“Do you think a guy doesn’t notice when the girl he’s fallen for is completely in love with someone else?”
“I’m not in love with Dylan,” she denied automatically. Inside her head, an alarm started to blare. A flash of heat went through her, a prelude to panic, because it wasn’t like a lie she’d ever told before. This lie mattered. It felt utterly wrong, like a breach of nature, saying what she’d just said.
“You’re crazy about him,” Thad stated, his mouth twisting in bitter anger. He stepped closer. “And that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. You need to be careful of Fall. He’s manipulating you. He’s hiding things from you, Alice.”
“No he’s not,” she defended Dylan automatically, her voice going high. The front of Thad’s body was brushing against her now, and she was so confused. “Not anymore, he’s not!”
“Don’t trust him, Alice.”
And then his mouth was on hers, at first hard and angry . . . then warm and coaxing. In her worked-up state, Alice lost herself for a moment. It was a good kiss.
It wasn’t Dylan’s kiss.
She hated that Thad had voiced her deepest fear. She didn’t know if she could trust Dylan or not, but she was hopelessly in love with him. It was a horrible, awesome realization.
She staggered back, gasping. Staring at Thad, she touched her mouth dazedly. Regret flickered across Thad’s face.
“Alice—”
She shook her head adamantly, cutting him off. She spun and hurried out of the clearing.
“Alice, you’ve got to listen to me about Fall. He’s not being honest with you!”
“Who is?” she muttered bitterly under her breath, never breaking stride.
She would’ve thought the day Dylan told her about Addie Durand would have been the most disturbing day she’d known in her life, but it wasn’t.
That morning in the woods took the grand prize.
FIVE
Kuvi stared at her, her hazel eyes wide with blank shock. Night had fallen. Alice had left her kids safely in the night supervisor’s charge. She and Kuvi sat in their luxurious cabin’s small living room area, still wearing their day’s camp attire. Her roommate was flabbergasted because Alice had just told her with whom she’d been spending her nights.
“Dylan Fall,” Kuvi repeated with blank incredulity.
Alice laughed.
“What?” Kuvi asked, no doubt surprised by Alice’s burst of amusement after such a tense proclamation.
“Nothing,” Alice said between jags of laughter. “You just sounded exactly like I did when Maggie, my advisor at grad school, dropped the bomb last May that I’d be interviewing with the CEO of Durand Enterprises instead of the vice president of human resources. I was floored, too.”
“But this is different. It’s bigger,” Kuvi defended, glancing around their cabin like she’d never seen it before. She met Alice’s gaze. “You’ve been sleeping with Dylan Fall?”
Alice wiped a tear off her cheek from her short jag of laughter. She was bordering on hysteria, no doubt.
“I know. I couldn’t believe Dylan was interested in me, either,” Alice replied.
“It’s not that,” Kuvi insisted. “Why wouldn’t he be interested in you? You’re brilliant and naturally beautiful and you’ve got all that going on,” Kuvi said, waving vaguely in the vicinity of Alice’s breasts. “I’m not saying that’s what Fall is after, although I’m sure it doesn’t hurt matters any,” she added when she saw Alice roll her eyes. “I just mean—you’re sleeping with that bloody gorgeous man?” She picked up a pillow and threw it at Alice, a grin breaking through her disquietude. “I knew there was something between you two that night at the castle. What’s the sex like?”
“Kuvi,” Alice muttered repressively.
“Never mind. It’s fantastic, isn’t it? You only have to look once at Fall to know it’d be smoking and a little dangerous, too. How did you get so lucky?”
“Shhh, keep it down,” Alice said, glancing around nervously to the front door. The door was closed, thank goodness. Alice squeezed the caught pillow next to her belly in an anxious gesture. “I told you, no one else can know about this, Kuvi. Can you imagine what would happen if Kehoe found out?”
Kuvi sniffed. “He’d have a cow, the bloody tyrant. But what could he do, really? He can’t fire Fall. If he fired you, he’d have to face Fall’s wrath. Am I right?”