Draco realised immediately from her reaction that there was definitely a skeleton in the Curtis family closet. Hell, all he’d wanted to do was steer the conversation in the right direction… Oh, well, that left the direct approach.
‘There is a photo that has been posted online. I thought you should know about it.’
He pushed his phone across the table and watched her face as she looked at the explicit photo of the two of them in an abandoned embrace the night of the wedding. He saw the colour run up under her fair skin when she saw what it was, and then recede leaving her paper pale. ‘One of your enterprising ex school friends I assume.’
Eve closed her eyes and for a long moment she said nothing. Then in a hopeful whisper said, ‘Perhaps no one will see it.’
There was no gentle way to break it so he just said it. ‘Sorry, but apparently it has already gone viral.’
She covered her mouth with her hand, and above it her green eyes registered total horror. How could he sound so calm?
‘You have to stop them.’ He shook his head and she added wildly, ‘What if your daughter sees it?’
‘The odds are she already has. On the plus side it is quite flattering.’
She closed her eyes. Flattering? Was he insane? She was an intensely private person and the idea of that photo out there made Eve… ‘I feel sick.’ She waited until the strong wave of nausea had passed before asking, ‘So what are we going to do?’
He arched a brow. ‘Do?’
‘A plan.’
‘There is no plan beyond damage limitation. Take my word for it—I have been here before.’
‘Well, I haven’t!’
‘My best advice is to laugh it off, or maintain a dignified silence…’
A hoarse laugh was shaken from her throat. She could see precious little dignity in having pictures of yourself in a passionate clinch posted on the internet. It wouldn’t just be strangers who would see it, but people who knew her: her mother, her friends, people she worked with.
‘Or I could deny vigorously that there is anything going on between us.’
She exhaled. ‘Good.’
‘Which will convince them that something definitely is and prolong the interest in us.’
Eve clenched her teeth, her body rigid as she fought the urge to rush around the table and shake him. She firmly believed that violence never solved anything but on this occasion it might make her feel a hell of a lot better!
He met her eyes. ‘Tell me what you want me to do?’
‘I don’t kn-know,’ she admitted miserably.
‘Then shall I tell you what I want to do? I want to get up and leave this place.’
‘What about coffee?’
‘Then I want to take you back to my place and do what I badly wanted to do with you this morning. I can promise you a birthday present you will not forget, cara.’
He…they had a problem and his solution…? Seduce her right here in a public place! Where anyone could have heard the things he’d said.