Her eyes blaze as she sits up, mouth dropping open. “You—what do you mean, ‘if I really didn’t know that guy’?” She folds her arms again, eyebrows lowering and pulling together.
Time to let it all out.
“If I’m being honest, I’ve been thinking,youapproachingmeat Divine Taste and somehow becoming my personal assistant two days later was a prettywildcoincidence. Don’t you think?”
She gapes at me, blinking like she can’t believe what I’m saying.
“Is this some kind of joke? I was literallyshockedto see you that Monday morning!”
“So, are you trying to say you don’t know how it happened and you genuinely didn’t plan it?”
She jumps up from the swing, nearly falling on her face as she trips over her feet.
I reach out to steady her, my hand on her good arm. She jerks it out of my grasp.
“I don’t believe this. I freaked out when I saw you, and then when Fallon came in, I thought I had homewrecked my boss’s engagement! It was a miserable, devastating few days that came to a wretched climax when youinvited me to the wedding.”
She takes a small step toward the door like she’s about to leave. I slowly rise to my feet to tower above her petite frame. She tilts her head back to look at me.
“You thought I invited you to my own wedding after screwing you the week before?”
She nods, setting her jaw and igniting a fire in my veins. I have no choice now; we’re laying it all out on the table.
“I thought you were trying to kill me.” My voice is calm as I say the words, face neutral.
Her body freezes up, eyes growing wide. A few moments of literal crickets chirping around us rolls by.
I continue on since she’s finally letting me speak, “I’m still not sure what you’re here for. I found the bugs in my apartment and?—”
She interrupts, “Bugs in your apartment?”
“Listening devices, cameras—all planted while I was asleep that night.”
Her mouth is hanging open as I go on, “You making a move on me at the office was...it seemed like a ploy. The people who are after me have been at it for a while, trying to trip me up to admit something about what happened with Steelhart. You’re the perfect way to do that. A beautiful girl approaching me, me being dumb and naive enough to take her home, her turning up as my assistant with access to my home, my office, everything? Pretty much adds up that you’d be trying to sleep your way into my head.Which you did.”
She seems to slowly regain composure as I spell it out, causing me to doubt each word I said. I’m studying every move she makes, lasering in on her expressions and the most common tells for lying. She seems to be one hundred percent genuine, but then again, she always does.
“You think I’m some kind of . . . secret agent?”
I shrug. “You’re either with the FBI or the Russian Mafia. Unless you were hired by some disgruntled rival whose company I bought out, but I don’t really see what purpose that would serve.”
I really shouldn’t be telling her all of this, but now that I’ve started, I can’t seem to stop. She bites down on her lip like maybe she’s trying to hide a smile.
“You think I could be a super spy . . . secret agent . . . trying to kill you?” She’s starting to laugh.
“I don’t think you understand what exactly has happened in my past that would...” I trail off as she starts to really lose it, her body vibrating with the force of her amusement.
It’s nearly impossible not to join in with her, my face cracking into a grin. Suddenly, the burden I’ve been shouldering seems to fall off. My aching muscles relax for the first time in a while.
She’s innocent.
“You’re making me feel . . . ridiculous.”
Tears are streaming down her face as she tries to stop the laughter. I chuckle, shaking my head at her.
“Ahh, I’m so sorry. Never in my life have I ever been accused of something like this. I’m the clumsiest person I know. I can’t even run a mile, not one.” She shakes her head, wiping the tears. “I literally drink wine every night and draw animated characters while I watch Disney movies. I can’t—I’ve never even held a gun before.”
My smile fades.
