Page 424 of The Sinner: James

We break the kiss before I pull back slightly and look at him, my arms still around his neck.

“Never in a million years would I have thought you’d be here with me tonight. You didn’t answer my messages,” I say.

“I was on a conference call,” he says, guarded.

“Are things okay?”

He spreads and drapes his arms over the edge of the tub, evading my gaze.

“Yeah... They are,” he says before sucking in a long breath as if they’re not.

“Are they?” I insist.

His eyes shift to me, their sparkle gone.

“Yeah... They are overall. I only ran into some problems in Asia. New regulations. I’m hoping to have it sorted out by the end of the summer.”

“That means a delay.”

“Yeah…” he murmurs.

He doesn’t seem too happy with the new development.

“Will it affect the rest of the company?”

“No. But it will impact the revenue projections and jeopardize our line of credit.”

I sag a little.

“It will eventually take care of itself,” he says.

He swings his gaze to the right, grabs the bottle of wine, and fills his glass.

He lifts it and motions to it, inviting me to take a sip.

I curl my hand around his fingers and tilt the glass against my lips.

The red wine coats my palate before rushing down my throat, spurring heat inside my body.

“How’s your friend?” he asks, tearing the glass away from my lips.

“She’s good. We went to a club, she found a guy, and we parted ways.”

“Good for her.”

He looks down and drinks more wine.

“I was in Boston on Friday,” I say.

He shifts his gaze up, and surprise gleams in his gaze.

He sets the glass on the side.

“Why?”

“I wanted to talk to Daria. Well… I had to track her down first.”

“You could’ve used Maxwell.”

---