Great Exploitations (Crisis in Cali) Read Online Free PDF Page B

and wrong skewed. I was a boat stuck at sea without a compass or sail. I was a lump of clay just waiting for the closest person to mold and form me to their liking.
    “I can’t let it be,” he said, his voice tight.
    My eyes shut. If I could just block him out, I could make it through this next test. One sense at a time, I’d find a way to keep Henry at arm’s length. “Please,” I whispered, breathing through my mouth so I wouldn’t have to smell him. “Please try.”
    A moment or two or five passed. Time had become indistinguishable.
    “I’ve tried.”
    “ Keep trying.”
    Another moment or two or five passed.
    “I will keep trying, Eve, I promise . . . if you’ll look me in the eye right now and convince me that you feel nothing for me. If you can convince me that you feel as indifferent as you’ve tried to make me believe, I’ll keep trying to drown these feelings I have for you. If you can convince me that you don’t reciprocate the smallest fraction of what I feel for you, you won’t see me or hear from me unless it’s strictly business related.” His voice had been tight with emotion, but now it was so strong his words seemed to reverberate off the walls. “Convince me you hate me like you have every right in the world to, and I’ll turn around and leave this room right this second. Convince me you hate me, Eve, like I always assumed you did until you came back into my life. Convince me there’s no hope, Eve. Convince me right now.”
    Whether it was his strong tone or his seemingly unending speech, I spun around in my chair, my eyes snapping to his. “There’s no hope.” The three words I’d intended to scream in his face barely registered to the human ear.
    Barely, but Henry heard them plain enough. His forehead creased as he stared at me as if he could see right through me. “And you’re a liar.”
    My blood heated instantly. “Don’t call me a liar.”
    “Why not? We both know you’re lying.” Henry’s suit was as out of sorts as his expression. His top collar button had been pulled free, his tie was loosened and cock-eyed, and his sleeves were rolled up his forearms. His face led me to believe he was being torn to pieces from the inside out. Yet I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen him so attractive.
    “And what are you so convinced I’m lying about?” My shout came out a bit louder this time, but still no louder than a raised whisper.
    Henry’s eyes cut to mine. “About plenty of things.”
    In that moment, I would have sworn he knew exactly what I was lying about—the reason why I’d been reintroduced into his life and what the whole goal of that scheme was. But with a quick reminder that Henry couldn’t know about the Eves, I took a slow breath. The only way Henry could know what I’d been hired to do was if his wife had told him or if G had, and since neither had anything to benefit but everything to lose from telling him, he couldn’t know. He didn’t know.
    He did, however, know I was lying to him. I supposed that wasn’t all that hard to deduce. “I’ve got my lies and you’ve got your guilt, so that makes us about even.” It was late and I needed to prep for the Wallace Errand, so I sprang out of my chair, snagged my purse from the desk, and shouldered past Henry toward the door. He could stay, but I was leaving.
    I was one step past him when his hand caught mine. “Don’t go.”
    His skin against mine still felt the same, more hot than warm to the touch, the surface of it more rough than soft. The way I felt when he held my hand was the same as well. If the whole world was to end tomorrow, this was just the way I’d want to spend my last day—with Henry Callahan’s hand pressed against mine.
    “Let go,” I replied, my voice spent and the rest of me feeling as much so.
    When his eyes lifted to mine, I knew I’d missed my window. When Henry’s eyes, so vulnerable and full of honesty, met mine while he held my hand tightly, I knew there was no way I could