“I didn’t hire Parker,” she said slowly.
Phil shook his head. “Of course not. I—” He sighed heavily. “I’ll admit it. I’m not good at sharing my affections. And while it might have looked as if I was acting the Tomcat, those women meant nothing to me. I was frustrated, and it was wrong.”
Lynn wanted him to get back to the client bit. Was he claiming Parker and DreamMakers had done recon on her?
Phil leaned forward, determination marking his every move. “I never took our relationship to a physical level because I respected you so much. When it came to showing my real emotions, I found I was lacking. So I hired the best to help me set up a romantic night that would be everything you’d ever dreamed of. Eternity on the Bay restaurant, with dining and…I don’t know what else.”
Her throat tightened. “You hired DreamMakers.”
He nodded. “I wanted to make your world shine, but before all the details were in place, Mr. Wilson cancelled. Said he had too much work to do to honor our contract. I believed him, and ever since I’ve been trying my feeble best to win you back. I had no idea he’d taken advantage of the situation. He must have gotten one look at you and decided he had to have you for his own.”
Oh God. A part of her refused to believe it—Phil was a proven liar, after all—but she couldn’t deny his accusation made sense.
At least the bits about DreamMakers checking up on her. The stuff about Phil respecting her too much to sleep with her and instead having sex with other women—those comments were still waaaay out there in lala land.
But the rest…
She rose to her feet and paced the room as Phil sat silently.
Parker had never joined her again for yoga since the first time, and as sexy as it had been to watch him, he’d been a newbie, clear as day. And he and Dean coincidentally showing up at the Frog and Crown?
Nope. Her being their mark made total sense.
What didn’t make sense was the man currently staring at her with an expression of such sorrowful concern. Lynn narrowed her gaze at Phil. “Why are you telling me this now? Like—it’s not really news that concerns you.”
He gestured to the newspaper on his desk. “I didn’t realize you were dating him, not until I saw the entertainment piece.”
Her confusion deepened, but Phil pulled a section of the paper into her hands, pausing for a second as she looked over the article, her face heating at the pictures of her and Parker accompanying the piece. Bodies touching, eyes only for each other. There was nothing terribly scandalous about the shots, but it was obvious they were very comfortable physically with each other.
“The second I found out, I knew it wasn’t fair to keep you in the dark. I thought it was important for me to be honest. We had many dinner discussions while we were seeing each other, and I remembered honesty was something you felt strongly about. I should have been more honest with you about my weaknesses, and I’m sorry it not only caused our relationship to suffer, but put our friendship in jeopardy.”
Ouch. That burned. She did believe in honesty, but she also believed in passion. What she and Phil had experienced together was nothing like what she and Parker shared. Passion had to count for something, right?
The knot of pain in her chest had nothing to do with having been observed without her knowledge.
She jerked back to face Phil, holding her emotions in with an iron-clenched will. “Thanks for letting me know. I appreciate it.”
He rose and approached close enough to rest a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Do you need someone to talk to? I’m here. I know this must be a shock, but if there’s anything I can do…”
She swallowed around her tight throat. “You’ve been, well, you’ve been more open than I expected. If you don’t mind, though, I need to go.”
“Of course.”
Lynn was in the elevator before she realized he hadn’t said a word about her program. And that instead of pushing the button for her floor, she’d hit the parking level, and her car keys were already in her hand.
Forget protocol for an hour. She had an urgently needed meeting with a certain Parker Wilson.
“Goddamn, we need to start stocking the mini-fridge with bottles of Dom,” Dean declared as he stared at the report Parker had just handed him. “Screw beer—we’re in the big leagues now.”
Parker grinned, unable to hide his own enthusiasm. Their financial manager had emailed them the unofficial quarterly statement for the past three months, and the men had been stunned to find their profits had doubled.
“It was the news feature,” Jack said from his perch on the armchair. “Business has boomed since then and it hasn’t stopped booming.”