Dirty Sexy Alphas (Twenty Book Box Set) - Hannah Ford Page 0,361

that I had somehow let him down. Heaviness sank into my gut and only got worse when I heard Madden’s raised voice from our room. I wrapped the oversized towel around my body and opened the door.

“I told you to wait on that,” he shouted into his phone. “Pull the god damned press release now.” He listened for a few seconds and a vein in his forehead stuck out. “Are you fucking kidding me? So now what?” After a few more seconds, he threw his phone down on the table.

“Bad news?” I asked.

He turned slowly and after running an assessing gaze over my half naked body, he looked into my eyes. “Jenna sent the notice into the papers first thing this morning. The Associated Press grabbed it and it’s front-page news already. I didn’t authorize the release, but my people screwed up. It is what it is.”

I thought I saw remorse in his eyes, but my entire body started going from hot to cold. It was on the front page of the Associated Press? Jacob would see it. He’d see me. Tears burned the back of my eyes and I spun away from Madden. One stupid mistake by Jenna and my life was in danger.

And I couldn’t escape the feeling that perhaps Madden had even secretly intended it to go this way. If I accepted, he got the story and if I refused…he still got his precious story.

And he could even claim plausible deniability.

“I want to leave now.” My voice shook. I couldn’t think straight. I ignored all the new clothes that Madden had bought for me and pulled on my jeans and peasant blouse, ignoring the feel of his stare on my naked back. I had to get my car at the motel. Money, I needed the money that Madden had promised. Maybe I’d have time to disappear before Jacob tracked me down.

My heart pounded against my ribs.

If he found me, I was as good as dead. Especially with a story like that taunting him.

“How long will it take to get me my money?” I asked. My hands shook as I carefully folded the towel and set it on the unmade bed.

“Skylar.” I could hear concern in his voice, but I didn’t turn around.

I didn’t want him to see how scared I was. Jacob was my problem and I could deal with it as soon as I had the means to go away. All I needed now was for Madden to stop asking questions and take me back to the motel.

Time was running out and the longer I waited, the easier it was going to be for Jacob to track me down. I inhaled a long breath and looked over my shoulder. I tried to look as uncaring as possible.

“The weekend is over. This...this is over, even though your PR person screwed up. You’re smart, you’ll figure out something to tell the press, but you have to call this off. I don’t want to pretend to be your fiancé. I just want all of this to be finished.”

His eyebrows dipped down and he started to say something.

I held out my hand. “Please, can we just go?”

After a moment’s hesitation, Madden relented. “I’ll have someone come and pack your things and I’ll call for the car. I need to take care of a few last minute things before we leave.” When the door closed behind him, I walked out onto the balcony.

I hated to leave this place. It was a world away from my real life, one that I’d be returning to after a short flight. Would Madden leave me at the airport, send me along in a cab? Part of me hoped so because being around him made things too hazy. Most of the time he was a controlling, arrogant businessman, but I’d caught glimpses of a man under the exterior and he was nothing like I expected.

I liked the Madden who laughed over dinner, who stood and watched the sunset with me and who had made my body respond more than I ever thought possible. Trying to figure out which version was the most dangerous was futile. The woman who finally tamed him, not in a fake engagement sort of way, but the real thing, was in for the ride of her life.

But that woman could never be me. For so many reasons.

It only took fifteen minutes for the housekeeper to pack up all the clothes that Madden had bought for me to wear. I had no intention