Crush(78)

“You’re a hacker,” he said with a grin.

I snatched air into my lungs. I realized that I’d been holding my breath. “No, not really. After Clementine’s name didn’t work I tried her birthday. Sorry about that, but I was desperate to catch an auction before it ended.”

He gave me a casual shrug. “It’s fine. In fact, I came home hoping you’d still be here.”

I pushed the chair back and felt the sweat on my palms as my hands slid down the wooden arms. “You just caught me. I was getting ready to leave.”

Michael strode into the room looking effortlessly powerful and set the flowers on his desk.

I stood, my heart fluttering like a bird in a cage. “Here, take your seat.”

His grin seemed to widen as he approached me.

Willing my nervous trembling to stop, I circled the desk in the opposite direction. “What did you need?” My tone was eerily calm considering he’d just caught me at his computer and could very easily discover what I said I had been doing was a lie.

“Sit,” he commanded.

I bristled at the command but did as he said and sat in one of the two chairs facing his desk.

The flowers were spilling out over his legal pad and he pulled out a rose. “I’ve been thinking about something and it makes complete sense.”

My nerves were getting the better of me, and I had to clear my throat to make certain I didn’t squeak when I spoke. “What would that be?”

Michael’s suit was perfectly pressed, his dark hair expertly combed, and his eyes were an icy, icy blue. “I want you to move in with Clementine and me.”

“What?” I couldn’t contain my shock.

Those eyes seemed colder and more calculating than I’d ever noticed. “Elle, I think we need to give up this pretense.”

I sat up straighter, not liking the tone he was using with me. “I’m sorry, Michael, but I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

His grin was almost wolfish. “You want to be a part of my daughter’s life. I think we can even go as far as to say you want her to call you Mommy. You made quite an impression at the political fundraiser. I need a confident woman in my life to help me rise up within the social circles I’ve been trying to break into for years. As you know, I hope to be elected district attorney and then possibly move up to judge or even mayor. In order to do so, I need a more stable home life.” With the rose in his hand, he fingered the thorns. “And Elle, you are the perfect woman to help me build that.”

My body was screaming “No,” but Heidi’s words, I said no and he ordered me to leave, were echoing through me at the very same time. If I flat-out said no right now, would he cut me out of Clementine’s life just like that? I couldn’t risk it. “Your wife was my sister, Michael. What would people think?”

He brought the rose to his nose and sniffed it. “They’d think a grief-stricken man found solace in a beautiful woman. Of course, we’d wait a respectable amount of time before going public, but I don’t think anyone would think badly about the situation. After all, I was a man burdened by his wife, left to raise our child, and you were there for me.”

My eyes were anywhere but on him. Sparkling crystals in the early morning light drew my attention to the floor. It was salt, like what I had seen that night I opened the bags with the cocaine in them.

Odd.

I knew half of the missing drugs were in the possession of the DEA.

My gaze wandered, and it was then I noticed a missing tile in the fa?ade of the fireplace that I always thought was just a decorative listello. The three others were in place, but this one displayed a keypad. It had to be for the panic room. I knew the entrance was in his office but had never really paid attention to where.

I wondered why there was a trail into it or from it. Did he have the missing drugs in his possession? Here? And if so, what was he going to do with them? I didn’t like where my mind was headed. Had he left everyone in danger, including his daughter, for a profit? No, he wouldn’t. I pushed those dark thoughts away and wondered what the room looked like inside. I wondered about anything except what he was proposing, because what he was proposing to me—it didn’t sound so crazy right now, especially if he was involved with something illegal. Clementine would need me.

We both wanted something and his proposal was a way for both of us to get it. Most importantly, if I lived here, I could assure Clementine’s environment was safe. Of course, there were many other issues and I threw one out there. “I just bought a place of my own. What would I do with it?”

He set the rose down and fiddled with his mouse. “It was mostly my money. The rest of it was mortgaged. It’s not like you have money in it.”

“That doesn’t mean I want to let it go.”

“Well, you live in an area of high demand. We could rent it out in no time.”

My heart was racing. Was he going to catch me right now? Know what site I’d been on? I stood up. “I don’t know, Michael. I need some time to think about it.”

Michael lifted himself from the chair and circled the desk. He stopped directly in front of me and reached behind himself for the rose. With the stem in his hand, he offered it to me. “For you,” he said with a satisfied smile.

I took it and brought it to my nose. It smelled of his coercion and my discomfort, but that was okay, because what else did I have in my life? Did it really matter what price I had to pay to have Clementine a part of it? My initial thought was—no, it didn’t. Yet still, I couldn’t answer. The words were stuck in my throat.