Page 8 of Velvet Sin
“I wouldn’t expect to run into you here, in town.”Tucking lustrous brown hair behind her ear, she added, “I didn’t think you ever came through now that your mom is in that private community in Lake Tahoe.”
“How would you know that?”
A brief smile stirred, but she shut it down quickly.She couldn’t let herself smile in front of me.The wounds I’d inflicted had turned to scar tissue, but they lived in her memory.“It’s been a long time, but some things don’t change.My mom is still the neighborhood gossip.”
I should’ve known.“There is something to be said for consistency.”And if there was one thing I could always count on, it was Lenny’s motormouth mother reporting everybody’s business.
She glanced toward the door, giving away her desperation to get away from this ill-conceived conversation.“I don’t want to keep you.I’m sure you’re busy.”
“Yes, I’m expanding my business into the area.”Why the fuck did I tell her that?She hadn’t asked.She didn’t need an explanation.
“Oh really?”Now she looked at me, interest sparking in those sparkling eyes.“You’re in entertainment, right?That’s the one thing I never could find out.”
How pathetic, the hope that bubbled to the surface at her choice of words.I wasn’t the only one digging around for information.“You were asking around?”
“Not exactly, but Mom once told me she could never get a straight answer out of your mom when she asked what you were doing, only that you were in entertainment.Clubs?”She sounded genuinely baffled.
There was a reason Mom couldn’t explain what I did.I never told her in specifics.I wasn’t ashamed.I gave people what they wanted, filled their needs.That didn’t mean she would understand or accept the money that resulted.“Yes, clubs,” I replied.I didn’t need her bigmouth mother finding out and turning my life into a scandal.
The idea made my teeth grind.This was why I didn’t want to come out here.The sense of having to explain myself, making small talk, watching every word in case some prude decided they couldn’t handle it.People only thought they wanted to know about other people’s lives.Very rarely could they handle the truth of what went on behind closed doors.
“That’s very nice.Maybe I’ll see you around again.”She inched away, and something in me threatened to burst into flame.She was going to walk away after all this time?Even if she had no questions about me, which I doubted, I had questions about her.What happened to bring her here?Why was she no longer wearing a ring?My curiosity couldn’t be ignored.
I moved toward her like a magnet drawn to steel.“I was hoping you would join me for a drink, Lenny.”
“Eleanor.”She lifted her chin, and for the first time since I approached her, she held my gaze.“I haven’t been Lenny in a long time.Besides, you’re the only person who ever called me that.”
“Which is exactly why I used the name.”Like I gave a shit what other people called her.She was my Lenny and always had been.“One drink.My treat.”
Oh, the things she wanted to say to me.It was etched across her delicate features, every word, every insult.Yes, from her perspective, I had a hell of a lot of nerve.The man who cheated on her and broke up our relationship, having the audacity to approach her like an old friend.I wasn’t going to throw myself at her mercy.She had to know that about me, just as I knew her pride.
I also knew her curiosity.She might not have been the gossip hound her mother was, but the fruit didn’t fall that far from the tree.She wanted to know about me, what my life had become, almost as much as I wanted to know about hers.So much so she was willing to take the risk of me asking uncomfortable questions.
Almost.“You know what?I don’t think so.”I was too stunned to react, wordlessly watching as she started for the door, then stumbled, her legs giving out.
“Lenny!”It was reflex, the way I reached for her, grabbing her before she hit the floor and pulling her upright.Her body still fit perfectly against mine, and I would have sworn not a day had passed since the last time I held her.“Are you sick?”I asked, barely aware of a few staff members rushing our way.
She shook her head, staring at the floor while fighting to regain her balance.“Thank you.I’m fine, really.Just a little tired, and I’ve been out all day.I haven’t really eaten anything.”
That decided me.“Forget the drink.I’m buying you dinner.”
I might as well have suggested a public blow job.She stiffened, her already pale complexion going a shade whiter.“You really don’t have to.I would rather you didn’t.”
For someone who came close to fainting moments ago, she had the nerve to pretend she was fine.“Don’t be proud.I want to make sure you’re all right.”When the hostess reached us, I announced, “We’ll need a table for two.”
4
ELEANOR
Of all the freaking times for the past to come back and bite me in the ass.
It wasn’t bad enough I’d spent the whole day being rejected for jobs I was way overqualified for.It wasn’t enough to know nobody wanted me, that the world had passed me by in the ten years I’d spent playing happy homemaker for a man who wasn’t worth it.
Dante West had to show up and deliver the cruelest curveball imaginable.It was like the universe wasn’t satisfied with making me feel small and useless.It had to throw a broken heart in my face, too, while I was already feeling weak and shaky from low blood sugar.It had been a hell of a day.
He went out of his way to be a gentleman, pulling out a chair for me after the flustered hostess led us to a table.“You should have a drink,” he decided, as if he had the first idea of what was best for me.“Something to get your blood pumping.”
The last thing I needed was a drink, and not only because I couldn’t trust myself to be polite if I had alcohol in my system.I hadn’t eaten a bite beyond a piece of toast since leaving my apartment for the first of several pointless interviews that morning.All I needed now was to get tipsy and start bawling my eyes out over the way life decided to take a shit on my head.“No, thank you.A regular iced tea will be fine.”
