Dating and Other Dangers Read Free Page A

what’s up on your site is untrue.’
    She laughed—only one note lower than hysterical. It was preposterous. ‘I’m not dating you.’
    ‘It’s that or call your lawyers.’ His gaze coasted over her again, assessing in the most base way. ‘Got lots of money for lawyers, Nadia? No, of course you don’t. Otherwise why would you be working as a lowly HR assistant?’
    ‘The users of my forum sign a waiver.’ She tried to recover her ground. ‘I can’t be held responsible for what they put up there.’
    ‘It’s so convenient for you to hide behind that rule, isn’t it? I think it could be due for a test in court, though.’ He smiled sympathetically. ‘And it’ll take months. All that time off work… Everyone here at work is going to know, Nadia. And your family, friends …’ His eyes narrowed. ‘They don’t know either, do they?’ He went for the kill. ‘You’re going to need good lawyers for a long and expensive time, honey.’
    ‘You’re willing to waste that money yourself?’ Her stomach churned. He couldn’t be serious. Surely he wouldn’t do that?
    ‘I don’t think it is a waste. Anyway, I
am
a lawyer, I can represent myself.’
    Of course he was a lawyer. He was every inch an aggressive, adversarial jerk. Well, he wasn’t going to intimidate
her
. She swallowed back the bile burning its way up herthroat. ‘I’m not taking your thread down. It’s freedom of speech.’
    ‘Actually, I don’t want you to take it down,’ he said thought fully. ‘Let’s face it, once things are out there on the web they’re out there for ever. What I want is a retrac tion.’
    ‘Then you need to contact the woman you slimed, not me.’ He didn’t need to involve
her
at all. Three dates? It was ridiculous.
    ‘They’re anonymous—I don’t know who they are.’
    They?
Oh, how very nice. ‘And you can’t figure it out because there are so many possibilities?’ She widened her eyes in fake surprise. ‘Be honest.’ She snapped into attack mode. ‘What you really want is a suck-up piece, going on about how fabulous you are in bed.’
    ‘You’re offering to sleep with me so you can report with accuracy?’
    Her face went hot. So did every other part of her body.
    ‘I don’t need your approval to know my worth as a lover, Nadia. What I want is an acknowledgement that sometimes people put things up there with a warped perspective. Although what I
really
want is for you to pull the plug on this poisonous swamp of bitterness altogether.’
    ‘That’s not going to happen.’
    ‘Being a bitch is that important to you?’
    She shrugged. ‘If warning other women about jerks who want to use them makes me a bitch, then I’m happy to be considered one. For a long time.’
    ‘So how do you know what they put up is accurate?’
    ‘Why would anyone lie?’ It was simple. ‘I’ve already told you these aren’t women with a vendetta. These are women who’ve been hurt really badly.’
    ‘Women like you?’
    She froze for a nano-second. ‘It isn’t personal for me.’
    ‘Like hell it isn’t.’
    Grimly, she hid her fists beneath the desk and tried to think of a way out. But she was backed into a corner and she knew it. ‘Okay, then. You want three dates? Fine. But we go Dutch.’
    He winced theatrically, but that didn’t hide the satisfaction in his eyes. ‘Yeah, you would be that crass.’
    ‘I wouldn’t want to feel I owed you anything, Mr Rush. Or that you expected anything from me because you bought me an expensive dinner.’
    ‘Actually, I’m expecting quite a lot fromyou Nadia.’ He smiled with genuine amusement. ‘And call me Ethan.’
    She stood up and walked to the door, because if she didn’t her anger was going to burst out utterly inappropriately. He stood too. She saw him take in her height and glance down to register the height of her heels. She just knew he was mentally calculating the difference if the shoes were off.
    ‘Very dangerous things come in small packages,’