Shut Off (Just This Once #3) Read Online Free Page B

or heard about. Her Facebook page was bare in terms of information.
    “I didn’t recognize his name—Paul Twinings ? I did my own Googling and he looks like a fucking nobody. How that girl could go from this,” she said while looking around the room in wonder, “to nothing, I don’t understand.”
    “Well she is banking on a hefty payday.”
    “Yeah, from your horizontal tango partner, so you better think of something and fast. Regardless of whose side I’m supposed to be on, I always root for the good guys, and Joel is a good guy.”
    “You think so?”
    “After everything, you still don’t?”
    “No, it’s not that. I’m just not sure what kind of future we have. It’s not like we’re off to a good start. Besides, he’s like you. But with a penis. Not exactly the type to settle down.”
    “I knew I should have said something to him that night.” She turned her face away from me, but I could see her watching me from the corner of her eye. I couldn’t see my own expression to know what I looked like, but whatever she saw written on my face had her busting up laughing.
    “Blaire. You know I’m playing. Two Kerris would never mix well. He’s too pretty anyway. But back to what you were saying. If he didn’t want you, I don’t think he would have tried so hard. You literally put the ‘hard’ in ‘playing hard to get.’ I applaud your resilience though. I don’t have to tell you how most women would have responded.”
    “I know. That’s what worries me. Maybe he’s just after the chase.”
    “Well, in nine days when this is all over, you’ll know what it is—if it was just a booty call under extenuating circumstances or if it’s something more. I think it’s pretty obvious, but hey, what do I know? I’m 41, single, no kids, and still looking for Prince Charming.”
    I felt for Kerri. It was hard not to look at her with eyes full of pity, but that’s what I felt when I watched her continue eating as if she hadn’t just said the saddest thing I’d heard in a while. I could never figure out why she was still single. Yes, she was a little older now, but she still looked beautiful, and I was sure that she looked even better when she was younger. So, what happened?
    Maybe she was a workaholic, too. Perhaps she spent so long trying to make it up the ladder that she forgot to live her life outside of work. She sure was making up for it now, and not that it was too late for her, but I could see that it wasn’t that easy. Especially in a place like Vegas where all men cared about were bouncy boobs and zero body fat.
    Joel used to be that guy. I think that’s what made it harder to let myself completely fall for him. I wasn’t obese or anything, but I wasn’t a health nut either, and the boob department wasn’t my selling feature. That, coupled with the fact that I didn’t run in the same circles or have heaps of money, made me question even more what he wanted with me.
     

Chapter Three
    Joel
     
    “Melanie, can you get me a coffee, please?” I spoke down into the speakerphone.
    “Yes, Mr. Trevaunt.”
    Since I’d been back, no one had mentioned what they all heard and some imagined to be true. I knew by the way my employees looked at me in elevators and during meetings, how they passed me in the lobby—no one knew how to act around me now that I was being accused of hitting a woman.
    Every day I struggled with getting out of the house, knowing what my new company—the one that a little over a month ago belonged to my father—thought of me. They didn’t know whether to act as if nothing happened or if by working alongside me, they were silently accepting the behavior of a monster. HR hadn’t reported any resignations yet, but I wasn’t sure how long that would last, especially after the trial.
    I thought about the phone call I was expecting from my lawyer. I wasn’t even sure there was anything to talk about. At this point, it was Lara’s word against mine, and I’d seen the