The VIP Room(52)

“Of course. Right away.”

Mr. Kemp sped off into one of the nearby offices, too eager to please Tristan that he hadn’t even asked why he didn’t use the phone that was perched on the conference room table.

Painfully aware that I was now alone with him, I also realized that I didn’t want him to know it. He’d seen me at a pretty low point on Saturday night. This was my professional life, what I prided myself on, where I was successful. I wouldn’t let him get the best of me now.

Unflinchingly, I looked up at him. “Is there something you forgot to tell me, Mr. Blackwell?” My voice was like ice, completely detached, but I would’ve been hard pressed to keep the mocking lilt out of my tone. I mentally applauded myself.

A quirk of his lips. “You can call me Tristan.”

“I’d rather not.”

He stared down at me, probably attempting to use the intimidation techniques he undoubtedly used in the board room. “I hope this situation we’ve found ourselves in won’t become a serious problem, Ms. Travis.”

My lips tightened at the slight threat in his tone. “I don’t think I have any idea what you’re talking about, Mr. Blackwell.”

A grin appeared, the same one he’d used on me at Valoir. “Is that the game you’d like to play then?”

“Oh, there’s no game. But whatever you’re referring to must’ve not been too memorable. Because I seem to have forgotten it entirely.”

Bam! Take that. I smiled inwardly.

Tristan’s eyes narrowed and he took a step closer until I could feel the heat coming off his body. “Want me to refresh your memory then, Noelle?”

I narrowly suppressed a shiver, even as a smile of victory appeared on my features. I’d just tugged on the tiger’s tail and hit a sore spot. He hadn’t liked that little dig. “It would be a wasted effort, I’m afraid.” I heard Mr. Kemp talking on the phone down the hall. I didn’t have much time before he returned and I needed to make something very clear. Lowering my voice, I said, “Look, I’m more than willing to forget all about what happened. As far as I’m concerned, this is the first time I’ve ever met you. I think it’s in both of our best interests, don’t you think?”

He studied me for what seemed like hours. And then, with an almost lazy smile, he said, “I haven’t decided yet.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked with a furrowed brow.

“I haven’t decided yet if I want to forget. In fact, I just might want the opposite.”

Speechless, I stared up at him. The tone of his voice implied…implied…

Jesus, was he saying he wanted to sleep with me again?

He was crazy if he thought I’d do that. It was a mistake the first time. Now that I knew what an utter * he was, there was no way I’d let him get that close to me again! I would never risk my job now that he was a client, even for amazing sex. He had to know that.

Mr. Kemp appeared at Tristan’s elbow. “Brian said he will be right up.”

“Thanks, Rob,” he said, never taking his eyes off me. “Pleasure to meet you, Ms. Travis. I’m sure we’ll get to know one another very well.”

With that, Tristan turned. I watched as he disappeared inside the conference room once more.

As I watched the door close behind him, one thing became very clear to me.

I was in trouble.





Chapter 8





“You’re joking,” Larene stated, very matter-of-factly as though the sky was blue or Chris Hemsworth was one handsome devil.

“I wish I wasn’t,” I said softly.

It was only six o’clock in the evening, but the autumn sun had already set an hour before. Larene had come over to my house right after she got off work once I’d placed an emergency call to her.

“You slept with Tristan Blackwell? I thought he looked familiar!”

My face burned bright with embarrassment. I’d told her on Sunday morning all about my night with him, including all the cringe-worthy bits. What Larene was really asking was: Tristan Blackwell kicked you out after you slept with him?!

I didn’t need to remember his words, or how pathetic I probably looked on the marble floor of his penthouse, naked and hurt. Just thinking about it made me furious. How could he treat a person like that? Even if he hadn’t wanted me to stay over, couldn’t there have been a more tactful way of asking me to leave? Or at least waiting five whole minutes before kicking me out?

I took another giant bite of ice cream before answering her. “That doesn’t matter right now. What matters is that Annie can never find out, at least for the next month.”

“How are you gonna pull that off?”

“I don’t think it’ll be that hard,” I said, staring down into my pint of rocky road. “I’ll hardly ever see him, except when we’re designing his office. And even if we happen to run into each other, we’ve both agreed to forget all about Saturday night.”

“That doesn’t sound like what he said, Noelle,” Larene reminded me, her lips downturned.

“He was just messing with my head.” My hands shook around my spoon. “If this got out, it’s bad for his image at the company, don’t you think?”