Page 184 of Tempting All The Way

“I’m not listening. I hate you,” I tell him, tears rolling down my cheeks.

“If you hated me, you wouldn’t be as broken up over this as I am. And if you hated me, you wouldn’t have just been dreaming about me fucking you,” he says.

“I wasn’t,” I lie.

“You were.”

We stare at each other. I want him to wrap those arms of his around me. I want to turn that dream into a reality—well, the fucking, not the withholding part. I want it all so much it hurts. “Why are you here?” I ask him again.

“Because I can’t fucking live without you. This past week as been hell. I need you, Dani. More than I want you. More than I want to need you.” His fingers wipe the tear from my cheek.

“Well, maybe you should have thought about that before you let another woman suck your dick,” I hiss in reply. Because it’s too little, too late. All his pretty words and guilt can’t take back what he did.

“I didn’t. I never would have. What you saw was me trying to get her off me. I didn’t ask her to do that. I was trying to get away from her.”

“Sure, it looked like you were putting up one hell of a fight.” I roll my eyes.

“I know what it looked like, and I know what you saw. But I promise you I would never do that. Not to anyone. Especially not to you. Never. Mrs Dalmore, she came on to me. I turned her down.”

“It doesn’t matter, Alistair.” I shake my head and sigh. “We both knew this wasn’t a forever thing. How could it be? You’re my boss and so much older than me and, well, you’re my boss. Or was… I guess you’re not anymore.” I’m giving him an out.

“You still have your job, Dani. You’re not quitting. And maybe, at the start, this was just a bit of fun. But we moved well beyond that, don’t you think?”

I want to believe him. This is why I refused to see him. I knew he’d try to convince me of his innocence, and I want nothing more than to take him at his word. But I can’t. I can’t feel this level of pain anymore.

I won’t…

Chapter Twenty-Two

“What do I have to do to get you to trust me? For you to believe I’m telling the truth?” I ask her.

“You could start by uncuffing me,” she says.

“If I do that, you’re going to run again,” I tell her.

“Maybe. Maybe not.”

“I’m not risking it. Please, Dani, just tell me. What can I do?” I plead, only to realize nothing I say will convince her. I shake myhead and sigh. “I didn’t want to have to show you this. Because I thought what we had would be enough for you to take my word. But we’re attorneys, and nothing beats tangible evidence. So here. Watch this.” I pull up the security feed, navigating to the date in question. We don’t all have cameras installed in our offices and I don’t always have them turned on, but when I have a particularly sensitive client meeting, I do. Sometimes I rewatched them to try to find anything I might have missed.

“What is this?” Dani asks, staring at the video on my phone.

“It’s the CCTV footage from my office, on that day. Watch, listen,” I tell her, turning up the volume.

“There isn’t anything you can do or say to change things between us, Alistair, because I believe you,” she says. “I don’t need to see this.”

“You do?” My shoulders sag in relief as I toss my phone aside.

“I do, but it doesn’t mean we can go back to what we were. It’s not right. It’s not going to work out between us, and I don’t want to get hurt again,” she says. “This was the wake-up call I needed to remind me whatever this is between us can’t happen. I can’t risk feeling this way again.”

“I’m not going to hurt you. I never want to hurt you. I want you. You and me, we are the real deal, Dani,” I tell her.

“Uncuff me, Alistair.” She sighs.

Against my better judgement, I reach over and loosen the cuff around her wrist. “Please don’t do this, Dani. Don’t end us.”

“What exactly do you want to happen here?” she asks.

What do I want to happen?“I want to go back to how we were. I want to be with you, only you. No one else.”

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