The Seduction 4 by Roxy Sloane Read Free Book Online Page A

must
be on my way. You look well, darling. Give my love to your brother.”
With a smug grin, Julianne turns on her heel and sashays away.
    Silence.
    “Vaughn?” I finally
ask, my voice shaking. Insecurity ripples through me, ice-cold. “Is
it true, what she said?”
    “Yes.” Vaughn
answers curtly, snapping back to life. He beckons the waiter over,
and orders a steak, rare, like nothing’s happened. “Keely?” he
prompts me. I blink, food the furthest thing from my mind. He sighs.
“She’ll take the salmon,” he instructs the waiter, sending him
away.
    My head spins. I knew
Vaughn had a past, that there were women before me. Dozens. Hundreds.
But he always said, he didn’t do relationships. The one time I made
him take me on a real date, he did everything he could to shut it
down.
    Now I discover there
was a woman in his life, for real. A woman he wanted to marry, to
start a family with.
    A woman he was willing
to say vows for.
    “Talk to me, Vaughn,”
I say, hating the pleading note in my voice. “I thought we said no
more secrets.”
    “Julianne isn’t a
secret.” Vaughn spits out her name. “She’s the worst fucking
mistake of my life. That’s all you need to know.”
    “But that’s not
enough.” I frown. “What happened? How long were you together? Why
did it end?”
    “Dammit, Keely, I
said that’s all.” Vaughn scowls at me.
    I take a deep breath,
suddenly feeling on the edge of tears.
    I thought things were
different now. I thought he was finally letting me in. But if Vaughn
is still hiding something as big as this, what else is still lurking
in his past, undiscovered?
    “Excuse me.” I get
to my feet and bolt for the restrooms. I need a moment away from him,
to pull myself together before I lose it completely.
    The marble bathroom is
small and cool, and I run my wrists under the cold faucet, trying to
talk myself down.
    The door flies open.
    “What---” I can’t
even get the word out before Vaughn is slamming me back against the
wall, claiming my mouth in a violent kiss.
    I gasp for air. He
pulls away, clutching at my body through my clothes. Groping my
breast, shoving his leg between my thighs.
    “What are you doing?
Vaughn!” I protest as he yanks up my skirt. He wrenches his belt
open and frees his swollen cock.
    “What does it look
like?” he growls, pushing me back against the wall. “I’m
putting my dick back where it belongs.”
    He pulls my thighs
apart, panting. There’s a weird desperation in his eyes like I’ve
never seen before.
    “No!” I shove him
away. “Not like this. Talk to me, Vaughn. Tell me what’s going
on.”
    Vaughn lets out a
curse. He slams the bathroom wall and whirls around.
    “Vaughn,” I call,
but he storms out. The door swings shut behind him.
    * * *
    I don’t know what to
do, I feel so confused, so I straighten up my clothes and head back
to work. The office is quiet during lunch, and I wander the long
route to my office, trying in vain to reach Vaughn on his cell.
    You
know what the hell to do. Message at the beep.
    “It’s me,” I say,
“Come on, Vaughn, please call me. I don’t even know what just
happened, but whatever you have to say, I’ll listen. I’m here for
you, remember? We’re a team now.”
    I hang up slowly,
calmer now. This Julianne woman hurt him; that much is clear. I
shouldn’t be jealous. I just need to give Vaughn time to open up.
He’s emotional right now, blind-sided -- that’s why he tried to
blot her out in the only way he knows how.
    I have to believe he’ll
talk to me in time.
    “Penny for them?”
Cam’s voice cuts through my thoughts. I look up. I’m outside his
office, the door open. He’s at his desk, looking at some papers as
he eats takeout from a box.
    “Give me another
week, and that’s all the company’ll be worth,” I sigh, stepping
inside.
    Cam shakes his head.
“It’s not over until the fat lady sings,” he says. “Or in our
case, until the last member votes.”
    I pause. I know