Page 74 of Ruthless Heir

We can put on a show just for him. And I suppose the other members of my family who need to believe we’re real. People like my mother and Hunter and Luc’s wives. No one else matters.

All we need are a few fake kisses here and there and some hand holding. We’ll be no different to actors playing a part in a movie.

As for me and my obviousrealattraction to Harper…

She’s still off limits to me. Outside of the few fake kisses here and there and the hand holding I can still maintain that line between us because now she owes me.

This can be our business arrangement.

As long as I remember that it can only be a temporary solution.

And I must never allow my real feelings to push me too far over the line.

Because then I’ll be in trouble.

Chapter Fifteen

Harper

I shouldn’t have done it.

I should never have worked at the Dark Odyssey.

My heart is still racing and humiliation still heats up my skin. I can’t get Asher’s face out of my head, with his eyes looking at me with disgust and disappointment.

Shit.I’m so embarrassed.

I didn’t think I could ever feel like this again.

How cruel fate is that the most humiliating things in my life have happened to me around Asher.

I keep seeing the mix of shock and disapproval on his face as he came through the door at the club and saw me.

What must he have thought when he saw me there like that, practically naked? Then there was that guy. The neanderthal.

I knew he was going to be trouble from the moment he walked in. And he was.

He tried to grab me long before Asher arrived. At one point he got me in his lap and started asking for all manner of shit. He was drunk off his face, the violent kind of drunk.

I was supposed to do a lap dance for him but I refused, ready to accept the consequences if I got in trouble.

I broke free the first time when his friend offered him some drugs. Then he took the chance to grab me again when he saw me staring at Asher.

God knows what he would have done to me if Asher hadn’t come in when he did. Security was nearby but they weren’t quick enough. It was all one big disaster.

Everything.

I sit on the edge of my bed and look across at the desk. At the opened drawer where I’d placed my contract.

At least I know how Asher knew where to find me.

I can see a slice of cake on a little plate next to my violin case. He must have dropped that off and noticed the contract in the drawer.

Figuring things out doesn’t matter anymore. What’s done is done.

I can’t imagine what he must think of me now. Whatever it is, he’s right. I spend so much time trying to change people’s opinions of me when most of the time they're right.

I keep getting myself in trouble and everything I want gets further away from me.

---