Villain (Hero 1.50)

I realized then that my tears were of relief. I sagged. “I’m glad he’s gone.”

“Me too. We can get back to normal now.”

“Hopefully the next boss won’t be an ass.”

“We can only hope,” she said dryly, and chucked my chin. “Now get into hair and makeup. I’m sorry to say it, sweetie, but you look like you haven’t slept for a millennium while being dragged backward through a hedge.”

“Funny, it feels like it too.”

As I walked to hair and makeup, I realized I’d needed to cry to let it out of my system. I still felt exhausted but relief was slowly settling over me and my steps were lighter than they had been in weeks. Until my phone rang. When I saw the familiar number, a new sense of determination shot down my spine. For the first time since he’d started calling again, I answered. “I’m not playing hard to get. I don’t want to hear from you. Ever. I’m changing my number.”

I hung up and made a mental note to get a new number after work today.

* * *

My meteorology report was done and weather maps sent to the producers ready for the green screen when Lucy at reception called to say Henry Lexington was here to see me.

I glanced at the clock. It was 6 a.m. and I was due to go live in an hour. But I threw my shoulders back. It was better to get this over with now. I told Lucy to bring him to conference room one.

Where I was waiting so I could talk to him privately.

He stepped into the conference room and Lucy closed the door behind her as she left. Like always, Lexington’s presence filled the room. I was trying to be cool and casual, leaning against the conference table with my ankles crossed in front of me. His eyes zeroed in on my face, and there was concern in them.

Too little too late.

“If you’re here to check if I’ve dropped the story, you can rest assured I have. Of course, you did hear me tell Dick that last night, right?”

He nodded, taking a careful step toward me. “I came to see if you’re all right.”

I laughed and the sound was so harsh, it made him flinch. “Why do you care?”

“I deserve that. I admit I misjudged you and I apologize.”

I slipped off the desk, standing tall and defiant as I crossed my arms over my chest. “Fine. You can leave.”

Lexington suddenly looked exasperated. “I’ve tried to make amends.”

“You got Dick fired.” I nodded, having deduced that. “You must have quite the connections to have made that happen. Apparently the club in question doesn’t like scandal.”

“No, it doesn’t, but rape isn’t scandal. It’s a crime.”

Renewed anger rushed through me at the memory of Dick rubbing against me. “Funny, you didn’t seem that bothered by it last night.”

He looked like he’d been slapped. “Excuse me?”

“Last night,” I bit out. “When Dick had me trapped against a wall… you know… sexually harassing me.” Angry tears blurred my vision, which made me even angrier because he didn’t deserve them. “You stood there and waited to hear what we were saying before you did anything.”

Lexington stared at me a moment, seeming stunned.

“Fuck,” he eventually breathed, remorse etched in his eyes as he moved toward me.

I cringed away, stumbling around the desk to put it between us.

He looked horrified by my reaction. “Nadia, please… I didn’t know what I was seeing when I walked into that hall. I thought it was a lover’s quarrel. I didn’t realize what was happening until I heard him blackmail you. I would never…,” his voice grew hoarse with sincerity, “stand by and let that happen to a woman. To anyone.”

“Not even lowly scum on the evolutionary chain?”

“Jesus. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize what was happening to you. Not with Dick’s blackmail and not last night. I swear.” He tentatively took a step toward me like I was an animal he might frighten away. “But I’m still sorry. I should have intervened right away and I regret not doing so.”

My blood was so hot with resentment, it took me a moment to process his words, the sincerity behind them. Eventually, I calmed enough to make a decision.

I nodded, thinking maybe I believed him. However, I couldn’t look at him anymore. His earnestness made me want to crumble, but I was still too angry. “I tried to tell you. When you were leaving my apartment. I was trying to tell you what I knew so you could help me stop Dick. But you jumped on me. Pinned me to the wall.” My eyes flew to his so he’d fully understand the comparison I was drawing. “Bullied me.” I jutted my chin out. “But I’m nobody’s victim, Mr. Lexington. For future reference.”

Not that I hoped to see him again. Ever.

“I screwed up.”

Yeah, he did.

His piercing blue eyes flew to my face as if he’d heard my confirmation. “Nadia, I have no excuse, no good excuse. I’m very protective of my family. I thought you were trying to hurt a man I consider a brother.”

And that was noble in a way.

However, it didn’t soothe my outrage.

“Have dinner with me.” He shocked the hell out of me. “Let me show you I’m not a bad guy.”

“I don’t need a guilt date.”

“A what?”

“It doesn’t matter. I’m not interested.”

“If we’d met under different circumstances… you’d want to have dinner with me.” He offered me a boyish, coaxing smile that under different circumstances probably would have worked.

“You know I’m a little tired of men telling me who I am, what I’m worth, and what to do. I really don’t need them telling me how I feel.”

Lexington’s expression sobered. “I know Dick treated you abominably, and I haven’t done much better, but you are too young to sound that bitter.”

His aim rang true and I winced from the hit.

He was right. I felt older than my years.

I was weary to the bone.

“Look, Mr. Lexington,” I walked toward the door and opened it, “I really am glad you nailed Dick to the wall. Literally and figuratively. But I’d like to put all of this behind me. You’re right… I’m too young to be bitter. So I don’t need reminders of this. And you’re a reminder. I’ll live quite happily knowing you and I will never cross paths again.”

Striding toward the door, Lexington stopped so there was only inches between us. He wore that seductive, expensive cologne that tickled my senses. Those brilliant eyes stared deep into mine, searching them, and I wavered under their scrutiny.

“I don’t want to never see you again,” he confessed, sounding surprised.

I didn’t know how to respond.

And apparently he didn’t know what to follow up with because suddenly he walked away.

“We’re going to celebrate Dick getting fired. Come with us,” Barbara had said after the show.

And I’d stupidly agreed.

It didn’t seem stupid at the time, especially since we were celebrating at The Bristol Lounge, one of my favorite restaurants. It was part of the Four Seasons Hotel and directly across from Boston Public Gardens. The truth is I’d wanted a distraction from Henry’s visit. It was ridiculous but I couldn’t get his intense blue eyes out of my head. Or the remorse that had etched itself all over his face.

Maybe he really did feel bad for the way he’d treated me.

Yeah, maybe he did.

But did that change anything?

He’d still treated me poorly and who was to say he wouldn’t again?

Just because people felt awful for doing something didn’t mean they wouldn’t repeat the crime.

The real problem was my attraction to him.

I could admit it.

I was attracted to the son of a bitch.

There was something deeply wrong with me that I could be attracted to a man I didn’t even like.

Turned out that lunch with my colleagues was a terrible distraction idea. Because Henry was dining at The Bristol Loun

ge with none other than Caine Carraway.

“Maybe we should go somewhere else,” I said as we stood in the lobby outside the restaurant. Henry hadn’t spotted us yet.

Barbara frowned. “This is your favorite place. You love the Bristol Burger.”

I did love the Bristol Burger.

And for the first time in weeks, I was hungry.

Dammit.

No man was chasing me away from my goddamn burger.

“You’re right.” I nodded, sounding more assured than I actually felt. “But I’ll walk on your left side.”

My friend eyed me in confusion as I huddled at her side, trying to hide behind her as the host led us up the few stairs onto the main floor of the restaurant and right past Henry and Carraway’s table near the bar area, to a larger table at the back of the restaurant. As far as I could tell, he hadn’t spotted me and there were now pillars between us that I could hide behind.

Relieved, I slid into my chair beside Barbara.

“Drinks?” the waiter asked.

We’d finished giving him our orders when the sight of Henry Lexington walking into view around one of those aforementioned pillars and toward our table made my pulse skitter.

He gave me a soft smile as if we hadn’t been enemies up until twenty-four hours ago. “Miss Ray, what a pleasant surprise.” That soft smile grew into a roguish grin. “Are you stalking me?”

I arched an eyebrow, wondering what the hell kind of game he was playing now. “A burger. I’m stalking a burger.”

“The burgers are very good here.”

“Mr. Lexington,” Barbara said beside me, sounding delighted to see him, and awfully familiar. “What a pleasure to see you.”

“You too, Barbara. And please, I’ve told you before—smart, beautiful women should call me Henry.”

I didn’t know what to do first: be surprised they knew each other or gag at his flirting with her.

“You know each other?”