Betrayal (Infidelity Book 1) - Aleatha Romig Page 0,21

lips pressed together in disgust, not only at them, but also at myself, I stepped into the elevator and waited for the door to shut. When it did, I exhaled and tried to comprehend how either of them would assume that I’d be comfortable with this circumstance.

I didn’t care how good looking or charismatic Mr. Nox—no last name—was. I didn’t see married men. The tan line on his fourth finger was too prominent to be anything but recent.

“MISS CHARLI?” FREDRICK asked with concern in his voice as I rushed from the private hallway. “Is everything all right?”

All right? No!

I took a deep breath. If I couldn’t stop whatever game Nox was playing from getting to me, I sure as hell could stop from showing it to others. Pausing only briefly, I replied, “Thank you, Fredrick. I’m not feeling well.”

“May I help you? Do you need assistance getting to your room?”

“No, I just need to lie down.”

“Really, Miss Charli, I don’t mind. I’m sure your host wouldn’t want anything to happen to you.”

My host. I wasn’t born yesterday. Maybe I was being paranoid, but I believed as soon as Fredrick escorted me to my room, he’d report my room number directly to Nox.

“No, thank you.” I began to walk away. “That won’t be necessary. I’m sure your resort is safe enough for a woman to walk unescorted.”

“Yes,” he admitted coming out from behind his stand. “It is. However, if you need anything…” He handed me a card. “…you can call me direct.”

I took his card and dropped it in my purse. “I’ll be sure to do that. Good night, Fredrick.”

I hurried away and toward the guest elevators. As I waited for the elevator, my chin dropped to my chest, and I tried to stop the memories of our evening from replaying in my head.

Anger, shame, disgust—all of it swirled like a cyclone.

I was not only furious with him but also disappointed in myself. Then again, I tried to reason, we hadn’t done anything, not really. We’d talked and eaten dinner. Yes, I’d had some wine, but there was no touching. Well, he’d kissed my hand and helped me into the suite, but nothing overtly intimate.

It was still wrong.

I did my best to ignore the other resort guests passing by me. It didn’t matter what I told myself, how I tried to justify it, I was appalled with Nox and with myself. I lifted my unseeing eyes and faced the truth; this was exactly what I deserved for going on a mystery date. I may never have made my prospective dates fill out a ten-page résumé, as Chelsea had joked, but at least I knew their names and marital status before I agreed to go out with them.

I could justify my situation as all Nox’s fault, but if I did, it made me the victim. I wasn’t a victim. I refused to be one. I’d been there and done that. Alex Collins was not a victim. I’d made the decision to meet Nox for dinner, me and no one else. He wasn’t to blame for my decision.

When the doors of the elevator finally opened, a happy couple stepped from the elevator. If I hadn’t noticed the way they looked at me, I wouldn’t have even realized I wore a scowl.

Stupid, naïve people.

Happiness in another person wasn’t real. All people did was betray one another: if not on the first date, then eventually. Look at Alton and Adelaide. They were supposed to be my example of love, of a healthy relationship. Hell no! They were dysfunctional on more levels than I cared to admit. Alex Collins was better off without someone. Just because continuing the Montague bloodline had been pounded into my being, since I was old enough to understand, didn’t mean that I intended to do it. There was nothing Nox or any other man could do for me that I couldn’t do for myself. This was the twenty-first century. I didn’t even need a man, if and when I wanted to continue that bloodline. That’s what sperm banks were for.

Riding up to our floor, my neck straightened with determination. I’m Alex Collins and I have a future and plans.

Shit!

I stepped from the elevator onto the multicolored carpet. Each slap of my shoes more determined than the last. The last thing a future hotshot attorney needed was an affair scandal in her closet of skeletons. How dare he lure me in? So what if he had a sexy voice and even sexier