Temptation and Lies

“Sure. Straight back, left then right.”

She left him in the living room and found his office. Listening for any footsteps, she quickly went inside, opened her purse and took out a CD. She silently prayed that he was actually logged on so that she wouldn’t be stymied by a password.

She hit the Enter key and the desktop opened. She released a sigh of relief, put in the CD and listened to it whirr while it planted a tracking program onto the hard drive. The CD popped out. She tucked it in her purse, hurried out then headed back up front.

Michael looked up when she entered the room. “Carl is out front. He’ll take you home.” He walked her to the door.

At the door he asked, “Are you sure you want to work on this project? We’ll have to see a lot of each other.”

She looked directly at him. “I’m a big girl, Michael. And this is business. Right?”

He leaned down and gently kissed her cheek. “Get home safely, Mia,” he said, avoiding her question.

She looked at him for a moment before turning away and walking toward the waiting car.

It’s business. I love Steven. It’s business. I love Steven. She repeated that mantra all the way back to the city.

Chapter 6

By the time Mia turned the key in the lock of her front door, it was nearly eleven. She’d wracked her brains trying to come up with some plausible explanation as to where she could have been until now. Nothing sounded remotely legitimate.

When she stepped in, she fully expected Steven to be sitting on the couch waiting for her. He wasn’t.

She walked through the front of the condo to the bedroom in the back. Even in the moonlight she could tell that the room was empty. She switched on the light and looked around.

The bed was still made. Absently, she put her purse down on top of the dresser and walked to the bathroom. Empty. Where was Steven?

She made an about-face, returned to the front of the apartment and went into the kitchen. That’s when she saw the note on the fridge.

She snatched it down and read it.

Hey, babe, decided at the last minute to have a boys’ night out. Hanging with Blake, Nick and Bernard. We’re celebrating one of the guys on the job’s birthday. Tried your cell. Went straight to voice mail. Don’t wait up. Luv ya.

She didn’t know whether to be relieved or pissed off. She took the note and tossed it in the trash. On the one hand, she didn’t have to explain her own late night. On the other, if she’d known that Steven would be late, she might have stayed longer. What did that mean?

She frowned, thinking of the note again…went straight to voice mail. Ohhh, of course. She’d turned her phone off in the event that Steven did call while she was with Michael. That way she wouldn’t have been caught in the uncomfortable position of talking to her current lover while her ex-lover listened to every word.

Well, at least this time she was off the explanation hook.

This time.

Mia retrieved her cell phone from her purse on the hall table and turned it back on. Sure enough, there were three missed calls. She dialed into her voice-mail service and listened.

The first message was from Steven, pretty much saying what the note did. The second call was from Danielle, checking in with her, and the third was from Ashley.

“I hope everything went okay. If you want to talk tomorrow, I’m here.”

She hit the delete code and pressed the phone to her chest.

Did it go okay? The minute she saw Michael, she’d lost control of her senses. She’d let him kiss her and she’d kissed him back. And what about her feelings when she realized that Steven wasn’t home and that if she had known he was going to be late she would have stayed longer?

Mia walked into the bedroom. Did all that equal okay? She caught a glimpse of herself in the oval mirror above the dresser. If she didn’t know better, she’d swear she could see Scarlet Woman plastered across her forehead. At the very least Guilty.

She stepped out of her shoes and put them in the rack in the closet.

She’d betrayed Steven. She’d betrayed their relationship. She massaged her temples. How could she have been so weak?

The sensation of that kiss snuck up on her and a sudden heat suffused her body.

Vigorously she shook her head. It was the first and the last time, she vowed. She had a job to do. Michael Burke was an assignment, and that was it. She was in love with Steven. And she could not allow herself to forget that ever again. No matter what.

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