know about the meals and cab rides where he picks up the check. I know about all the planning-for-tomorrow IG posts with photos of homes that only someone in our income bracket could afford. You’re good, I’ll give you that—it’s never too over-the-top. It’s as subtle as the way you always point out that the expensive outfits in the storefronts near the rugby field are gorgeous but that you’ll never be able to afford them without winning the lottery—or marrying a millionaire. I doubt Web has even noticed the way you’re working the long con and planting these little ideas. Plus, if you can’t get your money by marrying into it, you can use Web’s money to climb the corporate ladder. I suppose you look at him and see the perfect mark.”
What. The. Ever-loving. Hell.
“Are you deranged? I talk to Web about working with the Holt Foundation because I’m damn good at my job. As far as the rest of that bullshit goes, I’m not even going to justify that kind of ridiculousness with a response, beyond that as far as climbing the ladder, I’d need a job for that. Remember, you kicked the good ol’ corporate ladder out from underneath me in that coat closet. Or wait! I suppose what happened at the fundraiser was part of my master plan?” If it were, she truly sucked at being a gold digger. Almost banging her target’s brother would be a seriously shitty ploy.
“How can I know what goes on in your mind?” Will shrugged. “Maybe you’ve decided to switch targets.”
“You seem to think you know a lot about my motives.” Of course he did. He’d always been like this with her—a judgmental asshat. She squeezed the steering wheel tighter as she punched back the urge to holler in frustration. “Knowing me, I probably finagled it so that the meanest woman on the charity circuit walked in on us at the very worst moment.”
She blushed at the memory of her hands reaching for his zipper. His hands going up underneath the hem of her dress. Everything hot and sudden and beyond want into gotta-have-you-or-I’ll-explode territory. Hot annoyance and slick desire mixed together in an instant, making it hard to figure out if she should pull over the car to yell at him or finish what they started in that closet.
“Maybe you were hedging your bets,” he said, no longer even looking her way but instead at the cornfields as they sped past.
“More like the three sips of champagne I’d had on an empty stomach—unless you counted a couple of canapés—had affected my usually very good judgment.” Her cheeks burned at the memory of the door opening, light flooding in, and the cruel disdain on Mia Cardin’s face. “Then, like a virgin in a slasher movie, I paid for my momentary lapse in judgment when we walked out with everyone watching, thanks to an early alert from Mia. Amazing forethought on my part to ensure you were still tucking in your shirt at that moment so no one would be left doubting what had happened in the coat closet and, thus, furthering my evil plan.”
“I tried to fix that,” he said, almost sounding like he meant it.
“Is that what you call it?” She let out a harsh chuckle to cover the hurt that cracked like a whip against her skin. “You told my boss that the whole situation was being blown out of proportion. Any fool, and I quote, would know that a guy like you with your social status would never actually be with some poor chick who’d moved to Harbor City with everything she owned packed into three suitcases. Then you laughed.” The memory of that humiliation burned like lava through her veins. “And everyone else laughed.”
“That’s not exactly what I said.”
“Close enough.”
She swerved with a hard jerk of the steering wheel to avoid a pothole, and Will let out something that sounded like a mix between a miserable groan and a curse before clenching his jaw tight enough that she was surprised it wasn’t followed by a tooth cracking. Despite knowing that he was the last person in the world who deserved any sympathy, it slid in between the cracks of her protective shielding anyway.
“Okay, cut the crap,” she said. “You’re carsick, aren’t you?”
“As long as I keep my eyes on the horizon, I’ll be fine,” he said through clenched teeth.
“Okay. Whatever.” If that’s how he wanted to handle motion sickness, he could. See if she cared.
That, of course,