Page 30 of Beautiful Betrayal

I push to my toes and kiss him and it feels really good to have him right here where I can do that. “Getting it over with now,” I say, settling on my feet and taking my phone from him. Grayson leans on the dresser in the center of the closet, his back pressed to the wooden surface. I do the same next to him, making sure my legs are aligned with his, making sure he knows that I’m right here with him.

Only then do I hit the callback button for Ri. He answers on the first ring.

“Mia,” he says.

“Ri.”

“I called you an hour ago.”

“I didn’t hear it ring,” I reply, glancing at Grayson with a question in my eyes. Can he hear?

He gives a nod.

“Word is that you’re looking for a job,” Ri snaps.

I don’t play coy, which is another form of a lie and I hate lies. “You’ve been an ass to me since that incident, Ri. I haven’t been feeling exactly secure.”

“It’s against your employment contract to hunt for a job without offering notice first,” he replies, no denial of the incidentor his treatment of me since. “That bonus I gave you when you signed on. I could strip it.”

I glance at Grayson who smirks, because obviously money isn’t exactly a good threat to use against me right about now. I assume I’ll move in with him again. I assume I’ll have a job with him should I so choose. I assume we’ll get married, but—what if those things don’t apply? Grayson must see the questions in my eyes because he steps in front of me, his legs caging me. His eyes hold mine and there is pure possessive heat in his stare, and with it, a promise that I am his and he is mine.

“Mia?” Ri snaps.

I force myself to focus on the call and Ri’s threat, which may or may not mean he knows I’m back with Grayson. Ri is sneaky. He’d test me. He’d trick me. “I’m just trying to digest what you just said to me. Come on, Ri. You know how awkward it’s been and that’s personal, not professional. Only it’s become professional because I now fear for my job.”

He inhales sharply. “I gave you a job. I gave you a sign-on bonus. I waited for you to get over him. Why the fuck can’t you just forget him like he has you? He’s all over the papers with that model.”

That cuts and I look down, afraid I won’t control my reaction to Ri as well if I look into Grayson’s eyes right now. I left him. He thought I was with Ri. He hasn’t lied to me about being with other women. “I have won every case I’ve taken since joining the firm, two of which went to trial, the rest I settled otherwise. I’ve done a good job for you and if that’s not enough, I need to find another job, and you need to consider this my official notice, which I’ll follow up in writing.”

He’s silent a beat. “We should meet. Now. Tonight.”

“I’m not meeting you, Ri. Not unless it’s at the office Monday morning.”

“Jesus, woman. You’re still so fucking hung up on Grayson that you can’t see how good I could be for you. He’s gone. Leave him in the grave where he belongs.”

In the grave. I don’t like those words and my gaze jerks to Grayson’s, anger burning in the depth of his stare. “Did you hire me for my skills or because I was Grayson’s scorned woman?”

“I wouldn’t have hired you if you didn’t have skills, and it’s not my fault that Grayson was stupid enough to fuck around and lose you, personally and professionally. We need to meet.”

“Monday morning,” I say. “If that’s not good enough, fire me.”

“You have another job offer,” he assumes. “That’s why you’re pushing back.”

“I don’t have another job, but I can’t take the way you’re treating me. It’s been an eyeopener. I finally woke up and saw the writing on the wall. I’m not a token in a game you and Grayson are playing. I want to do my job and do it well.”

He’s silent several beats. “Monday morning. Seven a.m. in my office.” He hangs up.

Grayson takes the phone from me and sets it on the dresser behind me. His hands shackle my waist. “I have never wanted to cause someone harm until Ri. He’s using that model, who I didn’t fuck, by the way, to push your buttons. To push mine.”

“I know,” I whisper.

“But it still upset you.”

“The idea of you with someone else—yeah. That’s what even got me to the point of that date with Ri that resulted in a knee.”

“Just like Becky sent you to his doorstep,” he says as if that’s a fact before he pushes off the dresser, withdrawing.

“No,” I say quickly. “That’s not what happened. That’s not even close to what happened.”

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