The End of Faking It

It was almost an hour before Carter reappeared, a piece of paper in his hand and a frown creasing his brow. ‘Penny, I need you to—’

He broke off as her phone started ringing.

She shrugged an apology and answered it. ‘Nicholls Finance, Penny speaking.’

‘Did you get the flowers?’

‘Aaron,’ she whispered, inwardly groaning. She darted a look at Carter, then turned away on her chair so he wouldn’t see the flush rising in her cheeks. She already knew he was rude enough to stay and listen. Her best option was to end the call asap. ‘It really isn’t convenient to talk right now—’

‘Did you get them?’

‘Yes, I’m sorry, I should have called but it’s been a busy morning.’ And she could hardly let him down without some privacy. ‘Can I call you back?’

‘The roses reminded me of you. Stunningly beautiful but with some dangerous prickles.’

Yes, she’d encountered one of those real prickles. She shrank more into her chair. ‘Look, it was lovely of you but—’

‘Dinner tonight. No excuses.’

She breathed in and tried to stay calm. ‘That’s a nice idea but—’

‘I’ve already made the reservations. It’s my only night off this week and I want to spend it all with you.’

‘Aaron, I’m sorry but—’

The phone was taken out of her hand.

‘Look, mate, don’t bother. She has a new boyfriend and she’s allergic to flowers. She’s already sent them on to the hospice down the road.’

Penny stared as Carter leaned across her desk. She couldn’t hear what Aaron said in response—she could hardly process what Carter had just said so complacently.

‘Yeah, I know. Save your dough. It isn’t going to happen.’ Carter hung up the phone and then looked at her coolly. ‘So, I was saying I need you to track down some files for me.’

For a moment she was too shocked to fully feel the rising fury. But then it truck-slammed into her. ‘What did you just do?’

Carter met her gaze with inhuman calm. ‘Solved your problem. He won’t bother you again.’

‘How could you do that?’

‘Easily. And you should have done it sooner already. Your body language said one thing, your mouth another. You looked like you wanted to hide under your desk for fear he’d appear, but you were brushing him off too gentle. A guy like that doesn’t get subtle, Penny. You need the sledgehammer approach.’

‘I didn’t need you to be the sledgehammer.’ She shook her head. ‘That was bully behaviour.’

‘It was man talking to man,’ he argued with an eye-roll for added effect. ‘And more honest than the drivel coming out of your mouth.’

‘I was handling him,’ she said defensively.

‘You were playing with him.’ Now he didn’t sound so calm. Now he sounded that little bit nasty.

Her hands shook as she brushed her hair behind her ear. She hadn’t been playing with Aaron, she’d been trying to be nice.

‘Three bunches of flowers this week already, isn’t it, Penny? You’re not even honest enough to tell him you don’t want them, let alone that you don’t want him.’

Because she didn’t want to be rude. She never wanted to hurt anyone. Never. Horrified tears prickled her eyes as she panicked over Aaron’s reaction to Carter’s heavy-handedness.

‘Why are you so upset?’ He stepped closer, his eyes narrowing. ‘Oh, I get it. You liked to leave him hanging? Was it good for your ego? You like getting all the flowers and attention? You’re a tease.’

‘I’m not.’ She jerked up out of her chair, beyond hurt at the words he’d just used.

‘You are,’ he argued. ‘Why else wouldn’t you cut him free sooner?’

‘I tried.’ She snatched the paper off him and marched to the filing cabinet, hauling the drawer open with a loud bang.

‘That wasn’t trying.’ He followed and faced her as she rummaged through the files. ‘You’re not stupid, Penny. You could have flicked him off much sooner.’

‘Maybe I’m not as arrogant or as rude as you are.’ She slapped files on the top of the steel. ‘I don’t like trampling on people’s feelings.’

‘You don’t think it’s worse to string him along so your ego can be inflated some more?’

‘That wasn’t what I was doing.’ She crossed her arms in front of her chest.

‘Oh, don’t tell me you really liked him?’ He looked stunned. ‘Were you just making life hell for him? Playing with him so he’d do anything you ask him to?’

‘Of course not!’ She clenched her teeth. ‘I was trying to make it clear that nothing was going to happen. I thought I had already. But he didn’t deserve your kind of in-your-face humiliation.’

‘What he doesn’t deserve is you screwing him up and spitting him out only when you’re sick of chewing him over.’

Breathing hard, she glared at him as fury burned along her veins. ‘Wow, you think so highly of me, don’t you, Carter?’

His shoulders lifted in a mocking shrug. ‘If you really wanted rid of him, you needed to be cruel to be kind.’

‘Well, I’m not cruel,’ she said painfully. ‘I won’t ever be.’

He glared right back at her—for what felt like hours. Slowly she became aware of their isolation in the office, the smallness of the space between them. They were just about in exactly the position they’d been in last night.

‘How about honest, then, can you manage that?’ he asked quietly.

‘Not if it’s going to really hurt someone,’ she muttered. Utterly honest.

‘No.’ He shook his head. ‘That’s the coward’s way out.’

Well, what would he know about anything? For all his cruel-to-be-kind cliché, she’d bet her last cent he’d never hurt anyone the way she once had.

She blinked back her sudden tears, focused on his eyes instead. Close up now she saw even more colours in them—not just green and blue but shots of gold as well. All of a sudden she was trying really, really hard not to think of that kiss and how incredible she’d felt. Trying really, really hard not to notice how his mouth looked fuller today.

The atmosphere changed completely. It seemed he’d forgotten his anger too. But there was no less emotion in the air—it just transformed and intensified as it swirled around them. Somehow it made her feel even worse than when he’d been so rude on the phone. Somehow she was more afraid. She couldn’t move, couldn’t speak.

‘Do you want me to kiss you again, Penny?’ he asked. ‘Is that the real problem here?’