Cheater (Curious Liaisons, #1)(8)

“Oh, well, it’s Bring Your Daughter to Work Day.” I winked. “You know, Daddy’s so proud and all.”

“Oh, this makes so sense!” I think she meant to say “so much sense,” but her English wasn’t that great. Alrighty then, moving on. “I need to see Lucas Thorn.”

The way she said his name made me want to throw my coffee in her face. She was dreamy and seductive, everything I wasn’t, not that I could even try to compare myself to someone like her.

“Who should I say is asking?”

“One of his girls.” Of course, now she would wink—it was a condescending wink, one that made my hands twitch. “He’ll let me right in.”

Alarm bells went off in my head as my stomach clenched. “One of his girls,” huh? Sharon? Sharie? The pregnant lady had warned me, but I was afraid to ask for details—and now I was too curious for my own good. With shaking hands, I picked up the phone just in time to see Lucas stroll out of his office, give the woman a smirk, and hold out his hand.

“Lucas Thorn.” She said his full name. Again. Like he wasn’t aware he had a last and a first. “You’re looking good.”

“So are you, gorgeous.” He winked. “Shall we?” He led her into his office and then, much to my dismay, closed the blinds and shut the door.

Well, that’s completely not helpful.

I tapped my pen against the desk while I waited for them to finish. Ten minutes later . . . and nothing.

Though I did see movement—not enough to know what was going on but enough to be even more curious about why the door needed to be shut.

After thirty minutes I’d come up with at least ten different scenarios. Maybe she was from a school in a foreign country? Maybe the kids there needed help reading too! Maybe he was saving children! Or maybe he was a self-serving man whore who was taking advantage of her like he’d done to my family.

Forty-five minutes, they were still in his office.

Should I send in a search party? I wondered.

He did have a meeting that I’d forgotten to tell him about in like fifteen minutes, so did it make sense for me to knock? Call?

Just when I stood, the door to his office opened. His shirt was torn open, its buttons basically hanging by their threads as the woman dabbed her lips with her hand and again winked at me. Her makeup was spread across her cheeks, and her beautiful hair was a complete mess. My mouth dropped open when she limped—yes, limped—to the elevator and then turned to blow him a kiss. “Until next Friday, Lucas Thorn.” She pulled out a compact and began fixing her face.

“I’ll put you down for every Friday.”

“Thank you.” She grinned. The snap of the compact shutting closed made me jump in my seat. “For allowing me to take the open position.”

“You proved your worth!” he called back. His smile was so shameless, I didn’t know what to do—with my body or with my hands.

The elevator doors closed.

I was still staring at them when Lucas whispered over my shoulder, “You gonna be okay?”

I jerked away from him. He smelled like perfume. Lipstick and bite marks marred the golden skin around his neck. I wanted to cry.

And I had no right to be upset.

He wasn’t my problem.

Or my boyfriend.

He wasn’t anything but my boss.

But the lipstick hurt—just like the bite marks did and the scent of another woman, a woman who wasn’t my sister or, if I was being really honest, me.

Any girl would have crushed on him.

Hero worship sucked—he’d fallen so far.

And now? What? Quickies in his office?

“Good meeting?” I licked my lips, sat down, and tried to look busy by stacking papers that I’d already reviewed.

“Great.” He patted my back. “I should probably go over my other schedule with you when we have time.” He paused as if he was reading his own schedule over my shoulder. “But it looks like you forgot to tell me about a meeting, so I’m just going to go change shirts, and we’ll continue this discussion later.”

“Looking forward to it,” I said through clenched teeth.

“You blush when you lie,” he called over his shoulder. “Also, those papers are upside down.” Then he shut the door to his office.

And I blew out a frustrated huff of air. Bastard.





Chapter Five


LUCAS

After my real meeting, I had a few hours to kill and managed to get ahead of schedule for the following week. By the time five o’clock that evening rolled around, I was ready to shut down and leave earlier than normal.

Avery was still at her desk, staring at the computer in awe like she’d never seen one before.

Thank God I’d been smart enough to call Nadia and release the pent-up tension that had still somehow crept back into my shoulders.

She had been a welcome distraction.

Someone who knew exactly what I needed the minute I closed the blinds.

And for some reason, with a completely available and gorgeous woman sucking me off in my office—I’d felt guilty.

Guilty because Avery was a few feet away.

Guilty because I blamed her for so many things.

I freaking hated guilt.

Hated it.

Which meant, by extension, that I hated her.