Lori weaved her hand through the crook of his arm as they walked toward the coat check. “You look pretty great, yourself.”
Looked like it was back to square one in the dating game.
Deek glanced at Lori as he pulled out of the country club’s parking lot. “I’m sorry about that, but Jason isn’t the man he appears to be.”
Lori turned and faced him. “In what way?”
He pushed up his glasses, suddenly remembering he had them on. Dammit. He never went anywhere with them, and he especially didn’t want them tonight. Not when he was going to ask her something so important. But back to Jason first. “After you came home upset on Friday night, I did a deep dig into Jason’s online past. As you probably know, on the surface he looks perfect. But underneath, there’s a ton of dirt. Bad stuff.”
Lori’s eyes went wide. “How do you know this?”
Dammit. He didn’t want to upset her any further, but he wouldn’t lie to her. Ever. “I crossed some legal lines based on some of my former tech training. What I tell you can’t go any further than you and me. You can’t even tell Shelby. Okay?”
Lori chewed her bottom lip for a moment as she considered. “Okay. Spill.”
She didn’t seem angry at him. Yet. “Based on some deleted online e-mail conversations, those never go away, by the way, the right equipment can find anything, it seems he’s been engaged two times before. And the women were paid off to keep their mouths shut about his dark sexual appetites.”
“What do you mean by dark sexual appetites?”
“Weaponry, pain, bleeding, bondage, dominance… That kind of dark stuff. And the women had both started to plan the weddings before he slipped and let them see his true nature. His parents know about him and have told him he’d be cut off if he doesn’t stop. But I wonder if he can.”
“Oh my God.” Lori blinked at him. “Is that why you and Rachel were talking about BDSM last night? Were you trying to warn me then?”
“Yes. I’m sorry I didn’t get the chance to talk to you alone after that.”
“That might explain his aggression on the dance floor. The guy wouldn’t take no for an answer, and that’s never okay.” Lori slowly shook her head. “But we did a background check. And my brother checked police records. This isn’t good for my business. We need to find a way to access the data that you did.”
He cringed. “You can’t legally do what I did unless you’re actually in law enforcement and have a valid reason. But I’ll look into how you can be more thorough and get back to you.”
“Thanks.” Lori’s jaw clenched as she stared out the windshield.
Dammit. She was mad at him. “Normally, I’d never do that. I respect rules. But I hated seeing you come home so upset the other night. I just had to be sure. For both you and Emily. Can you imagine if he’d fooled you long enough to actually marry him? He comes off as Mr. Perfect, right?”
Lori finally met his gaze. “On the outside, yes. In looks only. The bad stuff notwithstanding, he’s not the kind of guy I’d ever end up with. I was just…”
He held up a hand. “I know. Your sister told me. You haven’t had sex in a long time, and you just needed a release.”
Lori’s jaw fell open and an “Ach,” sound came out. Then she dropped her head into her hands. “I am going to kill Rachel.”
Then she moaned.
Like she was in tremendous agony.
Why would she do that? What would elicit moaning when not really in physical pain?
Lori finally sat back up, stared out her side window, and shook her head. That went on for a solid minute.
He needed to fix something, but he wasn’t sure what. “Did I say something wrong?”
“No.” She blew out a long breath. “I’m just mortified. And feeling a little stupid for even considering sleeping with Jason. But for the record, Mr. Blunt, I told him I wasn’t going to sleep with him before you got there.”
Mr. Blunt?
Lori must be really mad. What should his next step be? Maybe best to go with honesty. “I was thinking about your problem on the drive to the country club earlier.”
“My problem?” Lori slowly turned her head and narrowed her eyes, sort of like an angry cobra might do right before it was about to strike. “Exactly what would my problem be, Deek?”
Yep. Angry cobra was about right. “Well, Rachel said you hadn’t had sex in a few years, and I was supposed to go save you from your sex-starved self.”
“So this night can get worse?” Lori threw up her hands. “Who knew?”