Something else caught my attention. For someone who’d brazenly requested that two different men meet her at this hotel for sex, Bianca looked awfully tense. She seemed to be breathing in and out heavily and was checking her watch every ten seconds. Something wasn’t right.
I had no words, no clue what I was going to say or do. The only course of action was to wing it and then figure out how to handle the rest minute by minute. Was I Jay or was I about to come out to her as Dex? Who the fuck knows.
Walking slowly toward her with my hands in my pockets, I said a prayer that this didn’t turn out as ugly as I fully expected it to.
When she noticed me, she stood up, brushing off her dress. “Hi.”
“Hello, Bianca.”
She nodded once. “Jay.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. The name had rolled off her tongue almost bitterly. Her body language was uninviting, and so, I opted not to lean in for a kiss.
Clearing my throat, I said, “I have to admit. I was really taken aback by your invitation.”
“Well, it’s about time you knew everything about me, Jay.”
I thought I did.
Staring at her luscious lips, I suddenly felt possessive—angry. “A fucking threesome, Bianca? How did we get here? Explain why it is you feel you need more than one man to satisfy you at once? A real man should be able to do that all on his own.”
“You want to know the truth?”
Ironic, but yes. “I do.”
“Each of you has separate qualities that appeal to me.”
“Explain.”
“See…he has the most amazing brain. He’s smart, ambitious, and powerful. And yet, there’s a soft side that’s humane, to the point where he makes me want to be a better person. He also expresses interest in me, not just physically, but in everything about me.”
I swallowed. “And me?”
“You’re mysterious. And I’m extremely physically attracted to you. But lately, I think about him when I’m with you. So, I thought…what better way to satisfy all of my needs than to invite you both here tonight.”
My pulse raced. “I can’t believe you’d want to cheapen what we have by bringing someone else into the equation. As if I could sit back and passively watch as another man’s dick was moving in and out of you.”
“Did you come here to interrogate me…to judge me?”
“I kind of want to know what the hell you’re thinking, yeah. I thought I had you pegged, and this really threw me for a loop. How could you ever think I’d be willing to share you?”
She took two steps forward and spoke into my face. “If the best parts of the two of you were rolled into one man, we wouldn’t have this problem.”
Fuck. Me.
I couldn’t hold it in a second longer. It was time.
“Bianca, there’s something you need to—”
“Let me ask you something, Jay. How did you know the friend I was meeting here with you was a man anyway?”
“Your text.”
“No. I never mentioned the gender of my friend. Ever.” Her eyes had daggers in them.
Fuck. While I’d figured it out based on her text to Jay, she never did say the third party was a male. I’d been so messed up about this, I’d forgotten that she never actually specified.
It had finally happened. I’d fucked up.
“You slipped, Dex.”
Dex?
Did she just say my name, or have I finally lost my mind enough to start hearing things?
“What did you call me?”
“Dex…as in Dexter Truitt.”
She knows?
She knows.
This was a trap.
My heart was beating out of control. “How long have you known it was me?”
Her eyes were glistening. “Does it matter?”
“I need to know how long you’ve been—”
“Tricking you?” she yelled. “How does it feel, Dexter?” she shouted even louder. “How does it feel to be manipulated?”
Suddenly, I realized all eyes in the lobby were on us.
“Oh, we have an audience, Dex!” Holding out her hand, she cried, “The famous Dexter Truitt everyone! Multi-millionaire CEO of Montague Enterprises. He just showed up for a threesome with me and another man. Feel free to take photos. They’ll land you some good money.”
Thankfully, no one seemed to give a shit.
“Stop, Bianca.”
“You want me to stop? Are you afraid everyone will know what a liar you are?”
Feeling like I had no other choice, I took her by the waist and lifted her up over my shoulder.
She wiggled her legs. “What are you doing?”
“You’re not letting me get a word in edgewise. We need to go somewhere and talk in private.”
“Put me down!”
“Did you really book a room?” I asked.
“No, I didn’t get a room. I’m not really a whore—unlike you who agreed to a threesome with my ‘friend.’”
“Make no mistake, I had no intention of sharing you, Bianca. Not with a woman. Not with a man. Not with anyone.”
Still holding her over my shoulder, I arrived at the front desk. “We need a room, please.”
“Oh, no, we don’t!”
The receptionist awkwardly asked, “Two beds or one?”
“One, please.”
“Excuse me?” Bianca asked.
“We’re not using it, Bianca. We just need a place to talk.”
“I’m not going to your room.”
“You’ll go, or the article isn’t happening.”
“Too late. The interview is finished.”
“I’ll renege my permission to publish it. I’ll sue the magazine. Better yet, I’ll buy the magazine.” When the woman at the desk handed me the key card, I nodded. “Thank you.”
I carried her to the elevator and put her down only after the doors closed. Pinning her against the wall, I said, “I’m not letting you go tonight until you hear me out. Do I need to carry you out of here, or are you going to walk with me?”
The hotel room door latched shut. With my back against it, I crossed my arms protectively over my chest. You could’ve heard a pin drop.
Dex sat on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands, then raked his fingers through his hair. Even as I stood there filled with anger, I wished it were me running my fingers through his mane. When he looked up at me, there wasn’t an ounce of amusement in his piercing blue eyes. They displayed a seriousness that I’d never seen from him before. Well, from Jay.
“How did you find out?” he finally asked.
“I don’t need to divulge that to you.”
“Fair enough.” Dex let out a deep breath. “You need to know that I always planned to tell you, Bianca. Always.”
“Then why lie to me in the first place?” My voice cracked. “I’ve tried to figure it out but I just can’t. It couldn’t have been to sleep with me, because you passed that up. So, why? Just to screw with my head?”
“No!” His complexion turned an angry shade of red. “Fuck…no, Bianca.”
“Then why?”
“It was as simple as just wanting to experience getting to know you without the preconceived notions you had about me. You made it very clear what you thought about ‘Mister Moneybags’ in that elevator. It was a split-second decision that I truly regret. A stupid lie.”
“Stupid lie? You pretended to be someone else, Dex. There’s really no bigger lie in this world than falsifying who you are.”