Page 28 of Indecent Secrets

“A man you barely knew,” Leigh pointed out.

“True. But I don’t like the plans that the board has for this company. They’ll move the company forward and possibly even into profit, but at the expense of the employees. It won’t actually improve the company in any way and I’d like to do that. If I had someone else I could trust to run the damn thing… but I don’t.”

Leigh bit her lip, looking thoughtful. “You could…” She paused, then shook her head. “Never mind. It’s late, we should both get some sleep.”

Something in my gut twisted. A warning. “No, what is it?”

“Well. You don’t have to keep the company going, that’s all. You could close it down. Liquefy assets, give the employees severance pay, all that sort of thing. It would take I think about a year to get it all sorted out, but after that you could go back to your college job. Hell, you might even be able to go back early once you get the lawyers and specialists involved.”

She spoke in a tone of hesitance, like she wasn’t sure if she should be saying this to me. But Leigh had already proven to me once that she was a good actress, the kind that most people wouldn’t see coming. And my gut right now told me that something was off about this.

I couldn’t let her know my suspicions. “It’s… something to consider. It feels like a drastic action, though. To dismantle a massive company like this one.”

“Of course.” Leigh shrugged, like she didn’t care. “You know that I’m behind whatever you choose. You’re the one paying my bills after all. I just want you to be fully informed so you know what path you want to take. I don’t want you to make a decision and then realize you might’ve made a different one if you had all the facts.”

On the surface it all sounded perfectly reasonable. In fact it sounded more honest and fair than anyone else who’d dealt with me as Jack so far. Like Leigh was truly being altruistic and helpful as opposed to just doing what would get her the most money and advance her career.

On the surface.

But my gut was hardly ever wrong. I remembered dinner earlier—that feeling that something was just a step to the left of what it should be. I didn’t know exactly what it was, but there was something, and I needed to find a way to peel it back until I knew for sure what it was.

I didn’t say anything in the moment. Would could I possibly say? I needed to bide my time and figure out the right moment.

“I appreciate it,” I told her out loud. “I need honest people around me. I’ll think about it. I just need to get through these next couple of weeks.”

That part at least wasn’t a damn lie at all. I just had to get through these next couple of weeks as Jack and then the real guy could take over and make a decision. I hoped, anyway.

“Of course.” Leigh smiled. “Shower’s all yours.”

I showered quickly, and when I came back into the room, Leigh was snuggled in the king-sized bed. Asleep, without any makeup on and her hair done up behind her in a braid, she didn’t look like the confident, witty woman that I knew. She looked a lot more fragile, and almost vulnerable.

Not that I disliked any of Leigh’s personality. I loved her confidence and the fact that she could keep up with me. But as I stared at her I suddenly found myself with a pang in my chest, wishing that I could see this vulnerability when she was awake. Leigh had walls up, and I hadn’t realized it until I saw her with them down, asleep in my bed.

Well. Not my bed. The hotel bed. My apartment was only about ten minutes away by car, actually. I wondered what she’d look like in it. What it would do to me to see her like that.

I couldn’t blame Leigh for being ambitious and putting on a bit of a performance. I was lying about who I was, after all. But seeing her like this intrigued me in a way that I hadn’t expected. Like I actually wanted to see more of her personality and all those nuances beneath the confident surface.

That was dangerous. Even more than the possibility that she was hiding something from me. Leigh wasn’t some girl I could actually date. She was going to find out who I really was eventually, and she might even be involved in trying to destroy my client. I couldn’t let her get close to me emotionally. I couldn’t care about her beyond what a dom owed to his submissive.

My heart skipped a beat and my cock twitched as I noticed she’d left her collar on. Or, she’d taken a shower and then put it back on. I had promised her a fuck in the morning and I planned to follow through on that, and now she would already be sporting the collar for it.

Delicious.

I climbed into bed and kept to my side, or tried to. I drifted off to sleep easily. I had quickly trained myself in the Army to fall asleep anytime, anywhere, otherwise I never would’ve been able to get any rest.

It had been a long time since I’d shared a bed with someone, though, and my body gravitated towards her during the night, so that I woke up with Leigh in my arms.

My first thought was: she fits here.

If I could have glared at myself, I would have. The last thing I needed was to be having soft, intimate thoughts about this woman. This was just about sex and having a good time, nothing more.

Still… Leigh was asleep, and it had been years since I’d had a woman stay the night with me. I tugged her a little closer, marveling at how the curves of her body fit against mine. Her hair smelled sweet, like kiwi and flowers, and I found myself wishing that I didn’t have to get out of bed right away.

And with that thought, I realized . . . I might be in trouble.

Chapter 12

Leigh

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