“You ruffle me, Stephanie. You make me say and do things I would never consider saying or doing before. And sometimes I have to admit, I don’t like it.”
At least he was being honest. She appreciated him that much more. “Can I tell you a secret?”
He lifted his head and his gaze met hers, pinning her to the spot. “Absolutely.”
She adjusted herself so her mouth was just at his ear. “I love that you act this way, that I do this to you, that I have this much power over you even when I don’t mean to. Because you throw me off center too, you know. Tilt me completely off my axis and make it awfully hard for me to see straight. Not that I regret it, oh no. I absolutely love it.”
“So I’m not the only one who feels completely out of my element in this relationship thing.”
“Nope.” Stephanie shook her head. “I’m at a loss when it comes to this stuff, too.”
“So we can figure it out together.”
“Doesn’t that sound great?” She smiled. She meant what she said. Better they figure it out together than all alone and floundering.
“Actually, yes it does.” He kissed her one more time, his mouth lingering, making her want so much more but she could tell he had a purpose to his movements. “You want to go with me to the store? I want to pick up a few things for dinner tonight.”
“You’re making me dinner?”
“Oh yeah, just you wait. I’ll give any restaurant around here a run for its money. It’s my one and only specialty.”
“That’s not saying much since there aren’t many restaurants around,” she couldn’t help but add.
“Shut it, saucy wench.”
They laughed together and Stephanie sent Justin on his way, opting to stay at the house instead. She’d done it on purpose, wanting to wander around his house alone so she could get an even better feel for it.
She had a feeling that sooner rather than later this would be her future home.
Grabbing the remaining Sunday newspaper from the countertop she thumbed through it, checking to see if she missed anything else. The City Magazine Sunday supplement was nestled amongst the sales papers and she pulled it out to give it a glance.
She dropped it so fast to the floor it was as if the paper was on fire and had scalded her fingers.
Pressing trembling hands to her heated cheeks, she stared at the front page of the special Sunday supplement issue of City. The regular issue had been released on the newsstands yesterday and she hadn’t seen it but they always had a related article.
And oh, good God almighty, she and Justin had to be the related article. They just had to be.
Since their photo was on the front cover of the supplement. Along with the screaming headline, Sex scandal tell-all.
The photo depicted the two of them holding hands, their backs to the camera but there was no mistaking it was she and Justin. They photo had to be taken when they were in New York, that night they’d walked to the restaurant and she’d thought she spotted a flash in the dark.
Of course, it had been a flash. The flash of a pap’s camera capturing a photo of the two of them together.
But her very own employer making the big break? Splashing her photo on the front page? That was a new kind of low.
She tore into the supplemental piece, flipping through each page until she finally found the article that accompanied the cover.
Her mouth dropped open in shock as she began to read.
Zoe had sold her out. Right there in black and white was her name and her photo again, this time with Justin at the restaurant where they ate that first night in New York. The article was just a tease, done so to help sell copies of the actual magazine and it certainly worked its magic.
It alluded to an outrageous sexual relationship with Justin that she’d begun only because of who he was. How she wrote articles on a weekly basis that exposed their wild sexual encounters. Quotes from the articles made her sound like a lurid, non-caring slut.
When she finished reading, Stephanie slowly shut the magazine. Her eyes closed as she took a deep, shuddering breath.
This was not good. It was an absolute disaster. And if the supplement article was this bad, then the real thing had to be at least twice as awful.
The shit had really hit the fan now.