Faith sat next to me, mere inches separating us. She sat stiffly and stared at her hands on her knees.
The last thing I wanted was to upset her. Today had been stressful enough for both of us. I pushed away the memory of thismorning’s ambush meeting and Victoria’s gleeful anticipation of witnessing someone’s firing. “Are you scared of me? I’m sorr?—”
She shook her head emphatically but still refused to meet my eyes. “No. Definitely not.”
“So why won’t you look at me?” I knew I shouldn’t stare, but I couldn’t help it. Even her profile was gorgeous. Slight bump midway down her nose, long, dark lashes, and smooth skin, her rosy cheeks in full bloom under my scrutiny.
“I really should tell you the rest of what I found out.” She bit her bottom lip, the tension between us now at full mast. Okay, so that was my dick.
But I knew when to push and when to hold back. I’d get to the question I really wanted to ask soon, but for now, I’d give her a reprieve. “Okay. What did you want to tell me?” My dick twitched as if to say, “That’s not what we want to talk about.”
“I’ve gone over the campaigns for the accounts Knight have lost this year. They all have one thing in common.”
I frowned, my dick deflating. I owed it a massive apology for the direction this conversation was taking. “What’s that?” She finally raised her eyes to look at me. I recognized the emotion in them. “I’ll believe you. I promise.” I couldn’t believe I was saying it, but it was true—even if I was making the dumbest decision of my life, I trusted this gorgeous woman who had nothing left to lose. At least not at this company. She thought she was fired, and she still wanted to help me. In fact, she was basically losing her job so I could keep mine. This was the woman who’d stood up to the crook in the café, the woman I’d hoped she was—honest, putting others first, hating unfairness, brave. She was sacrificing her job for me. The least I could do was believe her. I knew the pain of your word meaning nothing to those who should know better when you were screaming the truth into a void.
She blinked. “Really? After everything I’ve done?”
“Yes. You have no reason to help me anymore than you alreadyhave. Also, I’m good at reading people, and I can see the truth in your eyes.” Who would’ve thought I’d find a kindred spirit in Faith of all people? She wasn’t the high-society woman from untold wealth my father insisted I date, she wasn’t manipulative or vain, and as for walking in high-heels—she was more baby giraffe on roller skates than catwalk ready. Very different from any woman I’d ever dated. And maybe that’s where I’d been going wrong. If listening to my old man hadn’t worked out for me in thirty-three years, it wasn’t about to.
It was time I did my own thing, made my own decisions.
Faith blushed, the heat of it singeing a donut-shaped brand on my heart. “Okay, well, the assets had been changed from what was approved. I had a look at five other campaigns for companies we didn’t lose, and they were all small accounts and had the approved assets. Someone,”—her leg bounced nervously—“who we could surmise was Victoria, used the wrong marketing materials, leading to poorer results to what was achieved before you became CEO. I searched through all the data. Clicks and cost per result were all decreased for those specific campaigns. On the Mayberry account, the budget was underspent by twenty thousand dollars, but we still billed the client for the whole original amount we quoted. It made the results look terrible. And she’s the one who signs off on that stuff before it goes to accounting.”
My eyes widened, anger and disbelief sizzling beneath my skin. What the actual fuck? We’dstolenfrom our valued clients. “Are you sure? Can you prove it was Victoria?” She must’ve gone through so many documents to discover all this, spent time she wasn’t getting paid for, time I hadn’t had to do the same, just to get to the truth. I hadn’t asked anyone else to do it because I didn’t know who I could trust. She’d cemented the idea I’d had when I told Victoria to leave—I had a plan, and I’d ask Faith to help me.
Faith’s shoulders dropped. “It’s okay if you don’t believe me. I get it.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “No, it’s not that. I do believe you. I’m just… reacting. We need to be able to prove this without a doubt. Are you sure her PA didn’t send those assets to our social media team by accident?”
“I can’t prove anything, but you could. Confiscate her computer and laptop, or better yet, get your IT team to log into her company account. You’ll be able to track her emails from there.”
I nodded. “That’s a good idea, but it might have to wait because I’m not sure who I can rely on.” I swallowed. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Of course.”
I couldn’t believe I was going to ask this. I felt like an inexperienced sixteen-year-old. “When you said I was hot and that you had a ‘crush’ on me, was that the truth?”
Her face flamed, all the way down her neck to her gorgeous breasts, which weren’t on show, but I could imagine. I held my breath as I waited for her answer. She swallowed. “Yes. I mean, I only said it to get rid of Queen B, but I meant it, and I didn’t think it mattered because after today, I’ll never see you again. Sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable.”
“What if I said I can’t stop thinking about you, that every morning I come in and see your beautiful face, it makes me happy, even though I know it shouldn’t? What if I said that I don’t want today to be the last time I ever see you?”
Her small gasp and dilated pupils had my dick hardening, coming to life again, and this time, my hand wasn’t in the way. I didn’t miss her gaze slide down my body and zero in. She must’ve liked what she saw because her azure eyes met mine, and she said, “Well, I’d say, stop messing around and kiss me.”
That was all the invitation I needed.
CHAPTER 23
FAITH
Oh my God, was this really happening? I must be crazy to ignore all past experiences and fall for a rich guy. At least he wasn’t my boss anymore. Besides, it wasn’t a relationship—it was a fling. He dated rich women, women who had multi-million-dollar apartments, women whose fathers hadn’t abandoned them, women who didn’t trip on their stilettos and smoosh donut and coffee all over people. My vagina was screaming, yes, yes, yes. She’d suffered enough, so it was my duty to give her what she wanted.
He leaned toward me, his large hand drifting up to cradle the side of my head. His thumb slid silkily across my bottom lip, leaving delicious tingles in its wake. His eyes, inky pools of need, had their own gravity, pulling me in. My lips drifted toward his, my body tingling and tightening in anticipation of something that would be akin to the biggest sugar rush of all time. Our chemistrywas next level, something I’d never experienced and probably never would again. I gladly sank into it, let it consume me.
I shut my eyes, my lips hovering near his, Curtis’s breath warming my skin as he skimmed his lips across the corner of mine. His husky voice sent shivers down my body, culminating in delectable throbbing between my legs. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Yes,” I breathed. “I’ve never wanted anything more in my life.” I wasn’t sure what “this” was, but if it ended in the best sex of my life, why wouldn’t I want in? When I capitulated, I put my whole heart and vagina into it, common sense be damned. I could start being smarter tomorrow.
His lips ghosted over mine teasingly. Every one of my nerve endings was at attention, craving his next touch. Thankfully, he obliged, his hands gripping my waist and pulling me onto his lap. I straddled him, my sensible knee-length skirt sliding up the outside of my thighs. I’d never been happier to not be wearing jeans.
