Page 102 of Dangerous Temptation
‘How do you think it went?’ he asked.
‘OK. They threw a few curve balls at me, but I handled them as well as I could.’
‘You were prepared.’
She nodded, once again feeling the tension. All she’d done over the past two weeks was study and give practice pitches. Now that she’d come out of that protective shell, she was starting to feel again.
He raised one eyebrow. ‘Ponzi schemes?’
The question was posed calmly, but all the clattering in her head came to a screeching halt. Oh, God.
For the first time, she took in his body language. She was a chaotic mess, but he was eerily still. Friction burned in the air, and it was all directed at her.
She reached for the door behind her. Her knees suddenly felt more than wobbly.
He was angry.
She hadn’t even thought. The Ponzi scheme was a sore point for him. She’d never told him the crux of her research.
‘I needed to understand,’ she said, her mouth going dry. When the scandal had first come to light, questions had consumed her. She’d wanted to know why but, more so, she’d needed to know how. Her father’s actions had mortified her and pushed her.
It had become an obsession for her.
‘The lake?’ he pressed.
She shouldn’t have shown that picture. It was private property. It had been their safe place, the one where they’d kept people out, yet she’d waved that photograph around like it was her right. ‘It all came to me one day when I was looking at it.’
‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ he asked.
‘I don’t …’ But she did know. ‘It was such a touchy subject, especially at that house.’
‘And you didn’t trust me.’
No, she hadn’t. At first. ‘Not in the beginning.’
She swallowed past the rock in her throat. ‘I went to Wolfe Manor looking for answers. I found them, but not the ones I expected. I was … I was hoping to find the money.’
‘You moved in with me, Elena.’
She folded her arms over her chest. ‘I didn’t know if what I was doing had any merit, and I didn’t want to hurt you.’
He’d gone to prison for the racket.
Her arms dropped limply at her sides. ‘I’m sorry, Alex.’
His head snapped back. ‘You’re sorry?’
He came off the wall as if propelled. ‘Elena, it’sbrilliant.’
Her lips parted. The way he’d just come at her reminded her of when she’d freed him from the locked bathroom, oh so long ago. His body was primed and his eyes were bright. Her body melted, and her mind went blank.
He raked a hand through his hair. It had gotten longer. ‘It’s genius.’
She spread both hands against the door behind her. Her brain had just tilted.
Breathing hard, he leaned into her. The lines of his cheekbones were like slashes across his handsome face.
‘I can’t do this right now,’ she whispered. Adrenalin was pumping through her system. Once it ran its course, she’d be a puddle on the floor. She was exhausted, and she just needed to get through the day. If she thought about him or their relationship, she wouldn’t make it.
