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He didn’t look confused. She wasn’t sure how to interpret his expression. The setting sun made sure she couldn’t get a good look at his face.
“Daniel—”
“And you have a popular blog and an impressive following on social media. Now that’s something you didn’t mention while we were getting hot and sweaty together.” He leaned in, his breath warming her cheek. “I’ve never had sex with two women at the same time before. I’m interested—did I go to bed with Aggie or with Molly? Do you have any advice for me on that?”
The couple standing close to them sent them curious glances.
Mortified, Molly finished her second glass of champagne and moved away a few steps. “Plenty of writers use a pseudonym. Look around this party and I doubt you’ll find many people who write under their own names.”
“And I doubt you’d find many people who fail to mention it to their friends. Especially friends they’ve been naked with. If ‘Aggie’ is simply a pseudonym, why didn’t you tell me?”
She felt the anger pulsing from him.
“Probably for the same reason you didn’t tell me Brutus wasn’t yours.”
“That’s different! That’s—” He swore under his breath and raked his fingers through his hair. The light of his eyes had darkened to pewter. “I didn’t know you then.” Something in his tone made her breathing jam in her throat.
She wanted to say that he didn’t know her now, but that would be lying. He did know her. Not every detail of her past, but more than anyone else ever had.
“I keep a separation between my work identity and my real self. I prefer it that way.”
“So you trust me enough to get naked with me, but not enough to tell me that?”
She could hear the hurt in his voice. Pride. That had to be it. She’d damaged his pride. He’d told her things, but she hadn’t done the same. “You told me what you wanted to tell me, nothing more.”
“This has nothing to do with what I told you, and everything to do with what you didn’t tell me.”
Whatever his reasons for being hurt, there was no denying that he was hurt and she was the cause of it. And she hated that. Hurting him was the last thing she’d ever wanted to do. “You seem to have a big problem with the fact that I’m Aggie and I don’t get it because you’ve never even heard of me before tonight.”
“I’ve heard of you.” H
is laugh was devoid of humor and she stared at him, wishing she hadn’t drunk champagne on an empty stomach. She needed her wits about her, and right now her wits felt…well, blurry.
“Are you saying you read my blog? I don’t believe you.”
“I don’t, but my clients do.”
Someone touched his arm and he turned, impatience masked by a quick smile.
He shook hands, listened as if he was interested in what was being said, responded to their effusive thanks with a few polite comments. Then he turned back to her, his body language making it clear that the next person who disturbed them would find themselves dropped over the edge of the terrace into the park below.
Despite the champagne, her mouth felt dry. “Your clients? Which clients? What are you talking about?”
“One of my clients was getting a divorce, until you talked her husband out of it. You said that because they had children, they had a duty to persevere with their marriage.”
Her head throbbed. She lifted her hand and pressed her fingers to her forehead, trying to remember. How was she expected to remember a few words among the thousands she wrote? “I would never give advice on a specific situation. I make general observations, that’s all.”
“Well, your ‘general observations’ have caused a great deal of emotional anxiety and turbulence in a family that already had far too much of it.”
“I will not apologize for suggesting that a marriage might be worth another try before abandoning it. If there are children involved, there’s nothing wrong with trying again.”
“You know nothing about their situation.”
That was true, and she also knew this conversation wasn’t about his clients. On the surface, maybe, but underneath it was about something else. It was about them. About the fact that she hadn’t trusted him.
She lowered her hand and chose her words carefully.
“I know a lot about it, both professionally and personally. People write to me outlining their situation, and I give them my thoughts. That’s all. Have you even read the advice I gave? Maybe you should, before flinging accusations. Good night, Daniel.”
