Page 58 of Indecent Secrets

I was steaming mad when I left Jack’s office.

Who the hell did Bryce think he was? I was so frustrated I wanted to cry. I couldn’t believe that I’d let myself think that Bryce was different, that he would treat me better than any other man. I wasn’t just someone to have fun sex with, I was someone to respect.

Turned out I’d been wrong. He dismissed me the second he thought I couldn’t handle things, which was pretty damn fast if you asked me.

Well. If he didn’t think that I was capable, fine. I had gotten myself into this mess. I would get myself out of it, without the help of anyone else.

David was just like any other man. I could manipulate him just the same.

David might have been a corporate lawyer, but he didn’t work in the actual company building. He worked with his firm in another building, which gave me time to change into something a little more revealing—a tighter skirt and a blouse that had a slit down the middle to show off a tantalizing glimpse of cleavage—before I went over to his office.

Getting up to see him was easy. I just smiled and acted like I was a client and sauntered in. When I arrived at his office, I could see him through the glass on either side of the door. I took a deep breath.

My stomach twisted uncomfortably. I ignored it. I’d flirted with and done physical things with men I didn’t like before. Why should this be any different?

Unbidden, the memory of Bryce’s hands on me, that last desperate fuck on the desk, sprung into mind. I shoved it away, trying to convince myself that Bryce wasn’t special.

I swallowed down the lump in my throat and walked into the office. It was time to be bold. “Since we’re on the subject of blackmail. . .”

David looked up sharply as I closed the door behind me. I smirked at him and leaned back against it.

“What are you talking about?” He sounded annoyed. “And what are you doing here?”

“I’m here to change the terms of our deal, seeing as I’m not the only one with a massive lie hidden under the surface.” I walked over and sat in front of him on his desk, crossing my legs to show them off. “I know you killed Mr. Lawton.”

David’s eyebrows shot up.

I laughed throatily. “Oh, your face. What, you thought that nobody could figure it out? I get it. You did what you had to do. In fact I kind of find it… sexy.” I shrugged, as if this was nonchalant to me. “But it does mean that I have something on you just like you have something on me. So I think that changes things a little, wouldn’t you say?”

David stood up and planted his hands on either side of my hips on the desk, looming over me. It took everything in me to keep the smile on my face as my stomach unexpectedly churned.

You can do this, I told myself.

Terrifyingly… I wasn’t sure that I could.

“That’s a dangerous thing to come in and accuse a man of doing,” David said softly.

“Oh, please, as if the old bastard didn’t deserve it.” I took a delicate hold of his tie between my fingers and played with it. “He was holding the company back. Why do you think I showed up the moment he was gone? You were finally vulnerable. It’s just a pity that he didn’t really put you in his will.”

“You’ve been paying close attention to the gossip mill,” David noted.

I shrugged. “I have to admire a man who’s willing to go so far to accomplish his goals. It couldn’t have been easy to pretend to like such an asshole.”

David’s gaze searched mine, a smirk on his lips. “I suppose you would know a lot about that.”

“I do, unfortunately.” I spread my legs a little and tried to fight down the feeling of nausea that hit me when his gaze flicked down. “So why don’t you and I team up together and we can figure something out that works for the both of us.”

David chuckled. “This really gets you that hot and bothered, huh?”

I nodded, biting my lip.

David sighed. “You know, I can’t tell you how tempting it is to fuck you right now.”

Hearing him say it made me want to throw up. I struggled to ignore that swirling sensation in my stomach.

“But… unfortunately for you…” David’s smile grew, and then his hand jerked up and wrapped tight around my throat.

I tried to scream instinctively, but his other hand joined the first as he squeezed, hard, blocking my airway. This was nothing like when Bryce would touch me and play with my throat a little, or when he put the collar on me. This was pain exploding instantly behind the backs of my eyes.

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