Risking Trust by Adrienne Giordano Page A

with them. Those would be two men she’d have a whopper of a time understanding having any involvement with Alicia Taylor. They simply wouldn’t do that to her.
    Roxann reached for the folder. Might as well get it over with.
    “Do you want me to leave?”
    “You’re fine,” she said, because whatever was in this folder couldn’t be that bad. There just hadn’t been any men in her life over the last few years that meant that much. At least there hadn’t been anyone she’d completely given herself over to, taken a risk on. No, her personal life was pretty much one big safe zone. The past twelve years had been about order and control and becoming a good publisher. It was easier than dealing with her feelings for the man in front of her.
    Truth of it was, she had enough baggage floating around to accommodate four divas on a shopping spree. She just never wanted to admit it to herself.
    She flipped the folder open and saw the first photo of Alicia, dressed in a low-cut and exceedingly tight black cocktail dress, her long blond hair falling over her shoulders in fat waves. An absolutely stunning woman. The glammed up look wasn’t quite to Roxann’s taste, but there was no denying why men had been attracted to her. In the photo, Alicia spoke with a man and a woman. The man wore a suit and the woman a sequined dress. Clearly some type of event. Roxann checked the date. June. Almost two years earlier. She flipped to the next photo.
    There he was.
    Senator Neil Findley. Roxann had dated Neil for six months, but eventually found herself to be more eye candy, a political trophy, than someone Neil actually cared for. After all, what senator wouldn’t aspire to be involved with the associate publisher of a major daily newspaper? All in all, Roxann wasn’t feeling the pull of attraction for Neil and ended the relationship.
    She checked the date on the photo again and did the math. At that point, she’d been seeing Neil a couple of months.
    Roxann spread the next few photos in front of her and dared not look at Michael. She knew his eyes were on her though, gauging her reaction. The photos looked harmless enough, except for the last one where Neil was bent low listening to something Alicia said into his ear. An immediate pulsing started under her skin and Roxann shifted in her seat.
    The next photo, taken the following day, showed Neil standing on the front porch of a brownstone. Next photo: Alicia Taylor opening the front door. Next photo: Neil going into the house. Next photo: Neil leaving the house. The time stamp revealed he’d been there an hour.
    “He is such a weasel.”
    “That’s one way to put it.”
    She flipped the folder shut and slid her chair back. “He was sleeping with your wife while he was seeing me?”
    “Appears so. If it matters at all, it didn’t last long. It was a few times and then he doesn’t show up again. At least my investigator didn’t catch him.”
    “That son of a bitch.”
    Not that she’d loved him, but she’d thought they’d had an exclusive relationship. And to have broken that trust with Michael’s wife? Sickness pooled inside Roxann. She’d had sex with the man after he’d been with Alicia Taylor.
    Could Neil have known about the connection to Michael? She’d certainly never told him, but he could have learned it from one of his aides when they’d vetted her.
    But Alicia. She had to know. Roxann turned to Michael. “Did she know about us?”
    He scoffed, “That was the point. When I saw these photos I knew her resentment had consumed her.”
    “But why? She had wealth, status, all the things someone like her would want.”
    Including the man I wanted.
    Michael looked up at her, his gaze steady. Please don’t let him say something that will make me crazy.
    “Yeah,” he said, “but her husband wanted you.”
    No. No way, bucko. Roxann pushed her chair back, shot out of it and paced the room. No, no, no. She didn’t want to hear this. Not after all these years. Not