesitates for a long moment, and then she nods slightly. “You have a deal.”

I take a fortifying sip of whiskey. “I grew up poor as dirt. I fought to get where I am, and it hasn’t always been easy.” That’s an understatement. “When I graduated law school, I was hired at Weddell Burke.”

The memories still have the power to hurt.

“I thought my troubles were behind me, but they were just getting started. Weddell Burke has an office in New York, but they’re a British firm, an old-school one.

All their partners went to Oxford. Half of them were titled.

I didn’t fit in. I knew it, but I fought anyway.

I was hungry. Ambitious. Anyway, to cut a long story short, after being passed up for promotion three times, I was exhausted. I was ready to quit.”

Theo has a frown on his face.

“That’s when I went to the Meyer holiday party.

” I look right at Adelaide. “I was mired in the struggle, and I’d lost sight of the prize.

Then Elliott Meyer showed up with you at his side.

One look at you, and the hunger came roaring back.

If I was very good, if I worked very hard, I could have someone like you. ”

“Arm candy.”

“Expensive arm candy.”

She sees right through me. “You’ve worked very hard. You’re a partner at your law firm. You’ve achieved everything you set out to do. And it doesn’t feel as fulfilling as it’s supposed to. So here you are, ready to claim your reward. That’s why you’re in this room.”

I grimace. It sounds terrible when she puts it that way.

As if I’m incapable of seeing her as a real person.

“I promised you the truth. Even if it shows that I’m a shallow, superficial twat.

There it is. Now you know.” I take another sip of my drink.

“What about you, Adelaide Byard? What brings you here?”