Page 29 of A Convenient Secret
It’s been a shitty week altogether.
I’m failing my firm, because I know I’m the best to run the London setup.
I’m failing my kids, because my work cuts into my time with them.
I’m failing to protect them from their viper of a mother.
And amid all these problems, instead of looking for solutions, I’m sitting here with a woman who makes me feel level, even though she’s the reason I’m so unsettled.
I sigh.
“That kind of a day?” Lily takes my tumbler and puts it to her lips. I don’t see it because I’m staring into the space in front of me, but I still see it in my mind. Her lips.
“That kind of a week,” I murmur.Just stand up and let her go.
She chuckles. “I guess I started your hell of a week. I’m sorry.”
I’m not.
“You’re good with them. I’m glad they had youwhile they couldn’t have me.” I don’t tell her they didn’t have much of me because of her. That’s a confession I’m not yet admitting to myself. And obviously failing at that, too.
She reclines her head, resting it on the backrest. “I kept them safe and occupied.”
I slide forward and mirror her position, closing my eyes, grateful for the strange sense of peace. “Stop being modest. It doesn’t suit you.”
She giggles. “Okay, I won’t.”
I turn my head to the side and look at her. The pretense at obedience again. She is mocking me, and I love it.
But even while teasing, her compliance makes all my hair stand on end, my body tingling with the need to dominate her in other ways.
She also turns her head, and now her face is just inches from mine. We inhale each other’s breath, the taste of whiskey lingering between us.
My eyes drop to her lips.
She darts out her tongue.
I angle myself toward her and drape my arm over the backrest behind her. She is even closer now, as we stare at each other like this was the only thing on our agenda.
I don’t think I ever allowed myself to look at her forthis long. It stirs something in me. It’s like discovering a new painting, or finding a hidden gem of antiquity.
Like seeing the kids wild with joy I don’t understand.
Like everything I ever enjoyed has collided in this moment, in the woman beside me, and I can finally breathe and allow myself to simply absorb this rare pause in my life.
To absorb the attractive and very young woman who shares whiskey with me.
Her crooked nose adds to her allure. That minor flaw makes her more approachable, real. I want to trace my finger down its curved outline.
The delicate column of her neck bobs. If I lean a few inches, our lips would meet. As if my thought had telepathic abilities, Lily’s lips part. She swallows again.
Would it be possible that she wants the same as me?
That’s preposterous.
And even if she does, I should know better. She’s so young. I don’t have room for a fling.
I jerk back against the backrest again, desperately searching for the train of our conversation.
