I pouted. “Can’t we disappear off to your office for a bit?” A thought struck me. “Ooh! Or what about the company gym? We could shut ourselves away in one of the showers.”
Devon laughed again, but gently extricated himself from my arms. “Rebecca, I’d love to. You know I would. But the email about our engagement’s gone out to the whole company. The minute we walk out of that door, we’re going to be inundated with well-wishers wanting to congratulate us.”
“Well-wishers or sycophants?” I couldn’t help but feel annoyed at Devon’s sudden reluctance to get naked. Up until now, he couldn’t keep his hands off me. The second he asked me to marry him, it seemed as though our relationship was suddenly public property and we had to observe all these rules about social niceties, half of which I didn’t understand anyway. Who cared if someone from work realized we’d been fucking? We were engaged! Of course we wanted to fuck! It wasn’t exactly groundbreaking news.
“Bit of both. Either way, once we leave this room, we can forget about any notion of privacy for a while, which is why I got my secretary to arrange brunch right here. Unless you’ve decided you’ve had enough of me and you want to leave already?”
He crossed over, picked up a pastry, and waved it temptingly in my face.
I rolled my eyes, but obediently opened my mouth, so he could feed it to me. It was no substitute for Devon’s cock, but I had to admit that it did taste good.
“Tell you what. Why don’t we go away this weekend? I’ll book the family plane so no one will know where we’re going, and then we can spend the whole weekend in bed.”
“That sounds like a plan.” Okay, so it was a few days away, but a weekend out of New York would be awesome. We might have only just gotten back from Mexico, but that already felt like a lifetime ago.
“Great! Where would you like to go?”
“Surprise me.”
From the look on Devon’s face, I knew that he was going to do just that.
Seven
“You could have told me.”
I walked into my office and was caught up short by Rick leaning against my desk, waiting for me.
“Told you about what?”
“Don’t play the innocent with me, Becky.” He stalked over and shut the door behind me, standing in my way so I couldn’t get out of the room.
“I’ve told you—”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. Don’t call you Becky. Well, I’ve got news for you, Becks. You were mine first and you’ll always be Becky. You’ll never be able to get away from the fact that I knew you long before Devon appeared. That I know every inch of that luscious body, that I know just what to do to make… you… squeak.” He ran his hand up the inside of my thigh, pulling his hand away just before I swatted him, laughing at the look of disgust on my face.
“Back off, Rick, or I’ll slap you with a lawsuit faster than you can say sexual harassment.”
Rick raised an eyebrow. “Are you so sure about that, Becky?”
“Yeah, I really am. I want you out of my office now or I’ll be right on the phone to HR.”
“Be my guest. In fact, I’ll dial the number for you.” Rick crossed over and picked up the handset. “What’s the extension again?”
I folded my arms. “What kind of game are you playing, Rick?”
“Game?” He chuckled, putting the phone down again. “This isn’t a game, Becky. Although I suppose that you might think it is. After all, you’ve really played me.”
“What the hell are you talking about, Rick? I’m getting really tired of this. Just cut to the chase and tell me what you want or get out.”
“Isn’t it obvious, Becky?” He moved round, standing so close to me that when he spoke, I could feel his breath against my lips. “I want you.”
“You had your chance, Rick.” I pushed him away. “You blew it. Deal. Go out and find yourself a nice secretary. I’ve heard the girls talk. You could have your pick of women. You don’t need to chase after me.”
“Ah, but none of them are quite as interesting as you.” Rick curled a strand of my hair around his finger.
I shook my head violently, forcing him to let go, but nothing could wipe the smirk off his face.
“We tried, we failed. End of story.”
“But it’s not, is it?”
“What do you mean?” There was a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I knew exactly what he was talking about.
“Well, it wasn’t all that long ago that you were more than happy to come back to me because lover boy wasn’t everything you thought he was. Be honest with yourself. He doesn’t make you feel the way I do. If he did, you wouldn’t have been so keen to come back into my bed.”
I flushed. “That was a mistake, Rick. You caught me at a moment of weakness and took advantage of me.”
“I didn’t see anyone holding a gun to your head.”
I sighed and shook my head. “What do you want, Rick?”
“You. I want you to call off this charade of an engagement and come back where you belong. With me.”
“Never in a million years.”
“You might want to rethink your answer, Becky.” I knew from past experience that when he spoke to me like that, it was never a good sign, but I didn’t care. I’d divorced him for good reason, and those reasons were still there.
“Rick, you could ask me a million times to come back to you and my answer would still be no. Accept that.”
Rick’s eyes narrowed as he thought for a moment. “All right, then. If that’s how you want it, that’s how we’ll play it. But don’t say that I didn’t give you every chance to avoid this.”
“Avoid what?”
Rick turned and stormed out of my office.
“Avoid what, Rick?”
“What was that all about?” Sierra, another one of the lawyers from my team, was standing in the doorway.
“Oh, nothing.” I rolled my eyes, not wanting to spend another minute worrying about my dumb ex. “You know Rick. Always likes to be the center of drama.”
“That’d be about right.” Sierra laughed. “Did you hear about him and Phoebe?”
“No. What happened?”
“A group of us went out for drinks the other week and they got together. Phoebe couldn’t wait to tell all of us that they were an item—only when Rick showed up at work, he claimed that nothing had happened. Poor Phoebe was devastated, but Rick just laughed it off.”
I frowned. “Why didn’t I hear about this?”
Sierra shrugged. “I guess we all felt that Phoebe had been humiliated enough. I mean, would you want your boss to know that you’d slept with such a douchebag?”
“No, I guess not.” Sierra had no idea how appropriate her words were.
“Still, it hasn’t stopped some of the other women throwing themselves at him. I guess everyone wants to be the one who tames him.”
“Good luck with that. Some people never change, and in all the time I’ve known him, Rick’s always stayed true to form.”
“Oh yes. You’ve known Rick for years, haven’t you?”
“Yeah.” Instinctively, my defenses were up. Although Devon knew that I used to be married to Rick, I’d kept that information on a need-to-know basis, and to the best of my knowledge, few people knew about my doomed first marriage. Still, I never knew what Rick had said to anyone, and I was always on the alert for people fishing for information about my past.
“What was he like at college? Was he just as much of a ladies’ man then?”
“Worse.” Rick’s constant screwing around was the main reason we’d divorced.
Sierra laughed. “That sounds about right. Anyway, I just wanted to pop in to say congratulations on your engagement. You and Devon make a beautiful couple, and I know you’ll be very happy together. What do you say to drinks after work to celebrate? I’m not the only one who wants to wish you well.”
“I don’t know. I’ll have to check with Devon.”
“Okay, well, we’re going to be down at
Salieri’s after work, so if you want to join us, we’ll raise a glass to you and Devon. You’ve done what so many of us wanted to do—you got Devon Caesar. What’s your secret?”
I shrugged, not entirely sure of Sierra’s motives. “You can’t make someone fall in love with you. I guess I’m just the right woman for him.”
“Well, lucky you.” Sierra grinned. “I wish I had a fiancé who could afford to whisk me around the world at a moment’s notice. If you do figure out what it is that won you a millionaire fiancé, let me in on it, okay? You certainly know how to dress the part—that short skirt is fabulous.”
I didn’t like her tone, but I wasn’t going to call her on it and risk giving her something to gossip about. “If that’s all, Sierra, I’ve got work to be getting on with—and I’m sure you do, too.”
“Sure. See you at Salieri’s.”
She wiggled her fingers at me to wave goodbye, and I knew that there was no way I was going to be meeting her for drinks anytime soon.
Eight
“Rebecca? Grayson Caesar wants to see you in his office.” My secretary’s voice came through the intercom.
“Okay, I’ll just finish up with these case files and go up.”
“He was quite insistent that you go see him immediately.”
I sighed and put the files to one side. “All right. What Grayson wants, Grayson gets.”
As I made my way to the elevator, people kept stopping me to congratulate me on my engagement, so it took me a lot longer to get upstairs than it should have. I found myself biting my nails with nerves as the elevator sped up, knowing how much Grayson hated delays. I had to force myself to put my hand down so I didn’t wreck my new manicure.
“Mr. Caesar said to tell you to go straight in.” His secretary smiled reassuringly and indicated the door. For a moment, I thought that Grayson wanted to discuss something to do with the press conference, but when I opened the door to his office, I knew that things were about to go horribly wrong.
“Hey, Becky.” Rick swiveled in his chair to grin at me. I never hated anyone as much as I hated him in that moment.
“Ms. Bevan. Please. Take a seat.”
Uh-oh. I was relegated to “Ms. Bevan.” This did not bode well.
“Rick. Why don’t you tell Ms. Bevan what you just told me?”
“Of course, Grayson.” Rick looked at me with a grave expression. Anyone who didn’t know him as well as I did would think he was being serious, but I could tell from the twinkle in his eye that he was getting off on this. “I had no idea that you and Devon were exclusive. If I did, then obviously, there’s no way that I would have done what I did.”
“Cut to the chase, Rick.” It probably wasn’t the most professional way of reacting, especially in front of Grayson, but Rick always did know how to push my buttons.
“Do you really want me to say it again in front of Grayson?”
I paled. “Say what?” I could barely get the words out.
“I don’t think we need to hear of your infidelities again, Ms. Bevan.” I didn’t think I’d ever be glad to have Grayson come to my rescue, but it was small comfort.
I dropped my gaze. Suddenly my hands in my lap became utterly fascinating.
“I’ve told Grayson how much I regret what happened between us.”
“And I’ve accepted his apology. However, he is not the one engaged to my son, and regardless of circumstance, Rick is a free agent. The same cannot be said of you, Ms. Bevan.”
“No.” I was a hotshot lawyer, with a hundred-percent track record of winning my cases, but even I knew when I was beat. There would be no loophole to exploit, no way to persuade Grayson that I’d had even the slightest justification for cheating on Devon.
“Of course, you must realize that it is absolutely impossible for you to marry my son now.”
“What?” I almost leaped out of my seat. “Of course it’s not. Devon and I love each other. We’re going to spend the rest of our lives together. What happened with Rick was a terrible mistake, one which I regret every day. But I’m not going to let that spoil my one chance at happiness. I promise you, Grayson, that I’m going to spend every moment of every day trying to make Devon as happy as he makes me. You have to believe me.”
“I’m afraid that your promises are worthless to me. I never approved of your relationship with my son, but as long as you made him happy, I was willing to overlook the overwhelming possibility that you were simply after his money. However, this new revelation makes it impossible for me to countenance your marriage. No, I’m afraid that you’re going to have to call the engagement off with immediate effect.”
“I’m not going to do that.”
“You don’t have a choice in the matter.” Grayson glared at me. “Now, Ms. Bevan, I’m willing to concede that you are one of the finest lawyers that I’ve ever encountered, so I would hate to lose your expertise from our firm, but I’m afraid there is simply no way you can remain in this office.”
“Grayson. Mr. Caesar—”
He held up a hand to silence me. “Should you persist in your engagement to Devon, not only will your employment with Caesar and Krause be terminated, I will make sure that news of your… character will be spread all over the society pages. Your career will be destroyed and so will your reputation. Do you really think that Devon will stay with you after that?”
Tears threatened to fall as I gaped at him.
“If you love my son as much as you say you do, then you’ll agree that the best thing for you to do is to get as far away from him as possible. Let him move on. And if you agree to call off this farce of an engagement, I am willing to offer you a transfer to our Boston office. Not only that, you will be promoted, giving you a shot at partnership at the next available opportunity, an offer I’m sure you will agree is more than generous.
“Rick here has agreed to sign a confidentiality agreement, meaning that no word of your indiscretion ever needs to leave these walls. It is entirely up to you what you tell Devon. He need never know what you’ve done. But I want you on the red eye to Boston tonight. Do we have an agreement?”
Miserably, I looked from Grayson to Rick and back again. “We do.”
“Good. That’s settled. I’ll be consulting with our PR department on the best way to handle this debacle. Clearly there will be some speculation as to why the engagement has been called off so soon. It is probably in all our interests to postpone the announcement for a while so that it doesn’t look too suspicious. We can then issue a generic statement to the effect that things haven’t worked out and Devon will be free to find someone better suited to him. Someone who understands the importance of being faithful.”
He stared at me, and I couldn’t meet his gaze.
“Rick, we’ll talk more later about your taking over from Ms. Bevan. In the meantime, I thank you for your candor.”
“Of course.” Rick got up and left, and I knew that he was delighted at having gotten his revenge on me.
“Ms. Bevan. I suggest you head straight home and pack. I’ll arrange for tickets.”
I nodded and stood up.
“You may not believe me, but I am sorry that it’s come to this.”
I stopped on the way to the door. He was right. I didn’t believe him. I knew how much he hated the idea of me being his daughter-in-law.
“You made Devon smile like no one else. But you must understand that I simply cannot allow you to continue to lie to him.”
“I understand. Can I at least say goodbye to Devon before I go?”
“I think it’s best if you don’t. You can call him from Boston. It’s up to you how you choose to explain to him why you’ve had to leave.”
I left his office as quickly as possible, not wanting Grayson to see me cry.
Nine
I could barely see what I was packing through the tears in my eyes. I threw clothes into my case, not caring whether they were folded neatly. Devon was my whole world, and I was leaving him behind. Compared to that, I coul
dn’t care less if I forgot some of my things.
I picked up the photo of the two of us from beside the bed. It was my favorite picture of us together. We’d gone down to Morro de Sao Paulo in Brazil, and from the moment we arrived, it was as though we were in another world. We had the beach to ourselves, and the water was so clear that you could see the beautiful fish from miles away.
In the photo, Devon was lifting me out of the water and we were both smiling as we held each other. You could see how much we loved each other just by looking at the picture, and I’d already been wondering whether Devon would take me back there for our honeymoon. It was a very special place for us.
Now I didn’t think I’d ever go back there again.
I put the photo back where it was. If I took it with me, Devon might think that I still cared about him. Of course, I did, but if I was going to comply with Grayson’s orders, I had to make him think that I’d just changed my mind. It would kill him to know that I’d slept with Rick. It was going to hurt him enough knowing that we’d broken up. I didn’t want to hurt him any more by telling him that I’d cheated.
Looking around at the bedroom that had seen us make love so many times, I couldn’t believe that I’d never see it again. I picked up my cases and struggled over to the front door. Glancing around at my apartment one last time, I tried to commit every detail to memory so I wouldn’t forget anything. Devon was The One. It wouldn’t matter how many men I dated after this. Nobody would ever come close to him.
I opened the front door to go, and jumped when I saw Devon about to put his key in the lock.
“Devon! What are you doing home so early?”
“I could ask you the same question.” He pulled me to him and kissed me. I melted into his arms, holding him tightly. I never wanted to let him go.
The feel of him against me provoked a storm of tears. I pushed him away and turned my back on him, not wanting him to see me like this.
“Hey, Rebecca. What’s wrong?” He noticed my suitcases for the first time. “Are you going somewhere? I didn’t know you had any business trips planned.”
The Red Eye 3 (The Red Eye Erotic Romance Series) Page 4