Page 6 of Fateful Exposure

Then she stopped, her gaze darting between me and…fucking Mystery Man.

"What's going on? Do you two know each other?" she asked.

"Peaches?" he breathed, lips ajar in wonder. "No fucking way. Somebody pinch me."

I jumped to my feet, my lips curling into a snarl. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Is that any way to greet the man who rocked your world?" He smirked, revealing those fucking beautiful teeth that never left my memory.

"Rocked your world?" Maria said at the exact time I said, "Shut up."

What thefuckis he doing here? Oh, my God. Why me?Why did everything have to go awry for me? I was a good person. Really. I mean, what were the chances that I would run into the man I had a one-night stand with?

"Okay." Maria dropped her bag on one of the chairs in front of my desk. I pressed a hand to my forehead and inhaled, trying to calm down. "Somebody tell me what the hell is going on."

"We've fucked," came his oh-so-brilliant response.

"You what?" Marie echoed.

I threw her a quick glance. "It was a one-night stand. I barely remember it."

"Liar," he laughed.

My breath hitched. He stared at me, a smug smile dancing on his lips. It took all my strength not to march over to him and slap that smile off his face.

Asshole. Who does he think he is, walking into my office, spewing crap, and acting like he owns the fucking place? Wait a damn minute.

I squinted at him as though seeing him for the first time. Whatwashe doing here? Unless…

I gasped."You'reAston McCall?"

"Ashton. And yes, in the flesh." He made a show of walking toward me, and from the corner of my gaze, I saw Maria's eyes almost bulging out of her head. I didn't blame her. It wasn't every day my closest friend found out I'd had a one-night stand that unfortunately turned out to be not so one-night.

"So, you're Selma Volkov?" he said, grabbing theVogueedition lying on my desk that Maria had been skimming through a few days ago and opening it. “Hmm. I'll admit you caught me off guard, and I'm not easily surprised."

I narrowed my eyes to him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

As if bored, he threw the magazine on my desk and lazily lifted his gaze to me. "You slept with me because of this? What, did you think it would make getting me to work for you easier?"

I gawked at him. "What?"

Almost as if she had expected it, Maria sighed. "Ash, don't be an ass."

"What?" He tried to look innocent. "Imagine my surprise that the woman I slept with almost a month ago is the same woman whom I'm supposed to work for, and I don't work for just anyone."

"Wow. Your arrogance is alarming." Honestly, I couldn't believe it. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

"You know what, why don't you ask Maria here, since she seems to think I'm your photographer-slash-savior?" He turned toward my friend as he said the words, giving her a look.

Maria’s gaze kept darting between the two of us. Then she cleared her throat and blinked, releasing a deep sigh before looking at me.

"Selma, this is Ash, the photographer I told you about." She gestured to him. "Ash, Selma Volkov, my friend and the designer who has just hired you."

He angled his head to the side. "Uh, I don't remember signing a contract."

"You owe me, Ash, and this is me collecting. We talked about this."

"No, you talked. I was too busy downing an apple pie to care."

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