Page 95 of The Sinner's Sanctuary

You get the idea.

Happy hour sounds good. Youstill at Gramercy?

Almost 24-7.

If you want a break from the UES, come down to Chelsea. There’s a tapas place by my apartment that’s pretty cheap and the drinks are decent.

My apartment.Maybe he’s not as involved with the senator as it seems? There’s more than one apartment in Chelsea after all, and surely if they were living together he would have called it “ours.” Or maybe not. I was never quiet about how I felt about him and Graham Lawther.

It’s going to be tough if I expect him to open up about it, but I plan on striking a less judgmental tone this time, now that I’m sleeping with a married man, too.

“Who are you texting?” Gibson asks.

I glance at him over my shoulder. “Is that your business?”

His lips purse as he shoves his wet hair out of his face, averting his gaze. “Don’t mind me. I was just leaving.”

“It’s Silas,” I say.

“How difficult was that?”

“I’m just fucking with you.”

“Maybe now’s not a good time.”

I set my phone down and get to him as he’s reaching for the door latch. I touch his back. “It’s rude to leave without saying goodbye.”

“I don’t know how to,” he grumbles.

“Which compartment are we in right now?” I ask.

“They’re all sort of running together for me.”

I slide in front of him and put my hands on his waist. “You don’t have to go,” I tell him, and then I see the look on his face. It makes me swallow hard, and all thoughts of teasing him go out the window. His worry lines are firmly in place, and his jaw is tense. His gaze flickers with uncertainty, and I don’t like that I might have something to do with it. “If you’re not ready to.”

His hands encircle my wrists like he intends to remove them, but he hesitates and runs his hands up my forearms instead. Itake the opening and pull him into a hug. He lets out a long sigh once our bodies connect. “Mmm…”

I shut my eyes and try to enjoy what this is without wanting it to be more. There’s an addictive quality to him—a magnetism I’ve become a victim of.

“Thank you for this afternoon,” he says.

“Did you have a good time?”

He nods.

“You feel any better?” I ask.

“I feel a lot of things. Not sure better is how I’d describe it.”

“I’ll come up later,” I tell him.

“Yeah?” I can feel at least a pound of tension leaving him as he asks.

“Unless you’re planning on making me wear kitten ears.”

He huffs a laugh, and his warm breath on my neck sends a shiver down my spine. “You’d look good in a collar, though.”

“Do you care if they know you’re fucking a man?” I wonder aloud.

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