Page 1 of Exposed

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“What do you mean Jeff can’t come with me for my story?” Beth Williams glanced around the quiet newsroom. Heads popped up over cubicle walls. She lowered her voice to continue her phone conversation with her editor. “What happened? Is he okay?”

“He’s in pretty lousy shape, from what I heard. He’s got a spiral fracture of both bones in his lower leg,” her editor said. “He has surgery tomorrow and then it’s going to be awhile before he gets around easily. He’ll be on crutches for several weeks and probably loopy from pain meds, too.”

Poor guy.

Sorrow for the man who was supposed to be her undercover partner on this story hit her along with her own disappointment. Jeff was a good guy. Had a wife, kids, a new mortgage to pay. This accident was probably causing major turmoil to him and his family. Selfish as it might seem, though, she couldn’t thinkingBut what about me?This story was supposed to be her big break, her chance to make a name for herself. And now, itfelt like all her hopes and dreams were crumbling apart right before eher eyes. Her frustration increased both at herself and the situation. She sighed and closed her eyes. “I feel bad for him. Please tell Jeff and his family I’m thinking of them.”

“Will do,” her editor said. “And I’m sorry about the story.”

She ended the call then sat back, wondering how in the hell she might salvage what had promised to be a real scoop. There was something not right with these LoveFix Couples’ Retreats advertised all over the place. She and Jeff had been researching the expensive counseling trips for nearly a year now. She’d become suspicious of the retreat, held on a private island off the coast of Florida, after talking to a friend, of hers who’d been there. When she dug deeper into the place—as much as she could from a distance—she got this strange, tingling feeling that told her she was on to something. She just wasn’t sure what yet.

And then there was Robert Hart, the mysterious head the retreat’s parent company, Hartstrings, Inc. Beth had tried to dig into Hart’s past to figure out more about him, but there’d not been much available. He claimed to be a psychiatrist, but she couldn’t find his name on any med school alumni lists. If he’d taught anywhere or opened a practice in the United States before starting Hartstrings, she couldn’t find any record of it. Frankly, there was no hint that he’d even existed until he came out of nowhere a few years ago and become a media darling to the stars after successfully saving the marriage of a popular celebrity couple.

With that kind of publicity and momentum behind him, Hart had turned his attention to these retreats, which were making him major bank. According to the anonymous sources Beth had spoken with, in the last year alone Hartstrings, Inc. hadnetted close to a billion dollars in revenue. Pretty impressive, considering the company had only been in business three years.

What bothered Beth the most, though, was the fact no one seemed interested in questioning Hart’s methods, or his credentials. Lord knew it was easy enough to invent a persona these days. Plenty of people had done it and successfully bilked others out of their life’s savings. And there were a few other warning signs that were setting off all Beth’s alarm bells. But she’d hit the limit of what she could find out from a distance. To put all the puzzle pieces together, she knew she needed to go investigate on site. She’d gotten her editor’s approval to go in undercover, and it had all been arranged. She’d accounted for everything…except for Jeff’s accident.

Crap. Just crap.

She sat forward in her chair and flipped through the file of documents and notes she and Jeff had compiled over the last few months. If it weren’t a couples’ retreat, she’d just go ahead on her own, but for this job, she needed a partner. Jeff had been the obvious choice in her mind. Happily married, laidback, a good friend, but not attractive to Beth at all as anything more than that. They knew each other well enough to fake a relationship on the island without any risk of real feelings making everything messy and complicated. It would have been perfect.

Sigh.She needed sympathy, so she sent a text to her friend Leila.

“My story just went to crap. My partner for the retreat broke his leg and is laid up. So disappointed.” She ended the text with a frowny face emoji.

“Sorry, sweetie. That sucks—for you and him. Is there someone else who could go in his place?”

As she gazed around the newsroom at the other potential candidates, the outlook of continuing was bleak. There was Alan, a geeky dude—nice enough but he fell over his own feet whenever Beth even said good morning to him. He was out. While she was flattered by his crush on her, she wasn’t looking for a relationship, and she had a feeling Alan would read way too much into an offer to play her spouse, even if it was for an assignment.

Her gaze moved on to Don, their financial reporter. The fact he was gay might be an advantage during a couples’ retreat—no worries about him trying to come on to her. But he’d just gone through a bad breakup—asking him to go on a couples’ retreat would be like pouring salt in the wound.

Finally, she spotted Stan, the sports guy, by the water cooler. He looked up and caught Beth watching him, gave her a wink and a not-so-subtle hike of his pants to accentuate his crotch area and…ewww. Stan was okay looking, she supposed, in that square-jawed, square-headed jock sort of way, but definitely not her type. She wasn’t that much of an actress. If she was going to be fake-married to someone, they’d have to have real chemistry or they’d never be believable. Anyone who watched her around Stan would quickly see that her strongest feeling toward him was disgust.

She dropped back into her seat. Pickings were slim at theFrisco Timesoffices. Not good. Not good at all.

She was picking up her phone to text Leila back with the bad news when an unfamiliar male voice spoke from behind her. “Excuse me. I’m looking for Beth Williams.”

Beth glanced back over her shoulder, then froze. She’d expected a delivery guy or messenger, since she had arranged tohave some new copies of documents on the Hart case being overnighted to her today. But what she saw was a man who looked like he’d walked right out of her fantasies—tall, dark, and delicious. She turned slowly and flashed him her best smile, the one that guaranteed she never paid for her own drinks at a bar. Perhaps today wasn’t quite as sucky as she’d imagined.

She wasn’t looking for Mr. Right, but she’d sure as hell take Mr. Right Now if he fell into her lap. And that idea sent her mind spinning into a whole other erotic tangent. Her and this mystery man crashing into each other, falling onto her desk, him taking her right there. Her nails digging into those broad, muscled shoulders of his, as he kissed and licked his way down her body, from her neck to her breasts to the heat throbbing between her legs.

Jesus, she really needed to get out more.

Cheeks heated from her wicked thoughts, she took a deep breath and held out her hand. “You found me. What can I do for you?”

His grip was strong and sure, his skin warm against hers, and electric sparks of awareness zinged up her arm from their point of contact. From the slight widening of his warm brown eyes, she knew he’d felt it too.

“Your brother, Heath, sent me,” he said. “He’s been trying to reach you for a couple of days and hasn’t gotten a response. He’s worried.”

Beth’s shoulders sagged, and she barely caught herself before she rolled her eyes. Figured that on the day her career turned to crap, her older brother would get all overprotective again. No. Not again.Always. She loved her brother, but for crying out loud…Heath was like a shadow she couldn’t shake. Ugh. She’dbeen wrong. This day was hitting a new all-time high on the suckage meter.

She was tempted to swivel back around to face her desk and just ignore the gorgeous guy in front of her. But as frustrated as she was with her brother, she didn’t have the heart to be rude to his friend. It wasn’t his fault Heath was a pest. “Please tell Heath that I’m fine. I’ve just been busy with work.”

Instead of walking away, as she’d expected, the man stayed right where he was, staring down at her. “He’ll be glad to hear that.”

“How’d he drag you into this, anyway?” she asked, curious in spite of herself.

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