Page 116 of Watching Her

“Are you certain of that?” He rubbed his thumb across my jaw to my bottom lip, the sweet move so unlike the persona he conveyed to everyone else. He was huge in stature and his presence allowed everyone to know he wasn’t interested in dealing with those who weren’t deemed important.

He was much more handsome in his jeans and a tee shirt, his jacket and watch the only things giving away his wealth. But I knew how rich and powerful he was.

Even if I knew very little about him.

At that moment, I was certain he’d killed the man.

My laugh was full of jitters. “Evidently not any longer.”

“His name was Thomas Atwood, Penelope. Yes, I did investigate who he was and he wasn’t a good man by anyone’s standards.” When I said nothing, he continued. “He’d been arrested for stalking before. And for other egregious actions. As I said, he wasn’t a good man.”

There was something very defining about his choice of words, yet the shiver coursing down my spine wasn’t one of horror but excitement.

“Are you?”

He squeezed my chin and pulled his hand away. “If you’re asking if I’ve done some heinous things in my life, the answer is yes. I’ve done what was necessary to keep the peace.”

“Who are you? I mean really, who are you?”

“Ask anything you want, Penelope. I have nothing to hide from you.”

“Have you ever been married?”

“I have. And no, there is no scandal there. We simply were never in love. She is remarried and much happier than I ever made her.”

“What about your family. Were you close? I know you lost your mother.”

He shoved his pizza aside. “My father was a tough parent. After my mother died, he was inconsolable and took out his grief on his children. What about your dad? I take it you were very close.”

“He died of cancer when I was seventeen and no, I don’t have any other family, not any I’m close with anyway. I’m all alone.”

“And you’ve never been married.”

“Oh, please. Before you, I was under the impression all men were liars, cheaters, and backstabbers. That’s why trusting anyone is difficult for me and I ask questions, which some might call too pushy.”

He absorbed the information, his eyes flickering. What was he thinking?

“Asking questions or demanding what you want isn’t pushy, Penelope. While I know you want to make your business into something special, you have a true talent for the hospitality industry. I’d love to have you on my staff.”

“Absolutely not. If you’ve investigated me, you know I’m considered a bad seed.” He knew. This was all one big test. “Wow. You think I’m using you for some crazy reason. That’s right. The hotel in Paris. That’s what you really think. All this to try and find what I know, spilling all the dirt on Covington Enterprises. Well, here’s my answer. No, I will not. Not for you. Not for anyone.”

He slowly lifted his gaze. “I don’t need to learn all their dirty secrets. That’s not how I work. It was brought to my attention that you were intimate with Carrington Jacobs. And before you ask, yes, I can be a jealous man.”

Now he was searching my eyes to gauge my reaction. Maybe that’s the real reason I was suddenly set off, my emotions flying off the handle. Maybe I was just furious I’d ever fallen prey to Carrington’s bullshit. Or worried that everything I’d worked so hard to achieve once again would be destroyed.

While I tried to keep my voice down, I could only do so by leaning over the table. But I was close to frothing at the mouth. “How much did you learn about my relationship with Carrington? The part where he acted as if cared about me, all while playing me like a possession, which you should know something about? Did you also learn that he cheated on me with any number of women? He uses people to get ahead in life, but I learned that too late. The weird thing is that I don’t care about the women. I really don’t. What I do care about is that we were friends first, or so I thought. He betrayed that friendship in favor of his love of power. I don’t think our boss has any clue Carrington is gunning for his job. And I don’t think you have any understanding how far he’ll go to get what he wants, which is control of the company.”

Christian’s nostrils flared as if angry, but with whom?

“Did you also learn that I told him I was planning on telling our boss what I suspected and Carrington decided to use some very private information to threaten me? I backed down then, because he’d managed to plant some evidence that I was the one trying to sabotage George Covington, which I’d never do since he was like a second father to me.”

I had to stop just to catch my breath.

Christian was listening intently, his hands steepled as if determining whether or not to believe me. This was nuts. He’d used his power to discover aspects of my life. Did that mean he knew about the work I’d done to try to save my father, the mistakes made because I’d been such a gullible, vulnerable, and desperate girl?

What I knew I couldn’t tell him was what Carrington had threatened me with. But how could I betray Christian? The answer should be complicated, but it wasn’t. It was easy and right there in my face.

Because of how I felt about the man. How much I craved and wanted to be around him.