Page 17 of Trade It All (The Barrington Billionaires 3)
“That’s so sad,” Kate said sincerely.
Willa shrugged. Only if I remember. And I don’t want to. “Not really. It’s just the way it was.”
“Moving in?” Clay asked from the doorway.
Kate made a quick departure. Willa moved the box off the desk and hastily organized some of the items into the drawers of the desk. She paused when she realized he was watching her. Oh, shit. This is his desk, really. And here I am putting stuff in the drawers like it’s mine. She started taking the items back out. “I’m sorry. This was delivered. I should have asked if you wanted any of it in your desk.”
Clay leaned against the door jam. “Put whatever you want in here. Consider the office yours. I don’t really do desks.” He walked over and looked into the box on the floor. “Is that a lunch bag with your name on it?”
Willa blushed and pushed the box aside with her foot. “Sophie Barrington sent it. She must have heard I took this job.” She took a deep breath and fought for inner calm. Seeing Lance that morning had brought everything back. Dark thoughts that had been securely tucked away were fighting for space in her head again. She was keeping it all contained, but it was taking everything she had.
Clay sized Willa up from head to toe. “And she likes you. Interesting.”
He’s curious, that’s all. All I have to do is convince him that there is nothing interesting and he’ll move on to something else. “I’ve known the family for a long time.”
“The Barringtons are an intense bunch, aren’t they? Really uptight.”
Willa looked away, not wanting to say anything one way or the other. She picked up the stapler to place it off to one side of the desk. “Every family has their good points and their challenges.”
“Why didn’t it work out between you and Lance?”
The stapler hit the floor. Willa scrambled to pick it up. She looked straight into Clay’s eyes and lied. “There was never anything between us.”
“You’re not a good liar.”
I can’t do this. I won’t do this. Willa straightened her shoulders. “Do you have a list of job responsibilities for me?”
Clay smiled. “I like you, Willa. You’ve got this genuine vibe going. I respect that. I get that none of this is my business, but it’s like a car crash I can’t look away from. What is it about Lance you don’t like?”
Willa blushed again and hated that she wasn’t better at hiding how she felt. Lexi would never betray herself that way.
Clay straightened from the door. “You do like him. Oh, that’s even more interesting.”
If Clay hadn’t been blocking the only exit, Willa would have withdrawn. Feeling trapped, she forced a smile. “Like I said, I’ve known the family a long time. I like all of them.”
Clay tapped a finger on his chin as he studied her. “You lie like someone who hates to, but you’re willing to about this. Which means you’re hiding something. Sweet Willa has a secret. That’s it, isn’t it? There’s something you don’t want anyone to know.”
Willa’s knees buckled beneath her, and she put a hand on the top of the desk to steady herself. There was only one way out of the situation outside of shoving him aside, and that was to convince him he was wrong. Willa straightened. “With that imagination you should write mysteries. There is no big secret. I’m not hiding anything. Now, if it’s okay with you, I’d like get started on what you hired me for.”
“Great, let’s move this meeting over to Lance’s office. He said he has some preliminary sketches he wants me to look over. You could take notes on what we discuss.”
Bringing a shaky hand up to her mouth, Willa said, “I—I—”
Clay smiled again. “You don’t want to go there.”
Willa hugged her other arm to her stomach. “I don’t want to go there.”
“Because he slept with your twin?”
“No.”
Snapping a finger in the air, Clay said, “He said he wanted to?”
Oh, my God. How do I stop this? “Mr. Landon. None of this is any of your business.”
Clay rubbed his chin again. “I feel like I’m close. I don’t believe there was nothing between you. Is he a sick bastard? Does he want to wear nylons during sex or something like that? I knew a guy like that once. Well, I knew his ex-girlfriend. She told me about it.” He shuddered. “Try to get that image out of your head. I haven’t been able to.”
Willa blinked a few times then shook her head. I have to get out of here. She picked up her purse. “I really want to work for you, but this whole conversation is inappropriate.” She looked pointedly at the door, hoping he’d get the hint and step aside.
In a much more serious tone, Clay asked, “Did he hurt you?”
Willa froze. She opened her mouth to say he didn’t but no sound came out.
All amusement left Clay’s expression. “He did hurt you.”
“It was a very long time ago.”
Clay folded his arms over his chest. “I don’t think I want you seeing him.”
There was an absurdity to the conversation that put a sad smile on Willa’s face. “As I said it’s not any of your business.”
“A woman like you deserves someone nice.”
“Like me?” For some reason his words struck a chord with her. The overwhelming memories she’d been pushing aside since she’d seen Lance that morning came rushing back. She thought about how she’d all but thrown herself at Lance the night they’d been together, how she hadn’t told him about the pregnancy after she knew. She thought about how close she’d come to aborting the baby and how she’d lost it anyway after she’d decided to keep it. She’d been so angry after it happened that she’d slept with a few men she didn’t care about just because she wanted to wipe Lance out of her mind. All that had done was make her feel worse. “You don’t know me.” Tears filled her eyes as she said the words.
“What the hell is going on in here?” Dax’s voice boomed into the office, making Willa’s humiliation complete.
“She’s not crying because of me. Okay, partly because of me, but mostly because of your future brother-in-law Lance.”
“Fuck,” Dax said, pushing past Clay and closing the door behind him. He came to a stop a foot from Willa. “What did he do?”
“Nothing,” Willa said, trying to blink away her tears.
“He did something,” Clay said with authority. “But she won’t tell me what.”
Dax glared at his friend. “You couldn’t stay out of my family, could you? You had to dig and dig until you found something. What am I supposed to do with this??
??
Willa started to edge her way out of the office. “Nothing. This is just a big misunderstanding.”
Dax took out his phone. “I’m calling Kenzi.”
“No,” Willa said and grabbed his phone. “Don’t. Please don’t.” Dax and Clay looked at her as if she was losing her mind. Willa held his phone to her chest. “There is nothing to tell her because nothing happened.”
There was a cold anger in Dax’s eyes that sent a shiver down Willa’s spine. “Willa, if he hurt you in any way . . .”
Willa closed her eyes briefly as the enormity of where this was going sunk in. Kenzi had just confessed to her family that she’d been raped as a teenager. Dax was the first person Kenzi had told. He was looking at this situation through that lens. “It’s not what you’re thinking, Dax.”
Dax stepped closer to her. “Did. He. Hurt. You?”
A tear spilled down Willa’s cheek even as she lied. “No.”
In a gentle tone Dax said, “Don’t protect him, Willa. And don’t be afraid. No one will think any less of you.”
Angrily wiping her tears away, Willa said, “Why are you doing this?” More tears spilled over. “I need to get out of here.” She handed his phone back to him and pushed past both of them.
Dax stepped in front of her. “Kenzi thought the truth would turn people away from her, but it didn’t. If something happened, even with her brother, she could help you.”
“Please let me leave.”
Dax folded his arms across his chest. “I will if you can look me in the eye and tell me that Lance didn’t hurt you.”
It was too much. Too emotional. Too confusing. Willa said more than she meant to. “He didn’t mean to. We were young. He’d been drinking when I went to see him . . .” Willa’s voice trailed away as she realized that the way she’d said it fit with what Dax thought. “It isn’t what you think.”
Dax seemed to grow taller with anger. He turned to Clay. “Where is Lance now?”
“At his office, I imagine. We had planned to meet him there,” Clay said.
Turning on his heel, Dax strode out of the office.
Willa stood in frozen horror, then bolted after him. “Don’t do this, Dax.”
