Page 65 of Unraveling the Truth About Love
Chapter Thirty
JOSH NEEDED HIS morning run more than he ever had before. He ran like he was being chased through the park, in and out of the streets, until finally, he ended up in front of the JBD building. He’d rip the office apart if he had to. If Riley was designing Max’s dress while at work, even when using stolen moments, there had to be some proof.
He stormed through the doors and intothe design studio.
Claudia looked up from a drawing table with a smile. “Hi, Josh. I thought I’d be alone this morning.”
His sweat-covered body was ablaze. “What are you doing here?” he snapped.
“Sketching.” She tossed the answer as if she hadn’t a care in the world.
“Sketching.”Sketching, my butt.
“Yes, refining one of the designs in my portfolio. Wanna see?” She lifted her brows, and hergreen eyes sparkled, inciting a surge of anger within him.
“No.” He clenched his fists and stomped past her to Riley’s desk.
He pulled each drawer open, rifled through them, then slammed them closed.
“What are you doing?” Claudia asked.
Ignoring her, he continued his search, pulling out her file drawers and leafing through each and every folder. If there was proof, it was there somewhere.He felt Claudia’s eyes on his back, and that just spurred his vehemence to clear Riley’s name.
Ten minutes later, and having come up without any evidence of her drawings, he turned on Riley’s computer.
“You need her password,” Claudia said.
He glared at her.
“It’sWestonGirl4Life. Number four, all one word, initial caps.”
Josh narrowed his eyes. “How do you know?”
“It’s my job to know thepasswords on all design computers, remember? You added that to my duties two years ago, when you were trying to find something or other.”
My mistake.Josh sat in Riley’s chair. Her scent was everywhere, momentarily distracting him from his anger. While the computer booted, he thought about their conversation earlier that morning. He’d been so relieved to see her that he’d almost teared up, andwhen he’d held her, he’d wanted to tell her not to go to the show, but to stay with him. They could make love and figure out this mess later. He felt like she’d been ripped from his arms—and he knew she hadn’t been ripped at all. She’d been pushed, and he was the one who had done the shoving.
“Did it work?” Claudia asked.
Her voice pulled him from his thoughts. He typed in Riley’s password,and her JBD home screen came to life. He didn’t answer Claudia. The less interaction with her the better until he knew the truth about her accusations. He went through Riley’s files, feeling slightly voyeuristic; then he clicked over to her JBD email account. He went through anything with an attachment, hoping for something that would validate her innocence. Coming up empty once again, he went toher scanned documents. Maybe she’d have done the same as Claudia and scanned them into the computer. A few clicks later, nothing was revealed. Riley appeared to be the typical JBD employee doing her job.
She’s not a typical employee. She’s talented beyond belief. She’s honest and more Weston than New York.He spun around in the chair, scrutinizing Claudia as she leaned over the drawing table.She’s not honest. More Alcatraz than anywhere else. Something’s not right.
RILEY TRIED TO ignore the differences she felt in Mia and Simone and concentrated on the mass of buyers instead. She was taking an order and had stopped writing to present an accessory ensemble to the buyer when the flash of a camera went off. Shelooked up, and two clicks later, she was seeing spots.
She smiled at the photographer, pleased that JBD would be included in the event’s media coverage.
Mia squeezed between Riley and the camera.
“Riley, why don’t you take our buyer someplace a little more private?” Mia asked.
Riley turned back to the buyer, watching Mia in a heated discussion with the photographer out of the corner of hereye. When the photographer left, Mia whispered something to Simone, before grabbing her phone and heading to the ladies’ room.
Another wave of buyers came through, and as Saturday afternoon turned to evening and the show finally came to an end, Riley was surprised to realize that she hadn’t thought about Claudia all afternoon, while thoughts of Josh pressed in on her every thought. Maybe shecould get through this. Maybe it would pass without a lot of fanfare. Feeling mildly better, she wished Jade were there to go out for a drink or even just to be there to give her strength to deal with all the stuff swirling around in her head.
She packed the brochures and correlated the orders while Mia and Simone prepared the clothes for shipment back to the office.
The last thing Riley wantedwas to go home to Treat’s empty apartment. She didn’t want to be alone. She wanted to be in Josh’s arms, listening to him telling her it had all been a mistake, but she knew that wasn’t going to happen. She looked at Mia and Simone, hoping she could catch a break, at least with them. They hadn’t said a word about Claudia’s accusations, and she didn’t like it hanging between them like the whiteelephant in the room. She steeled herself for rejection.
