He’d listened to her talk to his boss about her underwear. And then he’d heard a whole lot more. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back to rest against the wall.
“Lucy?”
The to-go bag rustled in his hand, and she knew he was close. The smell of eggrolls tempted her to open her eyes again. But she resisted. How could she face him? She was too embarrassed to yell at him. And right now, she needed to scream.
Why did you set me up with your friend through a dating website?
Oh yes, those words should echo against the walls of his of
fice.
“Lucy, I’m going to put this in perspective for you,” Finn said. She could feel his shoulder touch hers as if he’d taken up residence beside her on the hallway wall. “Last night, I had sex with DeVilla’s daughter.”
She groaned. “Finn, I don’t—”
“You need to hear this,” he said flatly. “You’ll feel better.”
“I doubt that.” She opened her eyes but kept her gaze focused on the wall in front of them. A black and white picture of the Florida coastline filled the space. She’d never noticed it before. Maybe if she examined the way the light played on the waves, she wouldn’t feel dread and humiliation raining down on her.
“DeVilla’s daughter filmed the um, encounter, on her phone. Without my knowledge. She took the video to her father this morning. After, I went to Jared and told him the whole damn story.” Finn drew a deep breath. “So right now, my best friend is in the conference room trying to negotiate a deal with a man who watched me have sex. Hell for all I know, he’s showing Jared the video. Or his daughter plans to post it online.”
“Oh, God.” She turned to look at him. He’d ditched the reassuring smile, probably because nothing, nothing, about this was remotely hunkey-dory. “I don’t feel better,” she said softly.
“But you’ll take pity on me anyway and keep me company in my office?” he asked. “I’ve had a shit day. Eating dinner in the hall isn’t going to make it better.”
“Okay.” She turned and led the way into his office. Floor to ceiling windows filled the exterior walls. Through the glass, she could see across the island to the serene ocean. The waves were gently lapping the shore. Her brother’s mahogany desk stood in the corner, piled high with papers. A leather loveseat and matching chairs surrounded a wooden coffee table on other side of the office. Bookcases occupied the interior walls. The space had a lived-in look to it. Probably more so than his home.
He followed her in and headed for the coffee table. While he unpacked the food, she began pacing from his desk to the sitting area and back again.
“You knew?” She stopped and placed her hand on the back of the leather armchair. “About me and Jared? You knew.”
“Yes.” Finn sat on the edge of the loveseat. With his thighs spread and his feet planted, he reached forward and pick up an egg roll. He dipped it in the sauce and then looked at her. “He told me he’d been leaving you juice. I suggested there had to be a better way to ask you out.” He took a bit of eggroll, chewed, and then cocked his head. “Was I wrong?”
“No. But . . . ” She pressed her hands into the leather. “You created the dating profile?”
“It was an idea.” Finn dipped the egg roll in the sauce again. “His juice plan didn’t sound like it was working. You spend a lot of time on those sites. If he wanted you to give him a chance, he needed to get on them too.” He polished off the rest of the roll in a single bite.
“You told your best friend to lie to me?” she demanded.
“Yes.” Finn rested his forearms on his thighs. “I didn’t think you’d give him a chance unless you thought he was someone else. He has a crappy reputation—”
“But that didn’t bother you!” She spun around and walked away, heading back to his desk. “You told the bored, billionaire bachelor to lie to me so that he could seduce me, knowing that he’ll probably disappear to New York in a week.”
“Do you really believe he is going to do that?” Finn demanded.
“No. Maybe.” She turned around and marched back to the sitting area. The food smelled too good. And dammit, she was hungry. “I don’t know,” she admitted, sinking into a chair.
“I wouldn’t have helped him if I didn’t think he was serious.” Her brother held out the eggroll container. “You know that don’t you?”
“Yes,” she said grudgingly. “But this isn’t about what he wants.”
“Okay.” Her brother nodded and looked at her expectantly.
“I wanted to find someone special, Finn.” She turned the eggroll over and over in her hand. “Someone who would write the things Philip wrote in that profile.”
“That was all Jared.” Her brother reached for another take-out box and a pair of chopsticks. “He gets you, Lucy. Down to that weird rule about a picture with another woman he hadn’t slept with.”
“Why do you think I met him on the beach last night? I wanted to blame him for lying to me. I wanted to yell at him and tell him he can’t play with my trust like that. He can’t.”