Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 106150 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106150 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Oh, Austin certainly needed something. I added a large black mark to my mental tally of his offenses.
“Go on,” I all but growled.
“Uh… okay. Well, three days later, I got a form-letter rejection. Dear Mr. Prince, blah blah blah, we do not feel that your ‘Project Daisy Chain’ merits further development by our company at this time. It was disappointing, but I figured—ow!” Rowe winced and pushed at my hand. “Bash, I’m gonna need this knee later.”
I realized too late that I’d been squeezing Rowe’s leg with possibly bruising force. I instantly snatched my hand away. “Christ, I’m so sorry.”
“What’s up with you? You were okay, and then I quoted the rejection letter, and your face just got all…” He blinked. “Oh. Fuck. It’s Austin Purcell, isn’t it? He’s the one who had a similar idea to Daisy Chain? Do you think that’s why he rejected me?”
Rowe was so fucking sweet. Instead of immediately jumping to the conclusion that someone had stolen his idea and passed it off as their own, he was giving Austin the benefit of the doubt.
I was way past that.
Still, though, I tried to speak diplomatically. “I’m concerned that it’s a bit… worse than that.”
“You think he stole it.”
Okay, so maybe I hadn’t spoken as diplomatically as I’d thought.
“Yeah,” I admitted. “That’s exactly what I think. I think he’s passing your idea off as his own.”
“But… why?”
“Rowe, sweetheart.” I huffed out a laugh and cupped his cheek. “You really don’t know much about profitability, do you?” I smiled to take the sting out of my words. “MRO or Medical Response Optimization—what we’ve been calling the project in-house—was going to make a ton of money, and Austin was going to own the patents.”
“Was?”
“Yes. Was. I already told Kenji we were putting the project on hold the minute I first suspected what was happening. There’s no way I’m profiting off anyone’s stolen idea. It’s going to take some work to get to the bottom of everything, but we will. And Austin doesn’t know it, but he made a huge fucking error when he targeted you—ooof.”
This time, it was Rowe who kissed me—kissed me with utter abandon, locking his arms around my neck and throwing himself bodily against me. His kiss, like so much about him, was artless and enthusiastic… and utterly devastating. I gave up the rest of my self-control and pulled him onto my lap, holding him against me and breathing him in.
The person I’d been just a week ago would have been shocked to see me now, grabbing onto the liar from the gala with both arms, embracing the chaos my life had become. But as long as I had Rowe in my arms… I didn’t give a shit.
SIXTEEN
ROWE
Being held in Bash’s strong grip made me feel treasured, protected, safe. Like anything was possible and I was strong enough to take on the world. I wanted to stay exactly like this for hours. Days. I didn’t want to question any of it… but I couldn’t help it.
“How can you believe me so easily?” I asked into the side of his neck. His cologne smelled amazing, and I didn’t want to pull away from him, even though I knew I should. “I lied to you most of the time we were together.”
To my surprise, Bash laughed. “Rowe, I truly hate to break this to you, but you’re a terrible liar. Not only did I know you couldn’t possibly be Sterling—”
“Since there is no Sterling…”
“Right,” he laughed. “But also, your whole body tenses up when you lie. Your voice changes. Which is how I know you told the truth a lot more than you lied.”
He was right, and I really loved that he knew that. “There go my dreams of being an international spy,” I mock-sighed. “I’ve been a horrible liar since childhood. Remind me sometime to tell you about the time I nearly drowned while pretending to drown.”
He laughed again, and it rumbled through me, lodging deep in my chest. “I definitely will. For now, just know that I trust you. And we’re going to work together to get as much evidence as we can for the legal team. I don’t suppose you happened to secretly watermark any of the documents with ‘Property of Rowe Prince’?”
“Uh, no.”
“I didn’t think so. Know why? Because you’re the most honest liar ever.” He gave me a pointed look, and I flushed. “At least Austin doesn’t know we’re onto him, which might make things easier.”
I chewed at the side of my lip for a minute. “He recognized me, sorta. Downstairs. Even with the mustache on. He said he’d seen my picture and wanted to know my name, but I didn’t tell him.”
Bash’s face was stormy for a moment. “Good. We’ll figure out a way to get you out of here without him seeing you.” He touched my face in a way that suggested he wanted to be touching other parts of me but was holding back.