‘Believe whatever you want,’ he snapped, turning to leave.
‘What I believe is true.’
Lukas laughed at that. A short burst of air clearly telling Katherine what he thought of that.
‘I bet you’re one of those people who underpays her compared to the male publicists too. Tell me, what were you paid in this last season after your bonuses?’
Lukas was tired of playing this game. This was public knowledge much to his dismay. ‘Sixty-nine million euros.’ The extent of his endorsement deals wasn’t known so Katherine wouldn’t learn about it now either.
‘Sixty-nine, how appropriate for the man who will do anything.’
Lukas had had enough. She thought she knew so much about him, every single thing she knew was wrong. ‘How much sex do you think I have?’ he asked, doing nothing to temper his annoyance.
‘Please,’ Katherine scoffed, ‘don’t insult my intelligence. I’ve seen the number of women you appear with.’
Only because the media wouldn’t give him an ounce of privacy and every time he had a dinner or arrived at an event a picture was taken. None of those women were ever in a relationship with him. ‘Appear with. Not sleep with. Not date. My tastes in all things are very exacting.’
Katherine let out a taunting laugh. ‘Okay, I’ll bite. How many months has it been exactly?’
Knowing it would shut her up, Lukas leaned down. His lips brushed the shell of her ear. He felt the shiver that passed through her, the touch sparking as if they were statically charged. ‘Three years.’ He pulled away, smug at the shock on her face. ‘What’s wrong?’ he asked venomously, ‘Upset that it doesn’t fit the narrative of me you’re trying to peddle?’
Katherine was rendered mute. There were no comebacks. Satisfied, angry and tense, Lukas left her standing in the kitchen and walked away.
CHAPTER SIX
Katherine watched Lukas’sretreating back, breathing heavily. She’d never stooped so low as to attack a person the way she had Lukas right then but he made her crazy. As if she couldn’t keep whatever she was feeling—anger, frustration, irritation—inside her when he was around. It all burst out of her in the most uncontrolled way and she hated that she could hardly temper what she said before she said it.
She had seen plenty of pictures of Lukas with women. They were almost never posed for. People talked. She wasn’t the only one who had those ideas about him. That was no excuse though. As shocked as she was at his revelation, there was no denying he was telling the truth. No faking the offense he had taken, that flash of hurt in his eyes. Clearly something had happened there and she regretted her actions.
But she couldn’t talk to him.
Not yet.
He had taken no responsibility for getting her fired. She couldn’t forgive that. So here she was, upset at herself but still so angry at Lukas that she didn’t know what to do with all this hate.
Her legs were finally able to move. They carried her to the door, but where would she go? A walk would help her cool off but a walk in a blizzard would get her killed. She could go back to her cabin and get some space but what then? She didn’t really have much in the way of food or heat. And it was warm here. She felt infinitely better for having had something real to eat. Lukas didn’t have to bring her here but he had. Even when he detested her as much as she did him.
Heaving a great big sigh, Katherine sat in front of the fireplace, staring at the hypnotic way the flames swayed and crackled.
As much as she hated to admit it, Lukas was right. While the storm wasn’t blowing as intensely, it wasn’t dying down sufficiently for help to arrive and she had no idea when it would stop. They were alone out here. They needed to rely on each other, so maybe the wisest thing to do would be to put their differences aside. She could be the bigger person. She had been when she didn’t expose the reason she was fired from VelociTV.
Calmer, Katherine pushed off the floor and went looking for Lukas, which was harder than she had anticipated. She opened several doors in the cabin, finding a sauna, a gym, an entertainment room, a room with a large pool table in the middle. Finally, she tried a locked door and knocked gently on the wood.
‘Lukas, can we talk?’ she asked softly. ‘Please.’
She heard shuffling and then the door swung inwards. Lukas stood there, one hand on the door-handle and the other on the frame. His knitted turtleneck sweater stretched across his chest, defining the incredible tone of his physique. The soft, camel colour warmed his grey eyes that so often reminded her of a winter storm, so at odds with his light brown hair.
How was this man single for three years?He was objectively rather beautiful.
She looked up into those intelligent eyes that were assessing her. He said nothing but if the roles were reversed she would probably do the same.
‘I just want to talk,’ Katherine said, waiting for a response. Most likely a rejection. He pushed through the doorway and just before he could close the door, she spied a book lying face down on the king-size bed.
She really didn’t think he was the reading type, but she hadn’t thought he could cook, nor had she realised that he would be good at survival. He had gone looking for her equipped with a rope, had prevented hypothermia from setting in. There was a man behind the racer that she truly did not know.
He led her to the closest room. She took a seat on one of the buttery-soft tan leather couches and patted the cushion, hoping he would join her. See that she could be civil. To her relief he accepted, pouring himself onto the couch and draping his arm over the back-rest but he didn’t look at her. He kept his eyes fixed to the black screen of the large television mounted on the wall.
Well, it looked like she would be doing all the talking.
