“You slapped my friend at my engagement party and made a spectacle of yourself. A man with whom you broke a business contract after he had been decent enough to hire you.”
His lush lower lip tapered into a stiff line, hardness entering his blue gaze, and she braced herself.
“Even the word broke is too professional for your conduct, because you simply upped and left one day, didn’t you? Nothing is scandalous enough for you, Olivia.”
It wasn’t anything she hadn’t heard before. But his scornful words lanced through her and found a vulnerable spot, leaving her shaken to the core.
“Assuming you’re telling the truth, if Kim had talked to me I would have been married to her—instead of arguing about what constitutes a scandal with you.”
Olivia took a deep breath, trying hard to suppress the fury rising through her. This wasn’t her fight. She couldn’t and she didn’t care what he thought of her. She had done what her sister had asked her to do. Still, his arrogant assumption that Kim would have gone through with the wedding rankled. Didn’t he care about Kim’s feelings?
Obviously he didn’t. Appearances were everything to Alexander King. Even the knowledge that she was in his life for no more than a day couldn’t dispel his distaste. And her twin was planning to spend her life with him. She couldn’t let him get to her.
“But she didn’t talk to you. My sister asked me for help and I stepped in. And I look forward to the moment when you know the truth and will grovel at my feet for forgiveness.”
Hell would freeze over before Alexander King groveled at her feet. She knew that. But a girl needed her wild fantasies to keep going. It was right up there with making out with Johnny Depp and being able to survive on strawberry martinis. It was better that he’d found her out. She didn’t have to pretend to be Kim anymore and could go back to her own life. Far away from make-one-mistake-and-I’ll-cut-you-out Alexander King.
“So really there’s no reason for you and me to stick it out here.”
She would have been less shaken by a display of temper in response. But the absolute silence that met her declaration made the hairs on her neck stand up. His broad shoulders blocked everything else. The hint of stubble on his jaw gave him a roguish look. The folded cuffs of his white shirt displayed strong forearms. Her throat dry, she stared back, waiting.
She steeled herself for some scathing remark, but could do nothing about the awareness spreading through her limbs as he loomed over her. He smelled like dark chocolate wrapped in decadent male arousal. If she could bottle the scent she’d be able to sell it without writing a slogan for it. One whiff and women of all ages would be falling over themselves for it.
His finger flicked the tip of her nose, his blue gaze glittering with dark amusement. “You’re not suggesting I go on our honeymoon by myself, are you?”
Her smile faltered on her lips, her gut dropping through an endless fall. “You can’t be serious,” she murmured. His posture screamed unyielding determination, confirming her worst fear. “There’s no need. Kim will be back.”
“Then you better start hoping she’s here tomorrow morning.”
She gripped the counter behind her. “I can’t go anywhere with you. We hate each other, remember?”
He laughed, the rippling sound of it surrounding her in overwhelming waves. “Yes, but not as much as I hate being front-page fodder for trashy tabloids.”
“This isn’t funny.” She moved away from the intoxicating scent of the dratted man and opened the calendar on her phone. “I have to do a pitch for our agency in two weeks. I can’t miss it.”
“Still playing at being the hardworking career woman?” His gaze dropped to the sketch pad peeping out of her handbag and dismissed it the next second. “Give it up, Olivia. You don’t have it in you.”
Her breath whooshed out of her, his words dealing a nasty punch to her middle. Before the phone slipped from her shaky fingers she threw it back into her bag. The pitch to LifeStyle Inc. was the only thing that could build her career—her only opportunity to silence corrosive comments like his. She couldn’t miss it. She pushed out the fury scratching at her throat and steadied herself. “It’s your honeymoon, Alexander. No one will know you’re by yourself unless you advertise it.”
His fingers gripped her arm and turned her around. His gaze was frantic in its search of hers. “You truly live in your own world, don’t you?” Bitterness laced his every word. “The press hounds me wherever I go, whatever I do, and I refuse to throw even a morsel of scandal their way. If you’re not going to tell me the truth, you’re damn well going to stick with me until Kim’s back.”