thoughts?”
She steadied herself. “I’m not.”
Rhys and Jin left them alone in the room, and the air stilled. Tension rippled across his skin, heightening his senses. Firing up his brain. This was the calm before the storm.
“You...liar,” she spat, her eyes flashing. “I can’t believe I fell for your bullshit story. Game designer, my ass. Did you know I worked here? Were you following me?”
“Whoa.” Aiden held up a hand. “For starters, I tried to give you the truth last night, and you stopped me because it was ‘just sex.’ Second, I wasn’t following you. I’m not a goddamn stalker.”
“I stopped you,” she scoffed. “I thought you were going to lay down ground rules, not tell me you’d been pretending to be someone else. You didn’t try that hard to set the record straight.”
“When we stopped outside the hotel room, I was going to tell you.”
“So you say.” She tugged her denim jacket closer around her small frame. “How can I believe anything that comes out of your mouth?”
“You weren’t exactly up-front about where you worked, if memory serves me correctly.” He walked around the table to cut the distance between them.
“Keeping my private details to myself is not the same as lying.” Her fists clenched at her sides. “You flat out lied to me. Did you think you’d have a better chance with me if I thought you were a gamer?”
“No.” He shook his head, a dull ache spreading out from his temples as the ringing in his ears from his tinnitus started up. “That’s not why I lied.”
“Enlighten me, then.” Her small pink lips pressed into a flat line.
This was going downhill. Fast.
You can lie to protect a life and you can lie to protect your country, but you cannot lie for personal gain.
His father’s words swirled around in his head. He was the only man Aiden had ever met who managed to break the gray areas of life into fragments of black and white, assigning rules here and there so that he always had a framework for making decisions. The habit had stayed with Aiden, and while his moral code might not match everyone else’s, he stuck to it.
No matter what.
“I was there doing research for this assignment. I wanted to see if anyone was talking about Third Planet Studios or the leak about their new engine.” He rubbed at his temple. “I had a suspicion that Alana Peterson might have been involved since she has such a grudge against them.”
Quinn reeled as if he’d slapped her. “So you approached me because Alana’s my friend. You acted like you had no idea who she was.”
“I was doing my job.”
“Your job started today, not last night.” There was a slight shake in her hands as she fiddled with a button on her jacket. “Did you sleep with me to get information?”
The horror on her face made his stomach churn. He was a lot of things, but he didn’t use women in that way. If Quinn had given any indication that she knew what was going on with Third Planet Studios, he would have kept talking to her until he got what he needed. But he wouldn’t have slept with her to do it.
“That was all real, I promise. I was attracted to you. I wanted to sleep with you. And you seemed pretty into it, as well.”
“I can’t believe this.” Her fingers fluttered at her throat as if searching for something that wasn’t there. “You tricked me.”
“I didn’t trick you into staying the night.” He ground the words out. “You were there because you wanted to be.”
She swallowed and sucked in a deep breath. “You’re right. I did want to be there. But it sure as hell won’t happen again. If we’re going to work together, you can keep your hands to yourself.”
“Fine.” He held his hands up, palms facing her. “Does that mean we have a truce?”
“I wouldn’t go that far.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “I’ll work with you on this one assignment because I want something out of it. But I don’t trust you, and the second it’s over, I’m going to steer clear of you.”
“At least you’re honest,” he muttered.
“It’s more than I can say for you.” She tucked her laptop under her arm and headed for the door. “Come on, I’ve been told to take you for coffee.”
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