Free Driving to You (H1.5) by Marquita Valentine Page B

humiliating.
    “Sweetheart,” Chad Billingsworth began, his blue eyes, so like hers, sad. “I’m afraid you’ve been misled into believing—”
    “That I’m an adult, and don’t need my daddy and his men to check up on me?” she asked sweetly and flicked her eyes to Finn. She wanted to mouth an ‘I’m sorry’, but that would show weakness to her father, and a Billingsworth never showed any weakness.
    Finn stood to the side, pants on and shirt off. “Sir, I’m sorry you had to find out like this.”
    Her father’s gaze snapped to Finn. “I’ll deal with you later.
    “You two know each other?”
    Chad didn’t take his eyes off of Finn. “He works for me. Or rather he did work for me.”
    “It’s not what you think, sir,” Finn said, pulling on his shirt and strapping on his gun holster. Something that had never failed to give her a little thrill. “Your daughter and I—”
    “That’s right. My daughter . Someone you were paid to protect and keep tabs on, not screw in some seedy motel,” her dad snapped.
    “The Rise is three hundred a night,” Finn shot back, but she noticed he didn’t deny or correct anything else Chad had said.
    Her vision suddenly got fuzzy, black spots and white lights dancing in front of her eyes. “You work for him?” Her voice sounded strange, whispery light. Nausea rose, the first of its kind since she’d discovered her little predicament.
    “You look a little pale.” Finn crossed the room, sitting beside her on the bed, where she was nude and still only had on one shoe. A less confident woman would have collapsed in tears.
    She would not cry. She never cried. “Get. Away. From. Me.”
     
    Blowing out a breath, Finn stood and took a step back. “Don’t do this, April.”
    She stared straight ahead, her shoulder rigid and a little haughty look on her face. How she could manage to look so in control while wearing not hing but the bed sheets was one of the things he admired about her. Mostly because when she allowed him to take control, she surrendered so completely that it humbled him.
    “Don’t do what, Mr. Burke?” she asked, in her drop-dead-asshole voice.
    Dammit. He wanted to slam his head against the nearest wall. Repeatedly. He’d screwed up, plain and simple. He should have told April before they’d fallen into bed together. Although, he conceded, she had had her way with him on the rug in front of her fireplace, not a bed.
    Still … “Remember what we talked about earlier?” he asked, clenching his jaw. He did not need an audience for this. “That what we have is real and…” Raking a hand through his hair, he let his words trail away and adjusted his stance. If only he could have had five more minutes alone with her. Sure, she would have been mad as hell, but at least he would have been the one doing the telling. “April, please.”
    Finally, finally she looked at him. He would have preferred she hadn’t. Her eyes were beautifully blue and blank. Completely and utterly blank. Emotionless. “ Your services are no longer needed, Mr. Burke.”
    Chad raised his brows. “I’ll be sending your employer a detailed report of this incident today.”
    Finn shook his head. The son of bitch still didn’t know. “I’m sure you will.”
    “Time to go, buddy.” One of the men on the governor’s security team grabbed his arm.
    With a simple sidestep and twist, he freed himself. “Not your buddy.” He gave April one last, lingering look, but she’d turned her attention to the window. He’d been dismissed. His gut clenched. “I know the way out.”
    The governor and his security team watched as he gathered his things and pulled on his boots. A bright pink shoe lay haphazardly in the floor near the dresser. The urge to take that shoe, just so she had to come to him and get it, rode him hard. But the problem with dating a woman like April, rich and independent, was that she wouldn’t bother. She’d just buy another pair. Or three hundred.
    Finn