The warm scent of expensive perfume mingled with a woman's natural fragrance filled Homelander's nose, and he couldn't help taking two deep breaths.
Hope instinctively wanted to grab the bastard causing trouble. (The offending part has been removed and cannot be shown.)
But Darren Cross had already strode into the room with two bodyguards in suits, so she had to let it go.
Darren stopped in the middle of the room, his hawklike gaze sweeping across the spacious private suite.
Garrido's private suites were large, but the furnishings left the space open and easy to see through. There was nowhere an adult could hide.
"I heard you were meeting someone here." Seeing no one else, Darren walked toward Hope at an unhurried pace and got straight to the point. "Is it over already?"
"It just ended."
Hope clenched her back teeth, fighting to suppress her body's involuntary reaction and keep her voice as steady as usual.
"Darren, when did you take a second job as my personal secretary?"
"I don't recall any company rule requiring the chairwoman to report her private meetings to the CEO."
Darren smiled dismissively. "Anyone our chairwoman personally receives at Garrido must be important, right?"
"Is it a big order? Or some secret partnership I don't know about?"
Darren stepped closer, his smile growing more insincere.
"Of course, if you were just here on a romantic date... then I'm an insensitive bastard, and I take it back."
He's testing me. Hope knew Darren well. He was suspicious by nature, and neurotic besides.
Denying everything now would only deepen his suspicions.
"You don't need to test me, Darren." Hope walked to the floor-to-ceiling window with a cold expression and turned her back to him. That would best conceal any change in her face.
"It was someone from