Page 90 of Illicit Education

My eyes widened and his words from Friday night rushed back to me with perfect clarity. Which was not at all helpful now.Afterthe fact. “I’m so sorry.”

“You may go.”

I inclined my head, then grimaced and gave the other guy a quick, “Sorry,” as I turned and hurried out of Reed’s office.

When I reached the reception area, I sat with a bit of athud, and Stella’s head whipped up. Her lips pulled into an evil smirk.

“Thanks for that,” I said.

She feigned confused innocence–and not very well, I might add. “Whatever do you mean? I thought he was expecting you.”

I gave her a tight-lipped smile and pulled my phone out to distract me from ripping her apart with my bare hands.

Or…

Okay, fine.

Crying.

I needed my phone to distract me from crying.

My eyes tingled from the pressure of the tears pushing at the backs of them, but I would not cry over this man, or his bitchy receptionist who knew exactly what she was doing when she allowed me to go back there in the middle of a tense meeting.

He’d been an asshole, but I should have expected as much. If Cabot Reed was anything, he was that.

I’d allowed myself to get swept up with the other side of him, but he’d asked me, with perfect clarity, and–

Ugh!

Point

Freaking

Blank

–if I could keep my two lives separate.

And maybe this was why. Maybe he was the problem, not me. Maybeheneeded me to keephistwo lives separate. Maybe it wasn’t about me at all, but about him and his fucking dual personalities.

I chewed on my bottom lip as I scrolled aimlessly through mindless videos without sound. My toes tapped an angry rhythm as I waited, my mind oscillating between wanting to run away and never come back, and desperately wanting to charge back into his office, interrupt his stupid meeting, and give that man a piece of my mind.

He said he liked my mouth? Well, we’d just see about that.

I put my phone down and picked up a magazine.

Forbes.

I snorted. Of course it wasForbes.

NotPublisher’s Weeklyor something else book-related, butForbes.

If I dug deeply enough, I’d probably find his secret stash ofNepotism News.

I snorted as I blindly flipped through the pages, then slapped the magazine back down on the table. Breathing deeply, I tilted my head back and closed my eyes. It was nearing nine-thirty and I needed to get a grip on myself before I faced him.

I couldn’t be emotional. Reed wasn’t a man who could be handled in that way, but I better figure outhowto handle him quickly.

What was I going to say? How would I address the way he’d just behaved?