Three Simple Rules (The Blindfold Club #1) (36 page)

At four, Logan dropped the project folder for Hess Sports on my desk, hardly uttering a word, and I didn’t acknowledge his presence, but it didn’t matter. The rumor mill was in full force.

Jamie flitted over to my desk. “There is so something going on with you two,” she said, smug. “Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me.”

I wouldn’t have believed her no matter what, but watching her head straight for Debbie’s desk? That girl had no shame.

chapter

TWENTY-FOUR

He’d beaten me to his place, and when I came in, he rose up from the couch. He hadn’t changed out of his suit. It looked like he’d gone straight to the fridge, grabbed a beer and waited for me.

I gave him a plain look. “Smooth.”

“Yeah, it sure was,” he responded. “Did anyone say anything about it to you?”

“Jamie’s convinced there’s something going on between us. Anyone say anything to you?”

He put the bottle down and trapped my waist in his hands, tipping his head down so he could set his forehead against mine. “No, but I don’t think anyone would. Is it going to be a problem?”

I shrugged. “Maybe, but I don’t know what we can do about it.”

“I can’t believe I did that.”

“It was a simple mistake.”

He probably expected me to slide my arms across his shoulders and press into him, but instead I remained, neither softening into him nor pushing him away.

“What’s going on?” His voice was concerned. “Have I done something else?”

“I don’t know.” No, wait, I did know what he’d done. “Chloe. Scarlet. Half of the accounting department.”

“What?”

“Is it true? That that’s the list of women you’ve slept with at the office?”

He tore his gaze away, guilty. The tension in his hands faded and released me. He slammed a huge sip of his beer. “I’d say that list is inaccurate.”

All of the breath left my lungs. “Inaccurate how?”
Oh, god.
“There are more?”

“No. I haven’t slept with half of the accounting department. Only Rachel.”

“But Scarlet and Chloe?”

He sighed. “Yes. Rachel was right after April, during my post-breakup phase.”

“Phase?”

“I lost my virginity to April, and I didn’t cheat on her. So, after we broke up . . .”

He went and fucked a lot of other women, making up for lost time. I followed him into the bedroom and his fingers worked to unbutton his dress shirt.

“Scarlet asked me out,” he continued, “the day after she gave her two weeks’ notice, and I hooked up with Chloe at Jemma’s New Year’s Eve party.”

Jemma, the accounts manager, was Jon’s second-in-command and the most outgoing person on the face of the earth. Sweet as could be, that girl could do anything, including inviting the entire office to her NYE bash. I’d already made plans with Blake, otherwise I would have gone too. Maybe I would have ended up kissing Logan that night instead of Blake.

“Are you upset I slept with a few women you happen to know, long before we got together?”

“No,” I said. “But you should’ve told me.”

He hung up his shirt, giving me a view of his hard abs and muscular arms, and it was so unfair that I was annoyed and yet turned on at the sight of him.

“You’re right. Okay, then, full disclosure. There’s one more person at the office I’ve slept with.”

My annoyance grew ten-fold. “Who?”

“You, naughty girl.” He undid his pants and stepped out, his eyes on me. “You forgive me, or do you want to stay like that and have angry sex?”

Had he actually said he was sorry? “I’m not angry, Logan.” Because, as usual, he was right. It seemed stupid to be mad at him for what he’d done before.

“Is that a no to the sex?”

I took my shirt off and made a production of dropping it on the floor. I saw the fire begin in his eyes and the excitement when he understood the game I wanted to play.

“Hang it up.”

His commanding tone sent a delicious shiver through me. I yanked my black dress slacks off and held them in outstretched arms. Then I dropped them right on top of my shirt, my lips pulling back in an evil smile.

“As a rule, I don’t like clothes on the floor.”

“Too bad,” I said. “Besides, I thought you liked it when I broke your rules.”

He whirled me into his arms, rough and then tender. “Not as much as you like breaking them.”

The next morning I had a perma-smile on my face. Logan had a lunch appointment, but after that he’d make the announcement. I’d dressed in the most professional outfit I had – a black tailored business suit that might have been too wintery, but I didn’t care. I’d pulled my hair back to make myself look older, although it was probably a lost cause. Kathleen was going to be upset. She might even make a comment about my age, and even with my hair up, I still looked impossibly young.

I was at my desk and on my second can of Diet Coke when Jamie made her gossip rounds and hovered.

“Why are you all dressed up?” she asked.

“I don’t know, I felt like it.”

“I hear Logan’s dressed up today too.” She gave me a suspicious look.

“He’s not dressed up today any more than he usually is.”

Her eyes lit up with a ‘
gotcha
.’ “When did you see him? Debbie said he’s been in the conference room with Jon and Will all morning.”

My mind scrambled for an excuse, but it was too slow. She leaned in. “Did he stay at your place last night, or did you stay at his? I always make Steve stay at mine. His place is gross and I’m not lugging my stuff over there, you know?”

I had to keep my stupid mouth shut to prevent things from getting any worse. Thankfully, my desk phone rang and it forced Jamie on her way.

“Hey, Evelyn, this is Rachel from Accounting.” My breath caught. “Were you the one handling Player’s account? There’s a billing issue, and I can’t reach Logan.”

Now my breathing stopped all together. “What kind of billing issue?”

“Well, did they order an extra run or something, and pay through us? I’ve got a line item from the printer that’s been paid, but I don’t have a PO for it.”

My hands were so sweaty I almost dropped the phone. “Uh . . . I know a second run was ordered. I think they paid for it, I know it wasn’t us.” Thank god she couldn’t see my terrible liar face.

“Oh, okay. It’s been paid, so it’s not really an issue, but it was strange to see a charge for four thousand dollars and not have any paperwork, so I thought I’d check.”

“Did you say four thousand?”

“Yeah, I know, weird. You want me to email you a copy so you can take a look?”

It came through into my inbox, and I stared at it in disbelief. Ninety-six hundred was what he’d told me. So why the fuck did the printer show the second run only cost $3,975? It became difficult to focus on anything other than his closed office door.

The clock was a goddamn liar. It said only twenty minutes had passed since the email appeared in my inbox, but it was a freaking lifetime before Logan finally pushed open his door and flipped the light on. I snatched up the print copy I’d made and marched to his office. We were already under the microscope, but I couldn’t help it.

When I shut the door, he scowled and moved to re-open it, probably thinking that this was a bad idea. “Whatever it is, it has to wait until later.”

“No, it really can’t.” I thrust the paper in his face.

He scanned it and looked angry. “I don’t know how many times I told that billing department not to put it on the summary. How’d you get this?”

“Rachel called, wanting to know if Player’s had ordered an additional run because she didn’t have a PO.”

“Is that what you told her?”

“Basically.”

Relief washed over his face. “Okay, then, we’re fine. I’ll call her and confirm that’s what happened.” When I continued to stare at him, he looked confused. How could he be so clueless?

“The amount, Logan.”

The relief vanished in a heartbeat. “Oh.”

“Oh?” I repeated. “Can you please explain?”

He wadded up the printout and tossed it in the trash. But he couldn’t stall forever. “I was able to get the printer to do the job at-cost.”

“But you—” Rising anger closed my throat.

“I lied to you. I thought when you heard how much money you were going to have to come up with, you’d back down. But you didn’t. So I was going to let you sweat it for a couple days and then tell you the truth.” The color faded from him like a gradient washing from pale to completely white. “But when I learned how you were planning to get the money . . . then I couldn’t tell you the truth. I didn’t
want
you to back down.”

He didn’t want me to have any other option. He’d forced me into that club and onto that table. If I had known it was less than four thousand, I probably could have scraped that money up in between my parents and Payton. I couldn’t look at his lying face another second.

“Evie, stop,” he said, hushed. “Please. I should have told you, and I tried, but I was so worried I was going to lose you, and then too much time went by . . .”

Surely he was trying to get me to look at him, but I refused. It wasn’t so much the initial lie that hurt, but the time he continued to let it exist that had me so upset.

“People in love don’t keep secrets from each other.”

“I didn’t want to hurt you—”

“Bullshit. You weren’t protecting me, you were protecting yourself.” I set my gaze on him, finally meeting his eyes. He stood a few feet from me with his hands on his hips, like he wasn’t sure where else to put them, worry streaking his face.

“Yes,” he admitted. “I’m sorry.”

An
actual
apology.

My brain went to war with itself. If he hadn’t lied, I wouldn’t have gone to that club, and who knows if we’d have ever gotten together. The night he’d met Payton and confessed his guilt about what he’d done showed even then he was filled with regret about the lie.

I believed you didn’t get to pick and choose the parts of a person you loved. You loved the good and the bad. All of it. So, he’d been bad and he’d hurt me, and while I wasn’t happy with him right now, I still loved him.

“You lied to me. Don’t do it again.”

He seemed to swallow hard, and nodded in agreement. As I reached for the doorknob –

“Wait.” His hollow voice lined my stomach with lead. “My lunch appointment, it’s with April.”

Everything went cold.

“Why are you having lunch with your ex?” I bit the words out. If I hadn’t caught him in that previous lie, was the plan to get away with this one, too?

“Her father passed away on Sunday night. It was very sudden, and she’s having a hard time. She’s falling apart.” His words got me to stop and focus on what he was saying. In spite of my anger, it was difficult not to feel heartache for her. “I told you that I cut her out completely.” His gorgeous brown eyes never left mine, but there was guilt behind them. “I think her father’s death made her realize she needs closure. A conversation for us both to reflect on why it went wrong, and to say goodbye.”

I took a deep breath to remain rational. “All right, you need to see her, fine. If you’d explained that, I would’ve understood. But you were going to –”

“I went crazy when you went out with Blake, and you two were only friends. I thought you were going to say no, and I owed her, so I’d planned to tell you . . . after.”

“God, Logan. I trust you completely, I mean . . . ” My voice fell to almost nothing. “The stuff we did with Payton. How can you not trust me?”

I chose to ignore the pained look in his eyes. “I was going to tell you, you have to believe me.”

“Why should I? You’ve been lying to me for months.” My voice sounded as cold as I felt. “Go. Have your lunch with April and give her the closure she needs. You and I can discuss this later. After I’ve cooled off.”

I fixed a hand on the doorknob and pulled air into my lungs, desperate to find a blank expression to hide the hurt and anger, and yanked the door open.