Freedom (Billionaire Secrets 2)

Getting rich so quickly had reminded him of the summer he’d had that growth spurt and subsequently got more attention from girls that he ever dreamed of. But he’d always had attention from Heather. She was the only one who had noticed him before he’d shed his nerdy exterior.

Which was why he felt so guilty about lying to her on the way over here. It seemed wrong to keep something like this from her, based on their history. Not only was the press going to come after her as well, but there was still an underlying friendship between them. Even if all hope of ever being more than friends had died when she slammed her front door in his face.

“So, maybe she talked,” Josh repeated.

“She would never do that,” Simon said bluntly. “I do think her ex-husband had something to do with it. She called him earlier today and he admitted that he talked to a reporter.”

Josh rubbed his hands together. “The plot thickens.”

A waiter appeared with their orders, salmon for Josh and grilled shrimp for Simon, and promptly left.

Simon reached for his fork and popped a shrimp into his mouth. “I don’t think it’s all down to the ex-husband. Someone else has something to do with this. The timing of the story is too suspicious. This story is about to come out right when our new products are hitting the market. That can’t be a coincidence.”

Josh frowned. “Corporate espionage?”

“I think somebody got a reporter to call the ex-husband. Somebody pushed the reporter to this story. At first, I thought it might be someone in a law firm I do work with but...”

“The timing,” Josh finished for him.

“There are no coincidences in this business,” Simon said. “It’s like somebody has been waiting for me to screw up.”

“Is that what this secret girlfriend of yours is?” Josh asked. “A screw-up?”

Simon had told Heather that he regretted their affair. Had made the wrong choice by being with her. But that had been a complete lie. Heather wasn’t a screw-up or a mistake. She was everything. Everything he could never have. Everything he had to find a way to get over.

Because, if he didn’t get over her, he’d be stuck in this loop of insanity for the foreseeable future. She consumed every part of his day. From when he woke up in the morning after dreaming of her, to when he finally got over obsessively thinking about her and slipped off to sleep at night. Sleep that was filled with dreams of her.

There was no escaping her, and the insane thing about it was that he didn’t want to. He had actually been relieved when she turned down the chance to move to a different department. Being obsessed with the one woman he could never have put things into perspective for him. Before she came back into his life, everything had been dull. Grey. And, truth be told, lonely as all hell.

He’d never been this hung up on a woman before. Nothing distracted him from his work. Yet here he was, shirking work responsibilities to start an investigation based on a nagging feeling that there was something he had to protect Heather from.

“No,” Simon finally said, “she isn’t. But she’s in my past now.”

“Tough break,” Josh said. “Well, who do you spend most of your time with?”

Simon mulled over the question. “My assistant.”

“Then, that’s the culprit,” Josh said. “It was your assistant last time, and it would make sense now.”

“No, that can’t be right,” Simon said harshly. “There’s no way Heather would want this to get out.”

“How can you be so sure?” Josh asked.

“It can’t be her,” Simon said. “Trust me on this.”

“You’re screwing your assistant, aren’t you?”

“Dammit, Josh,” he whispered harshly.

“Sorry,” Josh said and shrugged. “What am I supposed to think?”

“Don’t talk about Heather like that,” he growled, leaning closer. “That’s not what we are. She’s not just some lay.”

“Okay. I’m sorry.” Josh shoved a bite of salmon into his mouth and chewed. “I just...I’ve never seen you get worked up over a woman before.”