As if on cue, the car pulled to a stop in front of their hotel and his multitude of confessions had to wait.
The two of them demanded attention as he guided her through the hotel lobby and into the elevator. Those eyes often turned into the flash of a camera after he stayed in a hotel for more than two nights. It wouldn’t be long until the media would follow Gabi everywhere she went. Especially once the news broke.
Gabi paused inside the door and removed her shoes.
Hunter went straight to the bar. “Want something?”
Gabi walked toward him, her shoes dangling from her fingers. “I don’t know . . . do I?”
He went ahead and poured her a vodka before shrugging off his jacket and sitting at one end of the sofa.
She followed his actions, dropped her shoes beside a chair, and sat. She tucked her feet under her and waited.
Where the hell was his tongue? He couldn’t wait any longer. The collision course in his life, the one that drove him to rapidly acquire a wife, was on him. More than that . . . the woman waiting patiently for him to open up was doing something inside him that he hadn’t expected.
He didn’t deserve her trust, her respect, but he was hell-bent on earning it.
“Tell me about your truth and redemption,” she said when he remained silent.
“I can’t do that without feeding purgatory and hell.”
“You have to start somewhere. Why not start with what caught your attention during dinner.”
He removed the phone from the jacket he’d carelessly tossed on the back of the couch, brought up the picture, and handed it to Gabi.
She leaned forward and took his phone. “Unless this was taken yesterday, I don’t see the problem.”
Gabi handed him back the phone.
“It was taken three months ago at a studio party. Her name is Sheila Watson.”
“You two look cozy.”
Hunter glanced at the image again, saw things Gabi didn’t.
“Looks can be deceiving. I’m not entirely sure how that picture was taken, but one thing is for sure, it was taken on purpose. Just like the others.”
“Others?”
He found the e-mail hidden in a folder and pulled up a handful of pictures that had started to arrive shortly after he’d met Sheila. Hunter once again handed her the phone and told her to scroll.
As Gabi looked at the many pictures, some more suggestive than others, her face was blank. “How long was your affair?”
The question alone was why he’d embarked on his dance to hell in the first place. “We didn’t have an affair. That isn’t me.”
Gabi lifted the phone closer and opened the pictures wider.
“My brother, Noah.”
“The one you don’t get along with.”
“Understatement, but yes.” Hunter swirled the ice in his glass, took a drink.
“Wow, you two really look exactly alike.”
“Our looks aren’t the only thing my brother is banking on. You see, he had an affair with Sheila.”
Gabi gasped. “Oh, no . . . posing as you?”
“No. Not that I know of. No, I’m sure Sheila knew exactly who she was sleeping with and why. The picture at the studio event was me. It was the first time I’d met the woman. Everyone at the event knew I was there. There is no disputing our acquaintance. To make things even sweeter, she showed up in my New York office pleading a need to see me. She was much too pushy and needy for my taste. Flattery from someone’s attraction dissipates quickly when you believe they’re unbalanced.”
“Do you think her motivation in invading your work was just attraction?” Gabi asked.
“No. It was by design. She wanted people to see us together.”
“For what purpose?”
“Blackmail.” He finished his drink. “Ironic when I think about what I had to do to destroy her goals.”
Gabi sat a little taller. “This is where I come in.”
He unfolded from the couch and brought the decanter of whiskey to his glass. “I wasn’t lying when I first told you I needed a wife to ward off the number of women claiming I’d promised them marriage.”
“I’m sure that’s true, but sincerely doubt marriage was your only solution to that problem.”
He offered a half-ass smile from across the coffee table. “Except some were determined to make a killing on their accusations. You see, Sheila had a child nine months ago. My twin brother’s child. I don’t know what came first, the child or the plan. Doesn’t really matter.”
“Oh, no.”
Hunter could see the light in Gabi’s eyes spark.
“Sheila manages a few pictures of the two of us at the party . . . makes a surprise appearance in my office, corners me during a lunch meeting. Then a note arrives from Noah. Congratulations, Daddy. Words no man ever wants to hear and yet every one of us deserves to at least once in our lives. But not from a woman they’ve never touched.”
The confession hung between them for a few seconds before Gabi asked, “Your need for a wife was so she wouldn’t blackmail you into marriage?”