Inhale, exhale, and knock.

With a pounding heart, I wait for the door to open.

Thirteen

Never Lie

It takes me a few seconds to focus on the person standing in front of me. A tall woman who’s looking back into the room, showing me only a mane of black hair. “Don’t worry, I’m sure it’s room service,” she says, then turns to face me. Her mouth forms an “O” of surprise before her lips spread in a vicious smile.

“Blair, what an unexpected visit,” Aurora Vanderbilt says.

Not her.

Everything within me breaks. I blink back tears of rage and frustration, but there’s no fighting the angry blush that spreads across my face. The shock and misery must show along with the rash because Aurora’s smile widens.

“Did you need something?” she asks in a honeyed tone.

“N-no… just work stuff… n-nothing important…”

I’m still blabbing nonsense when Richard appears on the threshold. Jacket off. Bow tie gone. Shirt invitingly open at the neck. Sexy as hell. Our eyes meet and a bolt of shame strikes me.

“Blair!” His eyebrows raise. “What are you doing here?”

I can’t hide my disappointment, so I look away. Either he’s a better actor than Christian Slade, or the electricity of the night was all inside my head. It wasn’t all inside my head.

“N-nothing.” I flutter my hands in the air. “It can wait until tomorrow.”

“Are you sure?” Now his expression is closer to pity.

Mercifully, at that moment a server pushing a cart stops next to me and asks, “Is the champagne for this room?”

“Yes,” Aurora says, opening the door wider.

The waiter pushes the cart inside and I seize the opportunity to escape. “I’ll leave you to your… uh… thing.” Why can’t I stop my hands from fluttering? “Good night.”

I don’t wait for a reply. All I can say for myself is that I manage not to run. I retrace my steps to my room, insert the card in its slot with trembling hands, and rush inside. Resting my back against the door, I take a few deep breaths that quickly turn into heavy sobs.

How could I be so stupid? How could I misread the signals so badly?

I thought Richard and I had shared a moment, but clearly, all the boss cares about is sharing a bed with Aurora Vanderbilt. But I’m not crazy. Sparks happened, and it must’ve scared the boss so much he wanted to kill this new connection in cold blood.

Maybe.

No matter how much I try to rationalize Richard’s behavior, it still sucks. And no justification will change the fact that he’s spending the night in a hotel room with Aurora Vanderbilt. True, I’m not his girlfriend so it’s not like he’s cheating on me.

Feels that way all the same.

A glob of bile rises to my throat. I might throw up. In the bathroom, I splash my face with fresh water, not caring that it’ll send the makeup streaming down my cheeks. I dry my hands and unzip the dress on my own. So much for the sexy fantasies. When the gown reaches the ground, I kick it away from my legs, abandoning it in a puddle on the bathroom floor. Back in the main room, I fling myself onto the bed and cry into a pillow until I fall asleep.