Secrets and Seductions by Francine Pascal Page A

vulnerable before. He desperately wanted her help. She reached out and took his hand. It’s what she had wanted to do all afternoon but for entirely different reasons. This was to console, pure succor.
    â€œBruce, I know you. There’s nothing wrong with you. I’ve never heard of anyone who wasn’t drinking heavily blacking out like that, and you said you weren’t and you are certain, right?”
    â€œAbsolutely.”
    â€œSo there’s got to be another answer, and it’s not that you’re unstable. You’re the most stable guy I know and that kind of thing just doesn’t come out of the blue.”
    â€œRight, but what if…I mean, what if…there’s something wrong with me. Okay, maybe not bipolar, but what if that not-so-nice guy from high school is who I really am? What if that girl at the bar, if she brought it out in me? What if this nice-guy routine I’ve been doing since the accident is fake? Maybe I’m just a bad guy.”
    â€œNo, Bruce. You’ve turned into a really good guy. The things you’ve done with Patman Social Impact and the foundation are great. Everyone says so.”
    Annie had defended enough clients to understand that morality in this world was decidedly a gray area. Rarely was something black or white.
    â€œHey, look, Bruce, you’re beginning to fight back, that’s all, and sometimes, fighting back doesn’t look so good. But it doesn’t mean you’re wrong to do it. We’re all complicated. Good, bad, whatever. It’s the combination that makes who we are. And being yourself—your real self—is nothing to be ashamed of.”
    What Annie was saying was so simple but so true. He was like everybody else: a mixture of good and bad. He had to stop focusing on what used to be and stop blaming himself. Maybe all this time he’d been trying to bury his past and smother that tougher part of his personality had been a mistake. Maybe he was actually suppressing an essential part of himself.
    He felt a surge of freedom. All this time he’d been trying to stay buttoned-up, and maybe that’s why he was in such trouble. He’d spent so much time fearing the old Bruce that he’d forgotten how powerful the old Bruce was. No one dared mess with him in high school, and it wasn’t because he was a nice guy. If he was going to fight the good fight, he needed some of the cockiness of that old Bruce. Nobody would push him around—not Robin Platt, not Rick Warner. Not even Elizabeth.
    He was done being the nice guy who finished last. He was innocent and he had to believe in himself. That very simple thought came straight from Annie.
    He looked at her, surprised to realize how much he desired this beautiful, smart woman sitting right next to him.
    He’d seen the way she’d been looking at him all afternoon. He knew she felt the same way.
    The new, nice-guy Bruce would never have taken advantage, but the nice guy was a wimp, hiding and letting other people take over his life. Bruce was done being that guy. If he was going to win this case, he needed the power of the old Bruce back, and there was one way he knew he could get it.
    He needed to remember what it was to be a real man, and there wasn’t any better way to do that than by being with a woman.
    He reached out and pulled Annie toward him. She came willingly, her eyes never leaving his. Then their lips touched. Hers went soft and parted, and he knew she was all his. With that kiss, a spark popped that surprised them both. This was no ordinary kiss. Not at all.
    After an intense moment, she pulled away.
    But Bruce wasn’t going to let her get away so easily. He was angry, angry at everything that had happened to him, at everyone who didn’t believe him. Angry at Elizabeth. Furious at her betrayal.
    â€œBruce, I don’t know…” Annie stood, but Bruce was right there in front of her.
    â€œAnnie, tell me you