Dirty Games (Tropical Temptation)

“Wha

t’s going on, Trouble?”

“There’s a problem.” You were careless, or your security sucks, or… “I have to go meet with the Dirty Games producers pronto and fight for a role I already won once.” Her clothes lay in a little pile on the sand where she’d dropped them…what? Twenty minutes ago? Funny how forever could go by so quickly. Trying to keep her mind blank, she picked up her shorts and dragged them on.

“Why?”

“I don’t have time to get into it.” Frustration sharpened her tone. She turned away and pulled on her shirt before adding, “I have a plane to catch.”

“Talk to me, Quinn.”

Not a question this time. A command. One she planned to ignore, but when he took hold of her upper arm and tugged her around to face him, she lost her battle for self-control. “The ‘Before’ pictures you took of me are all over the goddamn internet. The producers are freaking out. They called Eddie to kill my deal. He talked them into meeting with me in person first. But if I don’t measure up to their expectations, then…” She couldn’t bring herself to finish the sentence.

He simply stared at her for a moment, while the implications seeped in. “Then it’s their loss and you’ll get another role.”

“Yeah, right. I don’t know what color the sky is in your world, but in mine, it’s not quite so rosy. Word will get out that they fired me because I didn’t look the part. My reputation will take a hit. I’ll be lucky to land a commercial, much less another movie, and I need to work. Callum’s rehab doesn’t come cheap, and if we ever find him, clearly he’s going to have to go back.”

He ignored the tirade and focused on the million-dollar question. “Who has access to your digital photos?”

“Nobody. They didn’t come from me,” she replied. “If you really want the answer to that question, I suspect you’ll have to look a little closer to home.”

“You think someone got them from me?” He released her and shook his head. “That’s impossible.”

“Look, you rarely deal with celebrity clients anymore, so cybersecurity probably isn’t much of a priority for you. Or maybe someone on your staff decided to make a quick buck?” She shoved her foot into her shoe. “Let’s just call it an oversight, unless and until the facts say different.”

“No.” His voice was soft, but with underlying steel, like freshly poured concrete over rebar. “We secure all our electronics. We have to. We handle peoples’ confidential health information and we fully comply with the privacy regulations applicable to that data. Add to that, my staff’s ethics are beyond question. Regardless of the conclusions you’ve drawn about my business, I run a professional operation. Granted, nothing’s impenetrable, but in this case, I guarantee nobody hacked your photos from McLean Fitness files, and no member of my team was involved in leaking them.”

She shoved her other shoe on, and then braced her hands on her hips. “How can you be so sure?”

He pulled his phone out of the backpack, and then stepped up until they stood toe-to-toe. “Because the photos never went farther than right here.” He held up his phone and tapped the screen. “I took the shots, I sent them to you, and then I deleted them. Nothing goes to a cloud. Nothing goes to a storage app. And nobody has access to my texts except me. So you see Quinn, if you’re saying the pictures came from my end, what you’re really saying is the pictures came from me.”

A fist of dread gripped her lungs, and made it hard for her to pull in air. She stepped back. “I don’t have time to discuss this right now.”

He stepped forward. “Do you really think I’d sell you out? Why would I do that?”

A fragment of their conversation from that morning floated through her mind.

I love a grand gesture as much as the next girl, but this has real consequences for you. For your business. Are you sure you know what you’re doing?

It will work out. I have a contingency plan.

“You had a contingency plan,” she whispered. “Those sites pay good money for really embarrassing celebrity dirt.

His eyes narrowed. “Holy shit, woman. In case you missed it, I just spent five weeks of my life helping you keep this role.”

“And then forfeited payment, which put a dent in the books of the important, life-altering business you run.” The fist around her chest tightened. “Meanwhile, my career is nothing but a stupid ego jerk-off anyway. I’ll get another role, right?”

Dead silence met her question.

“Right. Enough said. Get out of my way, Luke. I have to go.” Tears threatened. Where the fuck were her sunglasses?

He crossed his arms, but stood directly in front of her, hemming her in between his body and the bikes. “You’re not going anywhere like this. Calm down and tell me what Eddie said.”

Ice could burn, she discovered. It could burn white hot. “Calm down? Sure. Let’s be calm. Were you calm when you sold me out to some bottom-feeding gossip site? Or did you laugh at what a sad case I was?” She let the sneer stretch her lip. “You bastard. I’ll bet you laughed.”

More silence met her accusation. The sun picked up the gold in his eyes, and turned it molten. A muscle ticked in his jaw. Finally, he shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. All I know for sure is that you owe me an apology.”

“Sorry, my mistake. You’re not a bastard. I take that back. You’re a lying bastard.” The insult left a bitter taste on her tongue. She swallowed the venom, and tipped her head back because it was the closest she could come to looking down at him.