Dirty Little Secrets: A tempting friends to lovers romance. Kierney Scott

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ When they first met, Megan had gone through several men, the encounters were too brief to be considered relationships. “Yes. I slept with James Emerson and if you ask again I will leave. Honestly Ben, you are not the only one who’s entitled to a sex life.”

      She was stepping into uncharted waters by mentioning Ben’s sex life, but she was too upset to dance around the issue. Ben had a special friend, if he could have sex, so could she.

      “Love, you are more than entitled, you just never partake. But well done you for getting back in the game. And with such a gorgeous man, the interview must have gone really well.”

      “No, it was an unmitigated disaster. I’m not sure what happened. One minute I was getting a salad ready and the next I was up against the wall.” Her cheeks warmed at the memory. “Are you mad?”

      “Should I be mad?” Ben asked.

      “I had sex with a reporter.”

      “And?” Ben pressed.

      “And what? That is bad enough. I don’t need an ‘and’, do I?”

      “He’s unlikely to say anything. There is no story there. He wants to keeps his nose clean as much as anyone else. After the senate hearings on the wire-tapping debacle, he wants to stay out of the spotlight as much as you. Trust me.”

      She bit down on her lower lip as she contemplated Ben’s logic. “Do you really think so?”

      “Absolutely. He is the perfect one-night stand.”

      “Really?” she asked dubiously. “Someone could find out,” she pressed, still not convinced.

      “I’m not suggesting you go out and sleep with a different man every night, but if you are going to have sex, he is a good choice. He’s hardly going to sell a story on himself. And if he does print anything, you deny it, we threaten to sue and we force him to relive the wire-tapping scandal.” Ben wrapped a protective arm around her and gave her a reassuring smile.

      He looked happy, so different to the despondent man she had left last night. “Did you…?” She did not know precisely how to phrase it. “You don’t seem as upset about—”

      “We worked it out,” Ben interrupted her before she could say his name. “He came over and we talked things out.”

      The way he was smiling led her to believe that they had done more than talk. “I am glad you’re friends again,” she said softly. She wished for Ben’s sake that she could say lovers or partners or any other word that would acknowledge the depth of the two men’s relationship. But she wouldn’t. Those were words that were left unsaid. She had never even met the man Ben loved. Ben and Megan shared everything, apart from that. That was a secret that Ben kept just for himself. She did not press the issue because she knew about those kinds of secrets too.

      Megan leaned over and kissed Ben on the cheek before she slid off the bed. “Good night, Ben. I’m going to go sleep off the shame.”

      “Wait, are you done with your story? You sleep with the most eligible man in DC and you don’t give details?” Ben grabbed her hand and pulled her back towards him.

      “No, I’m going to pretend it never happened.”

      “That bad?”

      No, that good. Megan said nothing. She did not want to think about it. She did not want to remember the way he felt or the way he smelled. She certainly did not want to remember the way her stomach went into free fall when he kissed her. She was going to curl into her soft warm bed and sleep for the entire weekend. On Monday she would worry about things like gorgeous journalists, and domestic violence cases that were never as straightforward as they should be.

       Chapter Six

      Megan was going to firebomb the cherry tree in front of her window. She folded her down pillow in half and pressed it into her ears, but it still did not drown out the incessant chirping of the birds. The tree was going to have to go. It was harbouring auditory terrorists in the form of small winged creatures.

      “It’s Sunday!” she shouted into the darkness. The sun had not even risen enough to give her room any light, but yet the avian choir was practising. She knew from experience that once she was up she was up for good. There was no point in even trying to go back to sleep. So much for her weekend of relaxation, she may as well make a start on her closing arguments. They weren’t going to write themselves, and she still had to make an effort even though Dixon would be walking on the rape and battery charges. She wasn’t even angry about it any more because she was going to make sure he did a good long time for his assault on James Emerson.

      Megan closed her eyes and groaned as she collapsed back into her bed. She needed to stop beating herself up for Friday night; no harm no foul, and it wasn’t like she ever had to see James again, other than in a strictly professional capacity. She would have to see him when she prepped him for trial, if it came to that. In a perfect world Dixon would plead guilty and Megan could move swiftly on to the next wife-beating rapist.

      Megan slipped into her fluffy pink dressing gown and went downstairs to make coffee. She turned on the coffee maker and went for the paper. There was a crossword with her name on it. Possibly the only part about getting up at the crack of dawn was getting to the paper before Ben had the chance to pull it apart and scatter it across the kitchen table. She loved him dearly, but that was an annoying habit.

      Megan stifled a yawn as she opened the front door. She was momentarily stunned by a flash. She blinked her eyes and then there was another, and another, and then seemingly out of nowhere, people began calling her name. Their voices were loud and shrill as they shouted out questions.

      She squinted to see through the bright flashes. Her heart jumped into her mouth. She had to remind herself to breathe. There was an army of people on her front lawn. No, that wasn’t the right word, they were journalists. It was an insult to the rest of the population to call them people.

      Dozens of cameras were trained on her. Instinctively, her hands flew to the opening of her robe, gathering it tight around her neck.

      She closed her eyes and took in a slow calming breath. She stared directly into the crowd, her back straight, her gaze never faltering. She could not make out what they were shouting at her, past her name and “Is it true?” Is what true? She counted to five, allowing the photographers to snap away. She was not going to run, that would give them the power.

      She forced a smile. Her muscles rebelled against the simple action, but she was determined not to show any emotion. Her feelings were not for public consumption. Slowly she bent down and picked up the newspaper and then closed the door behind her.

      Her fingers shook as she bolted the door. She pressed her back against the cold wooden panel and slid to the floor, her breath leaving her in a quick whoosh. She closed her eyes and concentrated on slowly filling her lungs. If everything went to plan, this time next year, she would be married to the Vice President of the United States of America. She needed to get used to journalists on her doorstop. But did prey ever become comfortable with their predators?

      Several minutes passed before her legs could support her. Megan stood up and walked back to the kitchen. She poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down with the paper. She was not going to let anyone ruin what was left of her weekend. She was going to do the crossword like she did every Sunday before СКАЧАТЬ