Of course, he did.Not much got by his attention.He was watching her like he’d watched her in the elevator the other day.Had that only been days ago?When a billboard had seemed scandalous?When a presentation had been the most important thing in the world to her?
She sighed.
“Lexie,” he growled.
“What do you want out of me?”
“Some kind of emotion.”Turning, he planted himself in front of her and braced his hand by her head.“I’m not going to let you roll over and play dead.”
He surrounded her in the tiny space, his anger and will filling the small compartment to the corners.Out of everybody, he was the one person who’d watched out for her today.The one person who seemed to care.
Why?
The elevator opened on the top floor, and skylights in the hallway made the tiny space glow.For a moment, he didn’t budge.He hovered over her, a muscle working in his jaw, but then he was tugging her hand and moving to the one door in sight.It was the only apartment on the floor.
He let them in, and she stutter-stepped over the threshold.The place was opulence personified.She’d grown up wealthy, but nothing like this.The penthouse overlooked Cobalt City, with the river snaking across the landscape.The summer sky was calm with birds catching thermals and an airplane leaving contrails as it headed to destinations unknown.
Pulling her all the way inside, Cam closed the door behind her.
And locked it.
“You live here?”She toyed with the strap of her purse.
“I’m borrowing it.”He loosened his tie and tossed his keys onto the table by the door.
“From whom?”
“A client I did some work for.A software magnate you might have heard of.”
In the Cobalt City area, that could be one of a handful of people—all of them in a realm she’d never touched.“What are you doing working with Underhill Associates?”They were a Fortune 500 company, yet for all their success, they were nowhere in the league of the companies he usually consulted for.
“There’s only one thing I want out of that company, but we’ll talk about that later.”
Lexie looked around again.It was all too much.Too much had happened.There’d been too many surprises.She rubbed her arms and moved towards the sunken living room.Easing onto a soft couch, she put her back to the view.Her purse suddenly felt heavy on her shoulder.She tucked it against the pillow beside her and smoothed her dress.
“Enough of that.”Cam shrugged out of his suit jacket and tossed it on a chair.When he crouched down in front of her, that hard, determined look was back on his face.“Cry or scream.I don’t care which, but don’t just sit here.”
Why couldn’t he let her be?She was tired of listening to people talk.Sick of the things that were coming out of their mouths.
The lines on his forehead deepened.“Damn it, I’ve watched you do this time and time again.One of the Underhills will say or do something that hurts you, but you won’t fight back.You cover it up and act like it never happened.”
What good was fighting when you couldn’t win?
“You’ve got to let that pain out, Lexie.”
She locked her back teeth together.Pain was an understatement, but then again, she never would have taken Cameron Rowe for the psychobabble type.
He stared at her for a long moment, and the air between them became heavy.She knew what he wanted, but she just couldn’t do it.She didn’t have the energy or the inclination.What would it change?
His eyes went calculating and flinty.
“Your father split you apart from your twin,” he said, his voice clipped.
The gritting moved up to her canines.“I know.”
“Youridenticaltwin.”
She pressed her lips flat.
