Page 78 of The Arrangement
Her fingers dance over my skin, spraying goose bumps on my arms. “I think you should go.”
“What?”
“Go,” she insists. “Our lives still have to continue, and I know that meeting was important. I’ll be fine by myself for a few hours. I’ll check in on Mimi and take a bath.Really. Being alone for a little while sounds glorious. Do you know the last time I was by myself? With a bathtub that doesn’t leak onto the floor?”
I blow out a breath, considering her questions because my instinct is to be here with her. But the more I think about it, the more I realize she’s probably right. She’s with me at the office all day, and then Mimi in their cramped apartment at night. She probably does want some time alone. I’d lose my mind if I didn’t have time by myself to decompress.
“If you’re sure,” I say. “But I want to be clear. I’m doing this because you want me to, not because I want to.”
She kisses the center of my chest. “I’m sure. I’ll feel less guilty about you getting behind on work.”
“May I remind you that you aren’t my assistant right now?”
“You brought work up. Not me.”
“That’s true.”
“And it’s really hard for me to justnotthink about it. Your work isn’t only important to Brewer Air. It’s important toyou.”
I smile, watching the sun begin to rise. “It’s a good thing you married me.”
“Why?”
“Because you would’ve quit in the end, or you would’ve been single forever.”
She laughs. “What do you mean?”
“You weren’t going on that date with Thomas.”
Her laugh grows evil.
“You weren’t,” I say, the thought making my stomach tighten. “I was going to find a reason to make you work over.”
“You wouldn’t have.”
“Oh, yes I fucking would’ve.”
“Fine. I wasn’t going anyway. I canceled it the night you called me. He came by to check on Mimi and it was just … sparkless.”
“Sparkless, huh?”
“Sparkless.” She moves her leg over the top of mine. “This feels pretty sparky, though.”
We lie tangled up in the sheets, our bodies connected in every way but one. Chloe is so still, so peaceful, that I think she’s fallen asleep. But when I look down, I notice her eyes are open.
I’d be happy staying in this apartment with her forever, and God knows I could come up with things to entertain us. But something about that doesn’t quite sit right with me. She deserves more than to be kept inside this gilded cage. I want her to enjoy herself in ways besides sex.
I want to show her off and make her feel special.
“I want to take you to dinner tonight,” I say softly.
She takes a deep breath. “I don’t know what you have in mind, but I didn’t bring anything too fancy to wear. Not that I have anything fancy, but the point remains the same.”
“Don’t worry about that.”
“I’m not worried about it,” she says. “I just want to limit your expectations.”
She has no idea that she exceeds them at every turn.
