After several seconds she said, “Those are the same jeans…the same pose even. What is this from?”
“I did some modeling in college for extra cash. They took stills as well as a filmed audition for a jeans commercial. That’s all it was. Not a sex tape. Just a stupid ad. I was supposed to act sexy. You know, pump the pecs, tighten the abs, thumbs in the belt loops, push the jeans down—”
“I get the idea. So who was the girl?”
“I don’t remember her name and I never saw her again. I think she was a production assistant. She agreed to, you know, liven things up.”
“I see.”
“And they didn’t show any of us what they’d taped. Obviously, someone got hold of it, used it, then used different models in bad light to act out a steamy sex scene.”
“A steamy sex scene?” she screeched.
He winced. “You didn’t get that far?”
“Did it… I mean, would someone watching it think…”
“Someone could make the conclusion it was you and me, yes,” he said softly.
After a few second of silence, she responded. “How—how explicit was it?”
His silence was his answer.
“Oh, God. Why? Who?”
“I wish I knew. I have someone working on it. It should be gone soon if it isn’t already.”
“I think it is. But that doesn’t tell us who’s already seen it, who copied it and already posted it to another site, or why anyone would want to do this…”
“You’re right. I’ll do my best to find out for your peace of mind,” he told her.
“What about your own peace of mind? You’re not bothered by this at all?”
Two things about it bothered him. The seeming connection the photo and video had to his takeover of Dubois & Mellan, and the fact it bothered Cara so badly. He had to wonder if someone knew his true reason for purchasing the company, and if they did, how they’d found out. There was also something about Cara that brought out every protective fiber in his body, and her feeling bad had suddenly become equivalent to him having bad feelings of his own. That was a little disconcerting to him, since his sisters were the only women he’d ever really felt that protective pull toward.
“I don’t really care what people think of me, Cara,” he told her at last.
“You can afford not to. I can’t. I don’t have millions to fall back on. My reputation is all I have.”
“This won’t affect your job, I promise,” he said.
“Maybe I won’t lose it because of this, but if it gets out that first photo was me and everyone assumes that the video is me…it will affect my credibility. Women already walk a tightrope on the Street, you know that. I didn’t intend to remain a financial analyst at a small firm forever. This could definitely get in the way of my moving up in my career.”
“I’m going to protect you on this, Cara. Trust me, okay?”
She didn’t say okay, she just thanked him weakly and ended the call.
He hung up with an overwhelming desire to go to her, put his arms around her, and chase all her fears away. He was smart enough to know that would probably only make things worse, so he stayed put, racking his brains over who would want to damage his reputation and harm Cara’s at the same time.
Chapter 9
The next morning, the first thing Cara noticed when she headed to her office at D&M was Gaunt was in the bullpen, leaning over Jackson Riley and jabbing a meaty finger at the computer screen as Jackson nodded seriously. Cara felt herself go pale. She squinted, trying to see what was on the display, then figured it couldn’t be her if those two looked so businesslike. She scuttled past the spot where the office manager would see her if he turned, finally reaching the relative safety of her office.
Coat off, purse stashed, she did a home-run dash to her swivel chair and touched a key, dreading what would pop up in her email. Thankfully, there were no further booby traps waiting for her.
She got busy. Really busy. After seeing the video and talking to Branden yet again, which didn’t help her get him off her mind, Excel spreadsheets had never looked so good. She had to keep calm. Had to keep her focus on work. Routine was what she needed to stop the roller coaster of emotions that she had been riding since the night she’d locked lips with Wall Street’s Most