He stands and tucks himself back into his pants before zipping up while I’m still lying there, exposed and confused. The intimacy of thirty seconds ago evaporates like it never existed.
“Tony—”
But he’s already walking toward the bedroom, the phone pressed to his ear. “Yeah, I’m here,” I hear him say before the door closes behind him.
I sit up slowly. My dress is wrinkled, and my underwear is twisted and damp. And the man who just made me come harder than I ever have is taking a phone call from someone more important than me.
I straighten my clothes and smooth my hair, pulling myself back together physically even though everything else is scattered.I walk to my bedroom and close the door before he comes back in.
Then, I sit on the edge of my bed and try to understand what just happened.
Tony touched me like I was precious. Like I was the only thing in the world that mattered. He made my body sing in ways I didn’t know were possible. And then, he took a call that couldn’t wait five minutes.
I’m falling for someone I might not know at all.
The realization settles into my stomach like a stone. Every conversation we’ve had, every moment of connection, every time I thought I was seeing the real him. … How much of it was genuine and how much was manipulation?
I don’t have answers. Only questions that multiply every time I think I’m getting close to the truth.
But I know one thing for certain.
Whatever Tony Haugh is hiding, I will find it out. Even if the truth destroys whatever is growing between us.
14
Tony
I’m still tasting her on my lips when Adrian starts talking, and the guilt hits me like a freight train.
“You took your time answering,” he taunts. “Busy?”
I close the bedroom door behind me and lean against it. My pants are barely zipped, my shirt is untucked, and the woman I just distracted with sex to avoid answering is sitting on the couch, wondering what the hell just happened.
I keep telling myself that I didn’t have a choice. She was asking questions I couldn’t answer and getting too close to the truth. Physical distraction was the only way out that didn’t involve lying to her face again.
Except that’s bullshit, and I know it.
I took the coward’s way out. I used her body to deflect from her mind, turning something that should have been pure into manipulation. And now, I’m standing here with Adrian’s voice in my ear while she’s out there feeling used and confused.
The worst part is that I wanted her. I stilldo.
What happened on the couch wasn’t entirely an act. I felt every touch, kiss, and sound she made.
I wanted all of it.
But I can no longer separate genuine desire from tactical deflection, and that makes me the exact kind of man I swore I’d never become.
“I was in the middle of something,” I manage.
“Something more important than my call?”
“You didn’t give me any warning.”
Adrian laughs, and the sound is cold and humorless. “I don’t need to warn you. I’m paying you. When I call, you answer. That’s how this works.”
My free hand curls into a fist. I imagine driving it through the wall. Or better yet, through Adrian’s smug face. I bite back the response I want to give and force my voice to stay even. “What do you want?”
“Progress reports. You’ve been embedded with the Kozlovs for weeks now. Living in their safehouse. Traveling with Dmitri’s sister. Yet, I’ve received nothing of value from you. I’m starting to wonder if you’ve forgotten who you work for.”
