Page 61 of The Undercover Cowboy

“He’s one of my bosses. He and Shelby Miller assign me marketing and promotion tasks.”

“Are you having an affair with him?”

Nash stood up in his chair, squaring off against Miles.

Dolly yanked Nash back down. “No. Gross. He hates women and he’s a real prick.”

Miles blinked at her. “He gave you a cheerleading outfit from your professional days.”

Dolly didn’t like the way he said professional and based on the way Nash was gritting his teeth, he wasn’t too thrilled about it either.

“I hadn’t realized he had given me that gift. He left it anonymously.”

“Gift?” Nash said. “That’s the one you were so upset about?”

She nodded. “Sorry, I lied to you. I didn’t know he had been the one to send it until later.”

“Good thing he’s already in the hospital,” Nash muttered.

“What was in the file that you deleted?”

“You said you read it,” she hedged. This was not how she wanted Nash to find out.

“Tell me anyway.”

Squeezing Nash’s hand in apology, she said, “It was a file about my previous job at a company called Leisure Industries. I was a…an escort for a brief time.” She turned to Nash, whose face was strangely impassive. “I never slept with anyone for money. I had planned to, but I chickened out at the last minute. I’m not proud of what I did, but I learned from the experience. I wanted a fresh start, so I didn’t disclose any of this on my application when I applied to the UPRC. They have a morality clause in their contract. I probably wouldn’t have been hired if I had mentioned my time at Leisure—” She broke off. It was hard to breathe. Her chest hurt.

“You don’t have to say anything else,” Nash said.

“No. I want to. I need to. Anyway, when I saw that Blevins was the one who sent me the cheerleading outfit, I was afraid that he was planning on using my past to blackmail me.”

“Blackmail you for what?” Miles said.

“To shake my pom poms,” Dolly snapped. “I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction. I’ve been documenting all the inappropriate things he does or says to me.” She turned to Nash. “You can check that with Shelby—she knows and has been encouraging me to keep a log.”

“Give me your phone,” Miles demanded, his hand extended. “I need to check the messages.”

Nash’s fists clenched as he tried to intervene. “That’s not necessary, Dolly. You don’t owe him anything.”

But she shook her head, determined to be transparent. “I don’t want any more secrets.” She handed her phone over to Miles. “Anyway, that’s why I deleted the file.”

“It probably wasn’t the only copy,” Nash said softly.

“Yeah.” She gave a half-laugh. “Now that I’ve got a hot second to think about it, I see that it was a dumb move. I panicked.”

“I need to make copies of these.” Miles eyed Nash warily before leaving the room, her phone in his hand. The silence that followed was thick with tension.

It took every ounce of courage Dolly had to face Nash and confess the rest of her past. “I’m sorry I never told you about this,” she said, her voice cracking. “I should’ve been honest from the start. But I was frightened and ashamed.”

“It doesn’t matter to me, Dolly,” Nash replied, his eyes softening. “I always knew.”

Her blue eyes widened in shock. “Who else knows?”

“Shelby.”

The knowledge that someone she admired knew her secret made her feel exposed, vulnerable. She crossed her arms defensively, trying to shield herself from the weight of his gaze.

“When I started digging into Blevins and the UPRC, I did a deep background check on everyone involved, including you,” he continued, his eyes never leaving hers. “And yes, you were one of my suspects at first. But like Shane and the Viking Ranch, it just didn’t add up for you to be working with Blevins.”

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