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I park and turn to face Honey without looking at the view. “I’m sorry I lied to you.”
She looks up at me, but I can’t figure out her expression. Her eyes are glassy like she’s sad, but her mouth is set in a firm line. “Your ex is just letting everyone think you cheated on her?”
I was mentally prepared for her to say so many things, but none of them included anything about my cheating. “What?”
“I overheard your phone call. I assume you were talking to your ex? You were reminding her she was the one who cheated, so she didn’t have a right to be angry with you. I figured the break-up was why you’re hiding out, but it’s because everyone thinks you cheated on her.”
Relief washes over me. “You’re mad at her?”
She scowls. “I just can’t believe it. I call myself good at reading people and you—” She shakes her head in disgust.
Shit. “I’m sorry—”
“Before we get into that, I need to know who you really are. It makes sense now that you saw right through me when I was trying to persuade you to help me. You’ve been a celebrity since you were a kid, a lot of people have tried to manipulate or use you, right?”
I nod. “Pretty much all of them.”
She nods, unsurprised, but looking impossibly sad. “But not your aunt.”
“Never my aunt.” I wave a hand. “I’ve had an amazing life, Honey. Don’t look at me like you feel sorry for me.”
“And the rest of your family?”
“They had certain expectations of what I owed them. I disagreed. We aren’t close, but we still talk on the major holidays.” It hurts to say the words aloud. I don’t share that part of my life with anyone, but I owe it to Honey.
“People are shitty, but family can be the absolute worst.”
“They can be.”
“I have been.” She looks down, her expression pensive. “I can’t believe I got it so wrong.”
“Got what so wrong?”
“You.” She’s silent for several long moments, staring out the windshield at the view, deep in thought. “I couldn’t imagine any other reason for you to be holed up in the woods, but I was so wrong. How did I get it so wrong?”
“What did you get wrong?”
“I mean, I know I’m terrible at reading men when I’m attracted to them.” She glances over at me. “Pheromones, you know? But I thought I was being so careful with you, not letting myself get close to you, because the last thing in the world I wanted to do was fall for another criminal.”
Fall for? I’m so caught up in the idea she might be falling for me it takes a moment for the rest to sink in. “You thought I was a criminal.”
“You’re hiding in a safe house in the woods and only leaving dressed as Bigfoot. Obviously, you were never a college professor.”
“I wasn’t?”
She blows out a zerbert and laughs. “I didn’t believe that story for a second. At least I didn’t get fooled there. I just never imagined…” Then, like flipping a switch, she narrows her eyes, all humor vanishing from her expression. “What happened with your ex? How’d she convince the world you’re a cheater?”
Admitting this part might be harder than telling her I actually am a cheater. But I’ve never been anything but monogamous. It’s not in my nature to cheat. “Because I let her. When I found her in bed with Theo, I assumed we’d quietly break up and the truth never had to come out. Her publicist was worried a break-up for no good reason would hurt Lucia’s image. People loved us together and her publicist felt the public would blame her. So they leaked a story first.”
“And their story was that you cheated. Why didn’t you contradict it?”
I shrug. “People believe the version they’re fed first. It’s hard for anyone to change their mind and it would have been a big risk for me to go public with my side.”
She crosses her arms over her chest, her expression so fierce a shock of lust surges through me. Her scent fills the car and I have the most intense vision of pulling her onto my lap and kissing her until she’s forgotten all about my lies and my drama.
“I don’t buy it,” she says, bursting my fantasy bubble. “People love drama and they adore taking sides. If you’d put your version out there, it would have taken just one time for the public to see her and Theo together for them to side with you. And they are together now, right? The gossip sites say they are.”
“They are.” I sigh. “Look, Lucia has more to lose. Society expects a man to cheat, but they brand a woman who cheats a whore and a bitch. Lucia’s whole image is this sweetheart, good girl, nice to everyone she meets persona. She could lose her career over this. I’m just losing a few months until it all blows over.”
