Nate furrowed his brow. The details didn’t quite add up. The Luxe had a deal with Joy Delivered. They were ready to roll out the marketing for the LolaRing. The product had been kept under wraps, along with the specifics of the partnership. The exclusive partnership.

“What do you mean?” Nate asked carefully as his spine pricked with an oddly familiar feeling. He almost couldn’t put his finger on it. It had been a while since he’d experienced this, but the déjà vu running through his mind was intense.

“She came to me last month to roll out some new product. Said the other hotel chain she’d planned to work with wasn’t going to cut it. Not classy enough, she said. But then she yanked it from me a few days ago to go with the Pierson. Hasn’t told anyone yet,” Ethan said, shaking his head.

Nate clenched his fists under the table, and swallowed dryly. He tried to tell himself not to jump to conclusions. Not to assume the worst. The waitress appeared with a mug and a pot of coffee and poured a cup for Nate. She turned to Ethan. “More for you?”

“That’d be great,” he said, pushing his white ceramic mug closer to the waitress, and knocking some papers around in the process. “Look at me. I’m a fucking mess,” he said to Nate with a self-deprecating chuckle as he grabbed some of the papers and tried to organize them, then stopped. “Screw it. I just need more coffee.”

Nate blinked and tried to clear his head as Ethan took a long drink from his mug. He pursed his lips, keeping his mouth shut, as he worked hard to ignore the rapid-fire fear and anger that stirred in his blood. It was only a business deal; this wasn’t the same situation as Joanna, and besides, Casey wouldn’t do something this sneaky. She wouldn’t lie or play these kinds of games.

But then he’d once believed all of Joanna’s lies.

Every single one of them.

Ethan set down his cup. “Can’t get too upset about it, I suppose. Even though she promised me the deal. Hell, it was my idea. I brought it to her way back before she gave it away to the Pierson,” he said, stabbing his finger against a piece of paper in his stack. Nate’s eyes followed Ethan’s moves, and he flinched when he saw the words in black blaring at him. An email from Casey to Ethan from nearly a month ago, with only a line or two visible since the paper was partially covered up by the computer.

Love the concept! Looking forward to exploring possibilities with you!

It was like being shot back in time. Discovering an email he wasn’t meant to see, full of words that subverted him, words that revealed how he’d been played like a fool again.

He swallowed back his anger, and spoke slowly, trying not to show he was reeling inside. “She was doing this deal with you first? It was your idea?”