Page 42 of Promise Kept

Wearing a tight dress, merlot colored.

Clutching a small handbag with her right hand.

She looks ready to go to a Hollywood awards show.

Chance are - this is how she dresses on an average day.

“Can I help you?” I ask in a cold tone.

“We never truly finished talking,” she says. “Had to do a little poking around to find you here.”

“You should have just had another mimosa and went back to sleep,” I say.

Tamara laughs and waves a hand at me. “I always loved your sense of humor, Ellis. Say, I’ve got some things going through my head right now.”

“I don’t have time.”

“I’m thinking of locking this office door and taking this dress off. Or maybe I won’t lock the door. See who else shows up.”

“You want a train run on you by your dead ex-husband’s business associates?”

Tamara gasps. “Well now. That’s some awful language, Ellis. I think I like it though. Anything to drink around here?”

“Tamara, please just leave.”

“How can you resist me? Huh? Unless there’s someone in your life.”

I almost feel as though I’ve been caught doing something wrong.

I have not done a thing wrong here!

I have no desire to fuck the ex-wife of my dead best friend!

What about his daughter though?

What if Larissa showed up like this? Huh?

What if she walked into the office… shut the door… locked it… stripped naked…

I can feel the monstrous growl forming in the back of my throat.

I’m ready to explode.

Part of me is thinking about taking Tamara just to say I did it. Just to get relief. Just to shut her up…

It’s a viable option. A clear thought.

Quite frankly, there’s nothing wrong with it either.

Except one little detail.

Larissa.

I’m not proud of the way the dots find a way to connect themselves.

If I touch Larissa’s mother… then it’s hands off for her…

And there I am, right back to square one, thinking about fucking my best friend’s daughter.

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