Cause For Scandal (Dynasties: The Elliotts #3)(12)
Author: Anna DePalo

She looked down, contemplating what he’d said, and he found himself holding his breath.

In the morning light shafting through the room’s windows, she looked delectable, and he felt like the Big Bad Wolf. Last night hadn’t sated his hunger for her. Not by a long shot.

Finally, she looked up at him with those amazing pale-green eyes. “Okay,” she said, then added, “Thank you.”

He let go of the breath he was holding. The seduction of Summer Elliott had begun, only she didn’t know it yet.

“You slept with him?” Scarlet’s mouth gaped open.

“A little louder,” Summer said dryly. “The next table over hasn’t heard you.”

They were sitting in a booth in the employees’ cafeteria on the fourth floor of EPH, where she and Scarlet regularly had lunch together. The cafeteria was a quicker and easier choice than beating the throngs that clogged the Manhattan streets downstairs at lunchtime.

“Didn’t you tell him that you were there as a reporter?” Scarlet persisted.

“Er, we didn’t quite get to that part.”

“You didn’t get to that part?”

Under other circumstances, Summer would have thought this scene was funny. For the second time today, she had managed to flabbergast someone: at the moment Scarlet, whom she knew to be usually unflappable, and earlier Zeke, who certainly appeared that way. Since she was a play-by-the-rules girl, this was a day of firsts for her. Aloud, she said, “Haven’t you ever slept with a guy on a first date?”

“Never.”

“Never?”

Scarlet shook her head.

Apparently, for once, she’d outdone her twin in outrageousness. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, which was another sign, she supposed, that she was verging on hysteria.

“Anyway,” Scarlet persisted, the salad in front of her forgotten, “this isn’t about me and this isn’t just about sleeping with a guy. This is about losing your virginity to some bad-boy rock star that you barely know when you said for years that you’d wait for your wedding night.”

Summer knew that Scarlet had neither completely understood nor shared her vow of celibacy, but her sister had respected it. Now maybe even respect had flown out the window.

Summer winced at the thought, before joking weakly, “Thanks. Could you maybe make it sound more sordid and trashy?”

“And what about John?” Scarlet demanded, then shook her head. “I don’t get it. Why lose your virginity now, when the wedding night is around the corner?”

Summer had been dwelling on the same question since leaving Zeke’s hotel room.

After the confrontation with Zeke at the office that morning, she’d resigned herself to getting no work done and had popped outside and sat in a café, sipping tea, until lunchtime.

She’d had plenty of time to think, and to dwell on the fact that she’d never before experienced the same restless, I’ve-got-to-have-you-now attraction that she had last night with Zeke. The attraction defied explanation and logic—he was unlike her in many ways, and definitely didn’t fit her normal taste in men—but there it was.

She’d also started to think that maybe her relationship with John was sexless because it was passionless. There was just no spark. Oh, she loved him, and he’d said he loved her, but maybe they’d both mistaken convenience and warm affection for sexual love.

She felt comfortable and safe with John and she understood him…but maybe that wasn’t enough.

“What are you thinking?” Scarlet asked.

“I’ve been asking myself about John all morning.”

“Yes?”

Summer shrugged resignedly, pushing her salad aside. She wasn’t going to eat another bite. “I don’t know. Maybe I wanted so badly to stick to my five-year plan and settle down that I ignored doubts I was having about my relationship with John.”

And maybe she was crazy. After all, she was basing conclusions on one night of passion. Passion seemed like such an unreliable emotion compared to the solid and stable relationship that she had with John. Or rather, she amended, the solid and stable relationship that she’d thought she had with John.

“What are you going to tell him?” Scarlet asked.

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “He’s still out of town, but I’ll eventually have to tell him what happened.” She smiled wryly. “However, the fact that the newspapers think it was you last night has bought me some time. Otherwise, I’d be afraid that John would have heard the gossip somehow even though he’s out of town. This way, I get to break the news to him gently when he gets back.”

She gave Scarlet an apologetic look. “Sorry for getting you mixed up in this.”

“Don’t worry about it. My reputation can use the spark right now,” Scarlet said with dry humor.

A cell phone rang, and Summer realized it was hers. She dug it out of her purse and shrank as she noticed it was John calling.

“It’s John,” she said to Scarlet before pressing the Talk button and saying brightly, “Hi.”

“Hey, yourself,” John’s deep voice sounded from the phone. “I’ve missed you.”

What could she say to that? “How’s your trip?”

“Great,” he said, his voice reflecting his good mood. “We got the deal wrapped up early, so guess what? I’ll be flying back from Chicago this afternoon. In fact, I’m at the airport now.”

Summer’s stomach plummeted.

“How about catching dinner with me tonight?” John asked. “What about One If by Land, Two If by Sea?”

“Sure,” she said weakly. One If by Land, Two If by Sea was reputed to be one of New York City’s most romantic restaurants. It occupied a landmark eighteenth-century carriage house once owned by Aaron Burr.

“We’re about to board,” John said, breaking into her thoughts. “Can’t wait to see you. Bye.”

“Bye,” she said before ending the call.

“Well?” Scarlet asked.

Summer looked at her, the weight of doom settling on her shoulders. “He’s flying back early, and we’re having dinner tonight.”

Scarlet raised her water glass in a mock salute. “Showtime.”

Five

J ohn was waiting for her at the bar at One If by Land, Two If by Sea when Summer got there at six. She’d suggested an early dinner because she knew he’d be tired from his trip and, more importantly, she could meet him directly after work and thus circumvent having him pick her up at the townhouse. She wanted to avoid being alone with him tonight, given the news that she had to impart.