The Sapphire Affair (A Jewel Novel Book 1) by Lauren Blakely

Author:Lauren Blakely [Blakely, Lauren]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
ISBN: 9781503935471
Publisher: Montlake Romance, Seattle
Published: 2016-07-11T21:00:00+00:00

Maybe it was that quiver in her voice. Perhaps it was the way her eyes looked wet, like she was about to cry. It might even have been how scared she sounded. Whatever it was, he felt like shit now, especially given how he’d stretched the Kylie text into a big, fat white lie. He wished he didn’t have to fib so blatantly, but how was he to trust her? But he hated, absolutely hated, seeing a woman in this state.

“Duke isn’t involved. I swear. I don’t even know who he is. Who is this guy?” he asked, trying to be as gentle as he could. Then he stiffened as the possibility smashed into him. “Is he your boyfriend?” he asked, bracing himself.

She scoffed. “No—God, no. He’s an ex, though, and he tried to ruin my business. He enlisted a bunch of his friends to help him, too. That’s why the picture made me worry that you were connected with him, or who knows what,” she said, her voice still tough as she talked about the ex. But then it softened momentarily, and she whispered, “But I’m glad the picture just came from your sister. I think that’s sweet.”

Oh fuck.

His heart lurched toward her.

He was a schmuck. She was too sweet. She was too lovely. He was the asshole for not telling her the truth. He closed his eyes briefly, then opened them and tried to figure out what the hell to say. He didn’t want to ruin the job he’d been hired for, but he didn’t want to be a liar. That wasn’t the guy he was teaching his younger siblings to be. That wasn’t the man he wanted to be with a woman. He parted his lips to come clean, when she pointed to his phone.

“Can I see the picture she sent? You know, just to make sure it’s not a hideous one?”

He laughed. “Now, how could you possibly take a hideous photo?”

She tilted her head to the side and made a monster face, or maybe it was a zombie face, as she scowled and hissed. “Like that?”

He held up a hand. “Fine. Fine. That would indeed be a hideous picture, and I guarantee the one on my phone is not.”

Jake’s radar was quiet, but he still wasn’t sure if he was being played, so he kept on his armor of self-protection. But if she was being truthful, he didn’t want to blow it by treating her like an asshole. Like her ex had done.

He grabbed his phone from his pocket and cautiously swiped his finger across the screen. He clicked on the image from the text so it downloaded to his gallery, then he opened it, widening it so it spread across the screen. He turned the phone to show her. “See? No zombie monster face here. All hot. All gorgeous. Are we good?”

She studied it from her side of the table. “Hmm.”

“Hmm what?” he asked carefully.

“She got that from my website, right?”

The tiniest bit of heat spread across his cheeks as he tensed momentarily.

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