“I’ve already told you I have no intention of telling anyone.”
“Good.” He grabbed my hand and wrapped it around his arm. “Make sure it stays that way.”
Bitterness reared its ugly head. “From the man who says he wants to date me.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means there’s no point in dating someone you don’t trust.”
“I trust you,” he said. Taking in my disbelief, he wrapped his hand over mine, his expression softening. “Nadia, I trust you. That was… that was a stupid thing to say to you. I… I’m uncomfortable with the fact that Caine doesn’t know that you know. I apologize.”
And there he went, switching to the gentleman. You would think I’d relax but his ability to be these two different people unsettled me. Reluctantly, I muttered, “Accepted.”
His eyes swept over my face, his features tightening. “Do you know how much I want you?”
“You’ve mentioned it once or twice.” I turned away, not quite ready to return to that flirty place with him.
“I said I was sorry.”
“I know.” I eyed him now, trying to work this man out. I knew people were complicated—we all had good and bad in us. I couldn’t work out how much of Henry was a good guy, and it bothered me more than it should considering I was only supposed to have sex with him once and be done with him.
“Then what’s the problem?”
“No problem.” I bit my lip as we studied each other. His unrelenting gaze made me sigh. “Okay… You’re so unbelievably charming.”
“That’s a problem?”
“I bet nearly all the people in this room would be shocked to their core to learn that you have a side capable of pinning a man to wall, threatening violence, and getting him fired less than twenty-four hours later.”
Understanding lightened his eyes. “And you’d be right.” He shot me a wry smirk. He glanced around the room and turned back to me. “Caine and I get things done. But we choose a different path to the same destination. He comes off cold, he’s intense, sometimes ruthless, and people fear him to the point where they don’t want to piss him off—they want to be his ally. I, on the other hand, am all lightheartedness and effortless charm. People see a blueblood who got where he is because of his father. Most of them don’t take me seriously.” He grinned and it was hard and wolfish. “They underestimate me to their own detriment.”
His words caused me no small measure of uneasiness. They were in fact a reminder that Henry Lexington was a complicated man with more than one face. He could charm me effortlessly and then rip my heart out the next day. “Well, don’t worry, Mr. Lexington. I for one won’t underestimate you.”
He immediately frowned and stepped into my personal space, crowding me. Henry searched my eyes, his expression unhappy. “You say that like you expect me to hurt you. I won’t. I won’t hurt you, Nadia.”
I gave him a cool smile. “No, you won’t.”
Determination hardened his eyes. “This is happening between us and it’s real.”
I traced my finger down the lapel of his tuxedo and made a snake over his heart. “All that’s going to happen between you and me is this… you’ll take me home, I’ll invite you into my apartment, and then I’ll invite you inside me. We’ll have fun. You’ll leave. And I won’t see you again. Understood?”
Desire darkened his eyes as they fell to my lips. “I see we’re doing this the hard way.”
“I hope so.”
He grinned at my innuendo. “Fuck, I like you.”
“Henry, good to see you.” We were suddenly interrupted by an older couple.
The smoldering in Henry’s eyes disappeared as he turned to them and slipped easily into the charmer these people knew and loved.
For the most part the people Henry introduced me to were friendly and inquisitive about my job, some of them knowing a lot more about meteorology broadcasting than I expected. But of course, we were surrounded by wealthy business people, smart people, and as much as some of them underestimated me, I’d probably underestimated and prejudged them too.
To my discomfort, I’d also underestimated Henry’s flirtatious nature. Old, young, somewhere in between, if it was female, Henry went out of his way to make her feel like she was special. I don’t think he even knew he did it—it was a natural part of who he was.
And as I watched him, I began to doubt every moment we’d spent together over the last week. Because the truth was, as much as I hated to admit it, Henry had made me feel special, interesting, intriguing, wanted. But he made every woman feel like that. It was a nice quality to have… but not exactly one that gave me much faith in his so-called feelings for me.
We were talking to an elderly couple, Mr. and Mrs. Winston, when a petite beauty with masses of dark curls and huge dark eyes approached. She’d eyed me with distaste and then was overly fake friendly when Henry introduced us. She then insisted he come with her to sort out an argument with some person whose name escaped me. Despite what I thought was her obvious cattiness, Henry went, leaving me for the first time. I think he felt okay to do so because I was explaining my job to Mrs. Winston who seemed genuinely fascinated.
Five minutes later, he still hadn’t returned and Mr. and Mrs. Winston had been distracted by an acquaintance.
I stood on the outskirts of the room, alone, confused, and wishing to God that I was home in my apartment watching a good movie.
“You look like you need this.” Alexa approached on her own and offered me a glass of champagne.
Gratitude swept over me in such magnitude, I almost felt teary. I was miserable. I didn’t know if I was miserable being at the party, or if I was miserable because of Henry, or how Henry made me feel. I didn’t know. I was a mess.
I hid that mess behind a grateful smile. “Thank you. Henry was pulled away by some catty society girl and there really was no polite way for him to get out of it.” I don’t know why I said that. Maybe because I had hoped that’s why he’d left me on my own. I almost flinched at how needy I was being. This so was not me.
“Henry’s a catch around these parts.” Alexa smiled sympathetically. “The women who have grown up in his circle think of him as theirs.”
“I’m getting that.” They can have him! I thought bravely, hoping that if I told myself I felt nothing for him, the feeling might actually take hold.
“Honestly, I think they bore him.” She seemed to want to reassure me.
“Well, I’m from Beacon Falls, Connecticut, which is a slightly different crowd of people. Definitely not boring.” Nope. Boring we were not. Or at least… I wasn’t boring. Not that my kind of boring was a good thing. I didn’t want Henry to know how not boring I could be. The thought left a bitter taste in my mouth.
“I’m from Chester,” Alexa exclaimed.
Unease pricked at me and I covered it with a chuckle. “No way. We grew up, like, what? An hour from one another?”
“It’s a small world.”
Yes, it was. Hopefully not too small for her to have heard anything about me. I shrugged off that concern, knowing even if she did know the story, it would have a different name attached to it.