Page 57 of Tempting All The Way

“Innocent people are prosecuted all the time, babe. Innocence means nothing if I can’t prove it.”

Shardonnay comes up and squeezes between me and the counter. “We will find a way to prove your innocence.”

“I don’t deserve you.” I wrap my arms around her shoulders, pulling her body into mine.

“Yes, you do. You deserve everything good in life, Xavier.” Her lips kiss the middle of my chest, and I swear I can feel the heat of her touch through my t-shirt.

“I love you.”

“I love you too, but you need to stop hiding in your bathroom. Your parents and Lucy are here, along with some weird-looking guys in suits.”

“Fuck. I was wondering how long it would take them to rally the troops.” I lean down, kissing the top of her head.

“What do you meanthe troops?” she asks.

“Christianson Industries PR and legal teams.” I sigh. “My whole life has been moulded in preparation for me to one day take over Christianson Industries. I’ve been groomed to not make waves in the public eye, to always put my best foot forward, so to speak. This is probably the worst PR nightmare to hit the company since… well, a long time.”

“You haven’t done anything wrong, Xavier. This isn’t your fault.”

“Yeah, I don’t think that really matters. Come on, we can’t hide in here forever.” I release her waist and take her hand.

We walk out to the living room and everyone’s eyes turn to mine. I stiffen. I don’t want to be dealing with this shit right now. Shardonnay gives my hand a squeeze, and I look over to her. She’s watching me. No one else. Just me. I have to fix this mess. I have to give her the best of me. And this, right now, is far from my best.

“Before any of you ask, I didn’t do it.” I point to Spencer and Aaron, my parents’ head of PR and legal—respectively.

“Never thought you did, Xavier. But we do need to do damage control nevertheless,” Spencer says.

Aaron remains quiet. I know him well. He’s cutthroat when it comes to dealing with business contracts. But this, criminal law, it’s my domain. My mum walks up to me. I’ve avoided looking at her, not because I’m worried she’d believe the accusations, but because I’m ashamed I’ve brought this mess onto the family.

Her arms wrap around my waist. “Oh, Xavier, we will fight this. That woman doesn’t know who she’s messing with.”

With my free hand, I return her hug. There’s something about a mum’s hug—nothing quite compares to it. Am I a mumma’s boy? A little bit.

Shardonnay tries to pull her hand from mine, so I tighten my grip. Right now, she’s my fucking rock, the one thing keeping me from spiralling. I need her touch more than anything.

“Thanks, Mum.”

“Right, what defence strategy have you come up with?” my dad asks when my mum steps to the side.

“I don’t have one, Dad. It’s her word against mine.” I sigh, sitting on the couch before tugging Shardonnay next to me. I should let go of her hand. I shouldn’t be leaning on her so fucking much, but I can’t seem to bring myself to do that.

“Okay, well, what paperwork do you have? Surely you have HR forms, written warnings, documentation as to why she was let go?” he says.

“I fired her because she walked into my office and started stripping her clothes off,” I grunt.

“She what?” Lucy asks. “OMG, what is wrong with people?”

Shardonnay stiffens beside me. I know what she’s thinking. She’s remembering the time she did that exact thing, bending herself over my desk and demanding I fuck her. My cock twitches in my pants at the memory—which is not something I need to be thinking about right now.

“Well, I get it. I mean, you were voted Melbourne’s hottest bachelor of the year.” Bentley laughs.

“I’m not a bachelor,” I deadpan.

“Anymore, but at the time of the article, you were,” she corrects me.

“What magazine was that printed in?” Shardonnay asks.

“Ah, Women’s Weekly… I think,” Lucy tells her.

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