Page 17 of Possession

“Sure thing. I’m having lunch with…” She trailed off and shot me a sunny smile. “A friend. Wouldn’t do to be the next thing to naked, would it?” She reached out and adjusted my tie, as she was wont to do. But it didn’t feel like an affectionate gesture so much as a demonstration of who’d won this round. “Have a good day, dear.”

I went to the door and opened it to a delivery person from Grace’s gallery. The woman smiled and chatted and complimented me on my “exquisite taste” as she set the carefully wrapped angel on a nearby end table. I answered by rote, my attention firmly on picturing Grace dressing for a meeting with a man I didn’t know if I could trust. I definitely wasn’t sure I could trust him with her. She was the most precious?—

Christ. Even my thoughts were betraying me now.

How long had she and Jack been meeting like this? I hated that I was suspecting everyone around me of turning Judas, but how could I not? When you were a liar yourself, it wasn’t unreasonable to expect others to lie to you. There was no forgetting that cuff link, and no guarantee that a simple conversation with Jack would clear everything up. I didn’t see how it could. So, I would wait. And watch.

That included watching the woman who’d just mindfucked me into next Tuesday.

“Have a good day, sir,” the woman said, stepping out and leaving me snarling at the angel I now wanted nothing more than to smash. It was too gorgeous, more so because it wasn’t perfect. The piece depicted a beautiful woman falling from grace, and her tarnish only increased her desirability.

Last night, I’d thought it was particularly fitting. I wasn’t female, and I certainly was no angel. But I’d seen something of myself in the piece. That choice to go right or left, to decide to do good or…not.

Now I was wondering if there was more than one fallen angel in my life.

In my house.

In my bed.

Chapter Five

Grace and I avoided each other for the rest of the weekend. I spoke to the police; she went to her private lunch with my CEO. She sequestered herself upstairs; I spent more time on the first level than I had since I’d owned the house.

Work, as always, was my salvation.

I also went for several runs. Turns out I couldn’t run far enough to evade the thoughts dogging my heels.

Memories of Grace opened to me as I rammed into her, her pale skin marked from my tie. Her blond hair bouncing over her shoulders as she chased her own pleasure so shamelessly.

The way she’d held me over a barrel in my own house and tried to demand I rehire her.

I might’ve been blinded by lust at times, but even I could see that her behavior since the break-in had been odd.

Deliberately, I had insulted our affair and indicated I liked to bang people in my employ for sport. Yet she’d stuck around. If that wasn’t enough, she wanted to work for me again.

I had driven her crazy when she’d been my assistant, and she hadn’t truly wanted the position, anyway. She’d admitted that herself. It had all just been part of her attempt to somehow finagle a way to get her house back.

But that was all on the table, and she was still angling.

Now she was in seclusion, behind my own walls.

It was too much. I couldn’t sleep with her there. Never mind the fact she’d driven me out of my own bedroom, though I didn’t know where she was even sleeping in the house.

I’d couched it last night and probably would again tonight. It was bad enough risking seeing her in the bathroom or the kitchen.

The place was large enough that we didn’t bump into each other all that much, but it still took effort to stay out of her realm.

For fuck’s sake, it wasmyhome. Even if it had never been in the strict usage of the word, my name was still on the deed. She’d taken it over like she had Annabelle’s house. Wanting to keep an eye on her to reassure myself she was safe could only go so far.

Us being in the same space wasn’t healthy. We were too angry and frustrated with each other.

And if I saw her in that kimono again, I was going to bend her over the nearest surface and fuck her until she couldn’t move.

I circled the corner of my street, after having run through my development approximately sixteen times in a vain attempt to try to work off some of my energy.

Clearly, it hadn’t worked, since the sight of my mother’s car in my driveway set me off. It was parked behind Grace’s car, which was also new. She’d obviously had some help to retrieve it from the Marblehead house. She hadn’t asked me to drive her over there, so maybe her good buddy Jack had helped her out.

She must’ve told him that she was staying with me. Strange I hadn’t gotten a call. Unless he didn’t want to bring up any potentially problematic subjects.

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