_OceanofPDF

“You’re saying you have a history,” I guessed.
“Half right.” She took the teapot. “I have a present history.”
It clicked. Thank God I wasn’t that much of an idiot. “You did the house
in Westlake.”
“Gold star.” She tapped the tip of my nose.
“Okay, so?”
“We’re a secret collective. There are maybe two dozen of us, in and out,
you know? Everyone does what they can, but no one talks. No one. Like
fight club. So if you tell anyone, I’ll have to kill you.”
Everything I’d assumed about her was wrong. She’d shed another
protective layer and revealed someone so captivating and complex, I found
myself awed by my unexpected desire.
“And you were never charged?” I needed to hear her tell the truth.
“Once.” Her shirt hitched up when she put the pot in a high cabinet.
Another tattoo on her belly. “Had to pick up garbage on the side of the
101.”
“Bet you stopped traffic.”
She bit her lip, and though she turned away so I wouldn’t see, I would
have bet my shares in Crowne Industries that she was blushing.
“Still want to get married?” she asked. “Because I have a record. I do
things people don’t like. Illegal things. The internet will destroy my work
then eat you alive. I’m a dead weight. I’ll drag your family name to the
bottom of the ocean.”
Her life was too complicated. I needed a simple and believable
situation. She was a bad business decision. Too much risk.
But the risk was the attraction. I’d gone from needing her to wanting
her, and the want was strong enough to pull everything out of whack. I
wanted to fuck her. Tame her. Touch the explosive heat inside her.
My body’s desire set off alarms in my mind.
“You’re right,” I said. “It can’t be you.”
No matter what choice I made, her or someone else, I would have
regretted it, but this tasted especially bitter.
“I hope you find someone,” she said. “Or you could just, you know, do
what your father wants. Take a break from work. Have a little fun. Fathers
have a way of dying. Making them happy isn’t such a bad idea.”
“I can’t be a different person for him or anyone.”
“Fake it ‘til you make it.”