Page 85 of Burning for You

“Carolyn,” he says, gently tipping my chin upward so we’re eye to eye. “It’s in the past. I don’t need to listen to it.”

“It will leak and become our present. I mean, my relationship with Anton was public, but no one knew about this scandal.”

Levi ponders. “You know, I don’t want to be just another man in your life. It doesn’t matter to me what you did.”

After being without him in the last twenty-four hours, I feel a pang of guilt at dumping this disaster in his lap.

He nods encouragingly. “I’ll have a listen.”

I don’t know if I should be relieved or terrified. I’m glad he’s chosen to do it with me, so we can be honest with each other. But how honest can you be, listening to your girlfriend’s deceit and sexual prose to another man?

With a trembling finger, I press play.

The event has been shrunk to however loud my phone speaker can broadcast, but the enormity hasn’t diminished.

The sound bite starts with my soft voice: “He trusts you more than he trusts his daughter. Anton, we can do this together. We’ll expand Sass, we’ll run the show. I will be Carolyn Mendez, and we’ll forget I’ve ever had the Meyer name.”

To that, Anton replies: “You want me to steal from your dad?”

“He’s set up a trust fund for me anyway. Consider it an advance.”

“Caro…”

“Do you love me?”

“I do, but…”

“You’ll outsmart my dad, easy. You’ve got intelligence, patience and vision. My dad is blind, arrogant and self-absorbed. It’s a matter of time before his empire crumbles.”

“I’ll support you, but this is huge. I’m not sure we’ll be able to pull it off.”

“I know you don’t usually take risks, but for this—”

Anton moans.

“—your effort will be worth it, I swear.”

“God, Caro…” His voice fades, overtaken by a series of sighs.

“Do you like it, baby?”

Anton murmurs a ‘yes’ while a buckle clicks and the rustling of fabric plays in the background. Then he restrains his scream.

“You taste so good. I can go deeper.” I stretch the ‘r’ into a seductive whisper. “I’ll be forever in your debt. You’ll have me forever.”

Anton’s erotic moan seems to be pushing Levi to the brink. He shuts his eyes and shakes his head.

When Anton says ‘I love you,’ Levi stops the playback.

“I’m sorry,” I sob. “I swear it was a mistake.”

In the end Anton was forced to resign, but to cover up what I did, dad had forked out a small fortune that effectively funded Anton’s hotel business in San Francisco. The man never hinted at any regrets, or expressed the love he’d boasted to me while doing the deed. I guess, why would he? He married someone else, and money was clearly a more attractive mistress to him. Recalling how my atrocious blunder had panned out, I can’t believe the recording hadn’t made its way to the media. Rupert was right about one thing. He’d protected me then.

In the end I didn’t take a cent off my dad. Rupert came to my rescue, and he managed to get investors to back my business. Then he helped me build the Sass empire. Looking back, I can see that it was probably my dad who got Rupert to help me in the first place.

Now I stand accused in front of Levi. There’s no one more important than him to have a say in it. Inside, I’ve given up hope that he’ll understand. If I was him, I would kick me out right now.

“Did you love him, Carolyn?” he asks.

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