She heard a forced smile laced with worry in Jade’s voice. Riley sighed. “And what about Josh?”
“That’s a hard one. I get why you feel he doesn’t trust you, but also, he’s a businessman, and there’s that to consider. He has a company and a reputation to protect. Riley, without talking to him, you can’t know where he’s coming from. Maybe he’s as confused as you are.”
Riley wiped her remaining tears and took a deep breath. “Okay. I’ll try, but I might end up on your doorstep tomorrow.”
RILEY STOOD IN front of Josh’s door with her hand perched to knock. There wasn’t much she could do about her red-rimmed, puffy eyes or the deflated feeling in her chest, but at least she looked good. She wore the other JBD outfit Mia had picked out for her, and the form-fitting navy dress gave her a modicum of confidence. She’d been practicing what she was going to say for the past thirty minutes, but when Josh opened the door wearing his wrinkled clothes, his eyes also puffy and bloodshot, his hair still askew, it completely derailed her.
“Riley,” he said in an exhausted whisper. He stepped back and opened the door wider. “Come in, please.”
The little confidence she’d mustered shattered with his broken voice. Her eyes filled with tears, and she squeezed them shut. “Damn it.”
His arms were around her then, holding her against his chest. His lips on the top of her head, kissing her in a way that pulled more tears from some invisible well deep within her.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “I should have come to you first. Hell, I should have fired Claudia ages ago, but she’s Peter’s niece, and he did so much for me. I’ve always felt indebted to him. But I’m done worrying about him.”
Riley cried into his wrinkled dress shirt. She wanted to stay right there in his embrace, with his kind words bathing her like his hands once had, but she wanted to push him away in equal measure. How could you do this to me if you love me? Why does love hurt so much?
Josh shut the door behind them, Riley still in his arms. “Can you forgive me?” he asked.
She pushed away then, just enough to see his dark eyes staring down at her with the most intense stare she’d ever seen, strangling her words once again.
“You don’t have to forgive me. Just know we’ll figure this out together. You’re right, Riley. I can’t imagine that you’d have done something like this. I just couldn’t see that clearly last night.”
“This whole thing sucks,” she finally managed. She pulled away from him, set her chin straight, and pulled back her shoulders. She had to do this. “I’m really hurt that you’d even consider what she said as true, and I’m beyond humiliated that you’ve spread this to all of the staff.”
“I understand,” he said. He ran his finger along the line of her jaw. “Riley, please believe me when I say that I did that in an effort to clear your name. I was hoping someone would have seen you designing.”
“Oh, right, like I’d let anyone know I was doing something other than JBD work.” She turned away. “Listen, I don’t know what to do about this—you, me, my career—in the long run, but I’m going to honor my commitment. I’ll go run the show and I’ll be at work Monday.”
She watched him swallow, then cross his arms. “What are you telling me?”
“I don’t know,” she said honestly.
“You don’t want to be with me?” Josh asked.
The hurt in his voice rivaled the ache in her own soul. “How together are we, Josh? We’re a secret love affair.” The words surprised her as much as they did him. He reached for her, and she stepped away, unsure of what she was doing, much less saying. “I love you, but I’m hurt. Beyond hurt.” She grabbed the doorknob and swung the door open.
“Riley, wait,” Josh said.
Riley closed her eyes, unable to form a rational response or even weed through her tangled feelings to know if she should listen to him or not.
“Claudia won’t be at the show today. I know she was scheduled to run it with you, but I’ve told her not to. Until this is figured out, I don’t want you two in close quarters. She assured me that until this was figured out, she wasn’t going to talk to anyone about it, so at least it isn’t public knowledge.”
With her eyes locked on the door, she asked, “Should I not do the show?”
“No, you can. I just didn’t trust her.”
That was enough to allow her eyes to meet his. Those five words meant that he did trust her, at least more than he trusted Claudia. She realized that didn’t say much, but at least it was something. And right then, Riley needed something to pull her through the morning.
Chapter Thirty
JOSH NEEDED HIS morning run more than he ever had before. He ran like he was being chased through the park, in and out of the streets, until finally, he ended up in front of the JBD building. He’d rip the office apart if he had to. Damn it. If Riley was designing Max’s dress while at work, even when using stolen moments, there had to be some proof.
He stormed through the doors and into the design studio.
Claudia looked up from a drawing table with a smile. “Hi, Josh. I thought I’d be alone this morning.”
His sweat-covered body was ablaze. “What are you doing here?” he snapped.
“Sketching.” She tossed the answer as if she hadn’t a care in the world.
“Sketching.” Sketching, my ass.
“Yes, refining one of the designs in my portfolio. Wanna see?” She lifted her brows, and her green eyes sparkled, inciting a surge of anger within him.
“No.” He clenched his fists and stomped past her to Riley’s desk.
He pulled each drawer open, rifled through them, then slammed them closed.
“What are you doing?” Claudia asked.
Ignoring her, he continued his search, pulling out her file drawers and leafing through each and every folder. If there was proof, it was there somewhere. He felt Claudia’s eyes on his back, and that just spurred his vehemence to clear Riley’s name.
Ten minutes later, and having come up without any evidence of her drawings, he turned on Riley’s computer.
“You need her password,” Claudia said.
He glared at her.
“It’s WestonGirl4Life. Number four, all one word, initial caps.”
Josh narrowed his eyes. “How do you know?”
“It’s my job to know the passwords on all design computers, remember? You added that to my duties two years ago, when you were trying to find something or other.”
My mistake. Josh sat in Riley’s chair. Her scent was everywhere, momentarily distracting him from his anger. While the computer booted, he thought about their conversation earlier that morning. He’d been so relieved to see her that he’d almost teared up, and when he’d held her, he’d wanted to tell her not to go to the show, but to stay with him. They could make love and figure out this mess later. He felt like she’d been ripped from his arms—and he knew she hadn’t been ripped at all. She’d been pushed, and he was the one who had done the shoving.
“Did it work?” Claudia asked.
Her voice pulled him from his thoughts. He typed in Riley’s password, and her JBD home screen came to life. He didn’t answer Claudia. The less interaction with her the better until he knew the truth about her accusations. He went through Riley’s files, feeling slightly voyeuristic; then he clicked over to her JBD email account. He went through anything with an attachment, hoping for something that would validate her innocence. Coming up empty once again, he went to her scanned documents. Maybe she’d have done the same as Claudia and scanned them into the computer. A few clicks later, nothing was revealed. Riley appeared to be the typical JBD employee doing her job. Damn it.
She’s not a typical employee. She's talented beyond belief. She’s honest and more Weston than New York. He spun around in the chair, scrutinizing Claudia as she leaned over the drawing table. She’s not honest. More Alcatraz than anywhere else. Something’s not right.
RILEY TRIED TO ignore the differences she felt in Mia and Simone and concentrated on the mass of buyers instead. She was taking an order and had stopped writing to present an accessory ensemble to the buyer when the flash of a camera went off. She looked up, and two clicks later, she was seeing spots.
She smiled at the photographer, pleased that JBD would be included in the event’s media coverage.
Mia squeezed between Riley and the camera.
“Riley, why don’t you take our buyer someplace a little more private?” Mia asked.
Riley turned back to the buyer, watching Mia in a heated discussion with the photographer out of the corner of her eye. When the photographer left, Mia whispered something to Simone, before grabbing her phone and heading to the ladies’ room.
Another wave of buyers came through, and as Saturday afternoon turned to evening and the show finally came to an end, Riley was surprised to realize that she hadn’t thought about Claudia all afternoon, while thoughts of Josh pressed in on her every thought. Maybe she could get through this. Maybe it would pass without a lot of fanfare. Feeling mildly better, she wished Jade were there to go out for a drink or even just to be there to give her strength to deal with all the crap swirling around in her head.