Page 65 of The Grumpy Billionaire
I gave him a pleading look. “Reid…”
He leaned back in his seat and put on a wide unnatural smile. “I know—I said I wouldn’t bring up this stuff. I’m sorry. Forget it. Spring roll?”
He lifted the appetizer toward me with a serving fork, and I nodded, though I didn’t know how I’d eat any more than what was already on my plate.
Safer to stuff my mouth than to open up my heart to him.
We dialed it back to small talk for the rest of the meal, discussing a few aspects of how Sheldon might shoot the story, talking about mutual friends of ours and where they’d ended up.
When I finished eating, I pushed away from the table and walked to the edge of the deck. I peered over the glass safety wall and railing down to the river which flickered with bright orange flame.
The crowd appeared to be dwindling. I shivered in my thin dress, registering the difference between the night air here and the artificially warm environment the patio heater had created around the table.
“It’s nice out here, isn’t it?” Reid draped his blazer over my shoulders.
It still held the warmth and scent of his skin and elicited a new shiver from me for reasons that had nothing to do with the outdoor temperature.
I risked a glance up at his face. “Thank you. Yes, you’re very fortunate to be able to enjoy this every night.”
“Actually…” He raised a brow and gave me a crooked, guilty-looking smile.
“Don’t tell me you never come out here.”
“Not often,” he admitted. “I’m usually pretty beat when I get in from work. And…”
The pause was so extended, I thought he wasn’t going to finish the sentence, but he did. “It’s not the same when you’re alone. Do you know what I mean?”
I nodded, understanding instantly. The more stunning a view was, the more beautiful a song, the more special an experience, the more you wanted to share it with someone.
Well, not just anyone. I should know. I’d shared all the moments of my life these past few years with “just anyones.”
Anyone but him.
“I’m honestly surprised you spend so much time alone. I thought…”
“What?”
“Well, I thought for sure you’d have someone in your life. You said there was a girl?”
Reid looked away from me, down toward the remaining Waterfire lovers lingering on the sidewalks below.
“She’s been away.”
“Oh. Yes, I guess she would have to travel a lot.”
When he looked back at me quizzically, I continued, “With modeling. I’m sure she has to travel for photo shoots.”
Reid gave me a baffled glance, and I answered his unspoken question.
“I figured it out from that picture at your house in Eastport Bay. She’s gorgeous. Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, right?”
He opened his mouth, then shut it again and looked down with a little laugh. Reaching over, he tugged the sides of his jacket more closely around me, releasing another intoxicating wave of cologne from the fabric.
God, I could get drunk on the stuff.
His fingers held onto the edges of the jacket, stroking it lightly up and down. “You warmer now?”
I nodded. “Yes, thank you.”
