Dirty Little Secret(13)

“Cailin, I don’t know what to say.”

Bet that didn’t happen often, not to Alex. She couldn’t hold back an incredulous laugh.

“It’s not funny.”

The reins of her control were slipping under the onslaught of emotion. “No, it’s fucking hilarious, Alex. Really.” And now he had her cursing. The f word, no less. Another first. She’d had a lot of those with him.

Pain shot through her chest, taking what little breath she could muster with it.

He held up an imperious hand. “Don’t. It won’t change anything. I can’t—”

Can’t what? Surely he didn’t think… “I wouldn’t even if you could. I’m not that kind of woman, Alex.”

“Not that kind of woman?” Something that looked strangely like pain flashed across his face and then disappeared, buried beneath a rage that had her flinching away from him. His words struck like a lash against her skin. “Exactly what kind of woman are you then, Cailin? You fucked a man you knew absolutely nothing about. You didn’t even know my last name until you walked into the room this morning.”

Tears welled as his hateful words hit their target. He might say they didn’t know each other, but he knew her well enough to know where to strike. And he was right. She was guilty. Back home, she’d be wearing a red S for slut on her chest; here in Atlanta, she just wore it on her heart.

Yes, she had slept with a man she didn’t know, a married man. It didn’t matter that she’d thought they’d have more time, that when they’d awakened they would share last names and life stories and likes and dislikes. It didn’t matter. She’d done what she’d done.

Like waking up through a fog, Cailin’s mind cleared, the pain drifted away, and she once again embraced the numbness that had protected her last night. This was better, easier. This she could survive. The other—

No, she’d survive that too. She’d proved it already; she would again.

She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing his words hit their mark. Instead she blanked her face, squared her shoulders decisively, and stared him down. No matter what you’ve done, it doesn’t mean you have to take his crap about it.

“I know what I did, and I know what I won’t do again.” Why would he even want to, anyway, when he had such a beautiful wife in his bed every night?

She mentally slapped a bandage over the part of her that felt like it was bleeding out on the floor. It was time to get out those balls that had gotten her through her divorce, that had gotten her into that little black dress… Jeez, they’d gotten her into this, hadn’t they? She almost fell out of her chair at that realization.

Well, the least they could do was get her out of it. “Look, we’ve got to work together, so it’s—”

“Not necessarily.”

Time stretched out as she struggled to comprehend his words. “What?”

“It might be better for both of us if you were transferred to another office.”

“Transfer?” Was she supposed to be thankful the jerk wasn’t firing her instead? Oh no, he wasn’t pulling that card on her. “You’re the senior vice president, Alex. Since the president is in California, there is no one higher than you here in Atlanta. Any transfer would be, essentially, a demotion.”

She would not give an inch. Did she want to work for him? No. But she wouldn’t accept a cut in rank or pay because he had chosen to deceive her. Besides, she needed this job. She had no family or friends who would acknowledge her to fall back on. The divorce had depleted her savings. She’d already started over once in the last year; she wasn’t about to do it again, even to get away from this whole mess.

If he could play hardball, so could she. She firmed her voice before continuing.

“Alex, I don’t care what you do outside these walls. You’re free to ball the entire female population of Fulton County for all I freaking care. But if you try to remove me from this position, I will make sure everyone in this company knows what you did. Now somehow I don’t think that’s what you want, is it?”

Alex’s face was granite hard, unyielding. “Damn it, no.”

That’s what I thought. Wouldn’t want Mrs. Brannigan having to deal with that. She shook her head at the venom of that thought. Whether she could actually follow through with the threat, she hoped she’d never know. Cailin didn’t want Sara Beth to have to deal with it either.

And, some tiny, treacherous part of her whispered, you’d still see him, even if he’s not yours.

She closed the thought off and faced Alex with her shoulders squared. “I—”