Mister Moneybags(29)

Fuck. While I’d figured it out based on her text to Jay, she never did say the third party was a male. I’d been so messed up about this, I’d forgotten that she never actually specified.

It had finally happened. I’d f*cked up.

“You slipped, Dex.”

Dex?

Did she just say my name, or have I finally lost my mind enough to start hearing things?

“What did you call me?”

“Dex…as in Dexter Truitt.”

She knows?

She knows.

This was a trap.

My heart was beating out of control. “How long have you known it was me?”

Her eyes were glistening. “Does it matter?”

“I need to know how long you’ve been—”

“Tricking you?” she yelled. “How does it feel, Dexter?” she shouted even louder. “How does it feel to be manipulated?”

Suddenly, I realized all eyes in the lobby were on us.

“Oh, we have an audience, Dex!” Holding out her hand, she cried, “The famous Dexter Truitt everyone! Multi-millionaire CEO of Montague Enterprises. He just showed up for a threesome with me and another man. Feel free to take photos. They’ll land you some good money.”

Thankfully, no one seemed to give a shit.

“Stop, Bianca.”

“You want me to stop? Are you afraid everyone will know what a liar you are?”

Feeling like I had no other choice, I took her by the waist and lifted her up over my shoulder.

She wiggled her legs. “What are you doing?”

“You’re not letting me get a word in edgewise. We need to go somewhere and talk in private.”

“Put me down!”

“Did you really book a room?” I asked.

“No, I didn’t get a room. I’m not really a whore—unlike you who agreed to a threesome with my ‘friend.’”

“Make no mistake, I had no intention of sharing you, Bianca. Not with a woman. Not with a man. Not with anyone.”

Still holding her over my shoulder, I arrived at the front desk. “We need a room, please.”

“Oh, no, we don’t!”

The receptionist awkwardly asked, “Two beds or one?”

“One, please.”

“Excuse me?” Bianca asked.

“We’re not using it, Bianca. We just need a place to talk.”

“I’m not going to your room.”

“You’ll go, or the article isn’t happening.”

“Too late. The interview is finished.”

“I’ll renege my permission to publish it. I’ll sue the magazine. Better yet, I’ll buy the magazine.” When the woman at the desk handed me the key card, I nodded. “Thank you.”

I carried her to the elevator and put her down only after the doors closed. Pinning her against the wall, I said, “I’m not letting you go tonight until you hear me out. Do I need to carry you out of here, or are you going to walk with me?”





The hotel room door latched shut. With my back against it, I crossed my arms protectively over my chest. You could’ve heard a pin drop.

Dex sat on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands, then raked his fingers through his hair. Even as I stood there filled with anger, I wished it were me running my fingers through his mane. When he looked up at me, there wasn’t an ounce of amusement in his piercing blue eyes. They displayed a seriousness that I’d never seen from him before. Well, from Jay.

“How did you find out?” he finally asked.

“I don’t need to divulge that to you.”

“Fair enough.” Dex let out a deep breath. “You need to know that I always planned to tell you, Bianca. Always.”

“Then why lie to me in the first place?” My voice cracked. “I’ve tried to figure it out but I just can’t. It couldn’t have been to sleep with me, because you passed that up. So, why? Just to screw with my head?”

“No!” His complexion turned an angry shade of red. “Fuck…no, Bianca.”

“Then why?”

“It was as simple as just wanting to experience getting to know you without the preconceived notions you had about me. You made it very clear what you thought about ‘Mister Moneybags’ in that elevator. It was a split-second decision that I truly regret. A stupid lie.”

“Stupid lie? You pretended to be someone else, Dex. There’s really no bigger lie in this world than falsifying who you are.”

“Every second of our interview, you were with the real me.”

“And I preferred you, Dex. I preferred those intimate moments chatting with the real you more than anything. You ruined what could have been a good thing by bringing this alter ego into it.”

“I had no way of knowing that you and I would connect so well. You seemed very closed-minded in that elevator. At the time, I didn’t see how I could break through that.”

“Well, I didn’t know I was talking shit to your face. I might not have been so blunt.”

“And that’s why the whole thing was very telling. Those were your true feelings—at the time.” Dex stood up and approached me. “Look…there is no real excuse to justify what I did. I don’t even expect forgiveness. Blame me forever for it. But do it to my face. Be with me. Yell at me. Scream at me. Be angry with me…but be with me.”