“I’ll tell you all about it,” she said, taking a deep breath. She had to do it. Couldn’t have this shoe hanging over her head for all eternity, about to drop. If she was going to be with him, she had to be honest, whether she liked it or not. “Everything, though you already know some of it.”
He handed her the glass of wine, his face falling. “Oh… Is this about Mr. Harper?”
“Mr. Harper?” She blinked. “How do you know Mr. Harper?”
He frowned. “Your client? When we spoke earlier, I told him to go talk to you again, to look into—”
Oh, God. He was the man who was trying to consolidate Mr. Harper’s company. He was the shark, waiting for there to be enough blood in the water to find his victim.
She should’ve known.
“I’m giving him more time so he can fully consider all his options,” Taylor said quickly. “I backed off to give you time to come up with a solution…if you can.”
Anger was there, hidi
ng beneath all her self-doubt about her pending confession, but she tried to quell it before it took over. If they were going to do this—be together—they’d have to find a way to be on opposite sides of the table, both figuratively and metaphorically.
They had to make this work.
“Are you mad at me?” he asked so quietly she almost didn’t hear it. “I should have told you I was the guy trying to buy the company, but I didn’t want to ruin—”
She cupped his cheeks, shaking her head. “I’m not mad.”
“You’re…not?” he asked with surprise clear in his voice.
A smile escaped her. “Nope. We’re going to have to learn how to lose graciously and win even more graciously against each other, without getting mad…right?”
“Right.” He cradled the back of her head, his thumb on the bottom of her jawline. The way he looked at her…all warmth and desire, as if he would move anything to be with her, to help her, to be her man…it was why she couldn’t quit him. “You never cease to amaze me. Every time I think you’ve finally finished, you surprise me with something else.”
Her heart skipped a beat for more reasons than one.
He lowered his mouth, seeking hers.
This was it. It was time to let him decide for himself whether he wanted to be with the daughter of a couple who had stolen the dreams of thousands of people, or whether he wanted to walk away. This was the moment to open herself up to him, as he’d done to her. After she did so, after she came clean, there would be nothing standing in the way.
They could be together.
If he chose her.
But first…
“We need to talk.” She backed out of his arms, knowing if she kissed him that she’d lose her nerve to tell him the truth about her past. But she needed just a second alone to come to terms with it all, to wrap her head around it, before she dove right in. “Can you give me a second?”
“Of course,” he agreed, looking more nervous than before.
She needed a second to pull her nerve together, and a little distance between them would help with that. As she headed for the bathroom, her heart pounded because oh my God, she was going to do this. Going to tell him the truth. She was actually—
As she passed his desk, something in the trash caught her eye. It wasn’t the giant yellow envelope, or the logo of a private investigator plastered in the corner, either, though both of those were pretty attention-grabbing. It was her last name, barely noticeable, on a corner of a page sticking out of the envelope.
No. He didn’t…he wouldn’t…
Slowly, she bent and picked up the envelope, her heart twisting. Turning on her heel, she held it up. If she had any doubts as to what it was, they disappeared the second Taylor’s face paled and his eyes widened. “What the hell is this?”
Chapter Nineteen
For over a week now, more than a whole damn week, he’d carried that stupidly requested report in his briefcase, not touching the damn thing, even going so far as to forget he’d put it in his briefcase in the first place. Of course, the day he remembered to get rid of it, to throw the thing out, she had to see it. He’d tossed it in the trash this morning before work, knowing his cleaning lady would be coming today, but she hadn’t emptied the bin by his desk.
Why hadn’t she emptied the fucking trash?