“Ugh.”
“Go. Your client’s waiting.” Cole turned her around and sent her down the hall to her massage room.
With a defeated sigh, she opened the door then shut it quietly behind her. “Where would you like me to—”
Brant.
His scent was everywhere.
“You were saying?” His calm, detached voice made her blood run cold.
“You weren’t on my schedule.” Was that her voice? The weak, quivering one that was on the verge of tears?
“Nope, but Bill sends his regards. He’s enjoying a poolside brunch with unlimited mimosas—his wife’s a big fan.”
“Yeah, I bet she is.”
“I think I hurt my back.” Did she seriously have no effect on him? “Crazy night last night.”
He was cool. Aloof. Joking about something sacred.
She’d never hated him more.
“Funny, I’d think your back would be used to those types of nights,” she snapped.
“Oh,” he laughed, “it is.”
Her heart twisted painfully as anger surged through every bone in her body. “So why would last night be any different?”
“I had to do all the work.”
“Bullshit!” It was out before she could stop it, and then she was covering her mouth with her hand and praying for the floor to open up and swallow her whole. Great start to the day. Wake up in the boss’s bed and then yell curse words at him.
His chuckle was dark, emotionless. “Hey, you’re the one who asked.”
She let out a shaky breath. Just get through the next hour.
“Oh, and I booked you for a ninety-minute.”
She was in hell.
* * *
Hell.
He was in hell. But damn, the burn felt worth it.
The minute he’d stepped into the lobby, his eyes had searched for her. Maybe because he was a masochistic bastard and welcomed the pain—or maybe because deep down he knew he’d been a complete dick and wanted to apologize.
That had been his intention, at least. Until he’d seen her talking to Cole in the hallway. Until he saw them hug right before he stepped into the room.
He wanted to beat the guy within an inch of his life.
What? So Brant was just a one-night stand and Cole was…her supporter? Her confidant?
Did Brant even have a right to be pissed?
You left. Your fault.
He shoved the guilt away and focused on her hands as they basically pulverized his skin hard enough to leave permanent damage.
“Is this too much pressure?” she asked in a sweet voice.
“Nope.” He bit back a curse. “Tickles.”
He didn’t think it was possible, but she pushed harder, using both elbows to bring him to his knees. “How about now?”
“Is bruising part of the process?”
“Why are you here?”
“It’s my job.”
“Not here at the resort—here in my massage room.”
He sighed. “I won’t say anything.”
She stopped massaging. “I don’t understand.”
His hand gripped hers, and his movement told her he’d flipped over onto his back. “Nadine Titus, the insane woman who got you to bet on me at the auction, and is technically my boss—which means your boss’s boss. I won’t tell her if you don’t.”
She jerked away as if he’d slapped her. “So you came in here because of your job? To threaten me?”
“I’ll pay you.”
She’d never felt more used in her entire life. “You should have just paid me for sex last night, would have saved yourself all the trouble of coming down here.”
“Would have, but I was all out of cash.”
Her body trembled. It was just sex to him. It had been more to her.
And now he was paying her off. The man she loved was gone.
“I don’t take bribes.”
“Funny,” Brant sneered. “Since it seems that a few weeks ago you took one from my boss to bid on me. What was the plan, Nik? Did you think I’d take one look at you and forget the past? Move on? What the fuck did you think would happen?”
Nikki shook her head once, twice, then found her voice. “You’re right, I don’t know what I was thinking. Maybe I just wanted to keep my job. Did you ever consider that the auction was about me more than you?”
He didn’t say anything.
“Maybe I just didn’t see a way out where I wouldn’t get fired.”
“Bull…shit.” Brant gripped her arm, then slid his hand down until their palms pressed against each other. “It was more than that and you know it.”
Her throat all but closed up. And then she made a mistake. Rather than keeping her anger between them, she tried. She laid down the olive branch, because a part of her needed it, needed the closure, needed to fix what was broken even if she hated him, even if it left them both bleeding. She refused to become Brant Wellington. The ugliest, most beautiful man she’d ever known.