Free A Collateral Attraction by Liz Madrid Page B

says.  “So, I’ll ask again, Billie, what will it take for me to have sex with you?”
    “Are you out of your mind? Who do you think you are to say such a thing?” I sputter as I get up.
    “Sit down, Blythe,” Heath says sternly and like an idiot, I do as he says. The flight attendants have disappeared, probably retreating to the front of the plane where the crew normally sit.
    “I thought we agreed about who I am.  I am not Blythe. I’m Billie.”
    “Really?” he asks, chuckling mirthlessly. “Is this just another one of your games, Blythe? Even that whole act about being drunk? Xanax with your champagne? The charade of playing the innocent coy virgin and telling me about how it’s been three years, blah, blah blah, since you’ve been fucked, while at the same time trying to seduce me, getting me to undress you because you somehow couldn’t get to the snaps of your bra and the laces of your teddy?”
    “I’m not going to say I didn’t enjoy it,” he continues, “but is this just another game to distract me while your sister is playing my brother for a fool while she robs him blind and ruins whatever’s left of his reputation with the company? Did you prompt her to post that thing about Saint Lucia — OJ and papaya with a view of the Pitons?”
    “What the hell are you talking about?”
    “Was it some message to you — some code to tell you it’s A-Ok on her end?” he continues.  “Or was it a recycled picture from one of your earlier trips with Ethan and they’re really somewhere else, perhaps alerting the rest of the board that I’m this so-called fraud?”
    “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Heath. I’m Billie Rose Delphine, named after my grandfather-”
    “-William, I know. You told me already,” he drawls. “But how do you expect me to believe that when you’re clearly just lying to me, playing me like you play my brother whom you have wrapped around your finger like a dog on a leash? Did you meet him a long time ago, Blythe, persuaded him to keep your relationship secret till you had all your ducks in a row and all the private accounts set up before you made your move and had him set you up as his employee? Is that how you managed to make this embezzlement scheme of yours work, by fucking my brother silly while you steal from-“
    “Stop this!” I exclaim, slamming my palm against the table top as coffee spills from the cups.  I don’t even care if they’re scalding against my skin for I’m too angry to notice anything else.  What I would like is to throttle the man’s neck in front of me.  “I’m not going to sit here and let you just insult me over and over again. How else do you expect me to convince you that I am not Blythe?”
    He shrugs, unaffected by my outburst. “I don’t know, Blythe, though I’m open to suggestions — sex being one of them, maybe even a bit of BDSM in between if you really want to convince me,” he says, each word meant to sting and it does. “But as I’m not interested in sloppy seconds, I’ll make it easy for you, though this time, you’re on my leash.”
    He pulls something from his backpack underneath the table and barely missing our coffee cups, tosses something carelessly onto the table top.
    “Now talk,” Heath says coldly as my eyes land on my clutch and its contents spilling on the table top, Blythe’s smiling face on her driver’s license staring back at me.

9
Trust
    My heart hammers against my chest as a deafening roar fills my head. Heath’s words, coupled with the simple act of tossing my clutch on the table, is like a slap in the face — even a kick in the gut. Fear tells me to do as he says — speak on command, just like a dog — but I’m not scared of him. Not anymore. I feel more insulted than anything — and angry as hell.
    His disdain for Blythe scares me, and as much as I’m better off returning home even if I have to empty my entire bank account to do so, I can’t. Not when Heath feels the