Page 44 of Black Sheep
I’ve prepared for this,I remind myself.I have a plan. Get it together. Laugh it off.
But I don’t want to lie to Cannon anymore, which is probably the dumbest thought I’ve had in my entire life. Honesty will get me killed; of that, I have no doubt. But summoning the lies to my lips is like chewing glass. I can’t speak them to his face, so I drop my gaze to the floor.
“I ... Randi told me you liked dark-eyed blondes. I ... I thought it would make it easier to get the job if you liked looking at me.”
The heavy silence threatens to suck all the oxygen from the room as I study the striations in the wood beneath my bare feet and wait for judgment to be cast.
“Take it off.” The order comes out on a growl as Cannon’s black leather loafers come into view.
The urge to shrink away and run is so strong, I almost can’t force myself to look him in the eye again. Somehow, I manage.
The pale green flames of his hazel eyes burn with such intensity that they threaten to singe me.
“Why?”
“I want to see you,” he says, ducking down to force me to hold his gaze. “The real you.”
With trembling fingers, I reach up to tug at the pins holding the wig in place and slide it off my head, taking the wig liner with it. I’m left with my long hair clipped flat to the back of my head.
I know I could have told him no, told him it’s none of his damn business if I wanted to wear a wig. But part of me wants him to see me too. The real me. The me that no one ever sees.
Even when I would report on the air, I wore a wig. In my entire life, I’ve never appeared in front of a camera without changing my appearance. It was my father’s biggest regret about his career—that it completely stole his privacy. He couldn’t go anywhere without being recognized, and he didn’t want the same for me.
I listened and I learned, stealing my stepmother’s wigs from when she was recovering from breast cancer years before. In minutes, I could look like someone else. And over the years, I got so good at it that sometimes I forgot who the real me was.
But one by one, I pull the clips from my hair, forming a stack next to my glass, and let my loosened hair fall around my shoulders until all the clips are gone. Finally, I shake out my dark brown locks and meet his eyes once more. I’m not sure what I was expecting to see there, but instead of judgment, I see curiosity and ... appreciation.
“Randi lied to you, Drew. This is so much better.”
Because I’m already in for a penny, I reach up and quickly snatch the contacts from my eyes, revealing piercing aqua-blue irises that I’ve missed seeing in the mirror.
That’s when Cannon stumbles back a step. “Jesus Christ. How could you cover those?”
The truth, that eyes like mine are too memorable for people to easily forget me, hangs on my tongue, but I can’t give that to him. No matter how much I wish I could.
“It sounded like a good idea at the time.”
I back away from him, heading for my purse to stick the contacts in the case before returning.
Cannon steps forward and runs the pad of his thumb along my jaw. “One day, I’m going to wake up next to you and see onlyyou. It’s going to be the most beautiful sight of my life.”
My knees threaten to give out as his vow wraps around me. Instead of trying to support myself, I give in to my desire and reach for Cannon.
“Kiss me. Make me believe you really want that.”
Another lie, because I know he wants that. There’s no way he can stare at me like this without his words being anything but sincere. And I don’t know if I have the willpower to resist his fantasy coming truetomorrow.
I want him.
But it’s not safe to trust him completely, because I can’t trust anyone completely.
Still, that doesn’t mean I can’t take what little bit of this I can steal. Later, I’ll have the memories, when I no longer have him in my life.
Cannon doesn’t hesitate. His lips are on mine. His tongue delves deep and twines, tangling with mine. But that’s not what sends me over the edge. No, it’s the way his hands thread through my hair, tugging at the strands and turning me from one angle to the next.
My arms wrap around his neck, and it’s all I can do to keep myself from climbing him. Cannon lifts me off the floor, but I don’t know where we’re moving until something firm brushes against my ass and I’m seated with him between my legs.
When he pulls away, I blink, trying to place myself in his office. That’s when I realize I’m seated on his desk and he’s dropping into his chair in front of me.
