Page 41 of Second Time Around
“Don’t feel obligated to do that. You’ve already found so many innovative ways to stretch the food budget. I don’t know how you do it.”
“Honestly, it’s an interesting task. Many of the local merchantswantto help out the center, so this is the perfect way for them to do that without having to part with cash that they can’t really afford to give up. It’s a win-win.” Kyra wrinkled her nose. “I sound like some kind of obnoxious MBA.”
“You sound dedicated and passionate, two qualities I treasure in the folks who work here.” Emily gave her a brief hug and left Kyra to her pizza making.
Unfortunately, the repetitive washing and chopping allowed her mind to drift, and as always it chose Will as its destination.
There had been no opportunity to talk about what had happened between them because of Schuyler’s presence. Maybe that was for the best. Kyra needed time to absorb the sudden intimacy of their relationship and the fact that Will wanted to see her again.
She felt out of her depth, especially now that she’d had a glimpse into Will’s personal world. It was a long way from her family’s tiny prefab ranch house in the sticks of Pennsylvania, where her father worked in the Mack Trucks factory and her mother was a part-time school secretary. Not that her childhood had been hard in the material sense, but she had no need for a fancy golf cart to tool around the family estate.
Did growing up with Will’s kind of privilege make him a different person? He had seemed so approachable in college. It was only his extraordinary attractiveness that appeared to set him above her then. Now that she’d seen where he came from, the distance between themlooked like the Grand Canyon. Not to mention the fact that he was insanely wealthy, a feat he’d accomplished by himself.
Damn, he was intimidating.
She would be crazy to think he wanted anything more than some fun sex from her, no matter what Emily said. Kyra wished she could do casual because, God knows, the sex had been terrific. But for her, physical intimacy always led to emotional involvement. Since she had been halfway in love with Will in college, it would be all too easy to fall down that rabbit hole now.
And when he dumped her—very politely, of course—it would hurt like hell. Why set herself up for the certainty of that kind of pain? She had enough stress between juggling two jobs and reducing her debt. Sometimes she was too exhausted even to read, her greatest and most affordable pleasure. No, she needed to stay focused, instead of daydreaming about what might have been.
Her cell phone dinged with an arriving text. She glanced down at the screen. Despite telling herself not to feel this way, excitement flooded her veins just from seeing Will’s name on her phone.
Would Perseus suit you for dinner tonight? I owe you food without tension.
Because billionaires could get reservations at the city’s hottest and most expensive restaurant any time they wanted them. Proving everything she’d been thinking about their lack of common ground was true. So why was she smiling at her phone like a besotted idiot.
A thought struck her and she typed:Isn’t it closed on Mondays?
There was a pause before his text came back.No. Are we on?
yes I said yes I will Yes.She’d never actually readUlysses, but one of her English professors liked to quote it at odd moments.
Ah, now you’ve got my mind moving in an interesting direction. I’ll pick you up at 7.
She Googled the entire quotation fromUlyssesand discovered that it was a seduction scene. Well, that worked for her.
Perseus was fancy, which made Kyra decide to go with black. So what if it was spring and the city was bursting with color? In New York, black was the standard for every season.
She had two little black dresses—one for summer, one for winter. She pulled out the summer one, a close-fitting column dress overlaid with black cotton lace, along with a pair of high-heeled black sandals, whose tiny straps crisscrossed her feet and ankles in a way that added a little edge to the ensemble. She rooted through her underwear drawer to find her barely-there black silk-and-lace lingerie. She might have to say good-bye to Will after tonight, but there was no reason not to enjoy herself one last time.
After dressing, she piled her hair up on top of her head in a series of complex twists to add some sophistication. She hoped. Out of all the jewelry her mother had ordered during her television shopping binges, Kyra had kept one pair of real pearl-and-gold chandelier earrings. They’d served her well in the city so she fastened them to her earlobes, tilting her head to make them dance. She added a turquoise silk stole that a friend had brought her from India and nodded at herself in the mirror.
The labels might not say Chanel or Versace, but she looked darned good. At the very least, she wouldn’t embarrass herself or Will.
When the limo pulled up in front of her building, she was peering out the small barred window set in the front door. As Will emergedfrom the car, the low-slanting rays of the late-day sun set his hair agleam and outlined his face and shoulders in a rim of gold.
How could a man be so beautiful yet so entirely masculine?
Maybe it was the way his gray suit highlighted the breadth of his shoulders. Or the powerful motion of his long stride. It could be the sharp planes of his face that seemed sculpted in stone. Or how he carried himself with a confidence that came close to arrogance without ever crossing that boundary.
Her question to herself had been rhetorical, an excuse to drink him in as he crossed the sidewalk and trod lightly up the steps to her door. She swung it open before he could ring the bell. No reason to alert her kind but very inquisitive landlady to Will’s presence. Although the limo was pretty conspicuous in this neighborhood.
Will’s attention was focused on her as she walked through the door and pulled it shut behind her. His eyes were lit by the same sunshine that set his hair ablaze. He took her shoulders and held her away from him for a moment, his gaze traveling over her face, before bending to kiss her on the mouth in a way that made her want to drag him up the three flights of stairs to her bedroom.
When he lifted his head, he said, “‘She walks in beauty, like the night.’”
The kiss had seared through her all the way down to her toes, and they curled into the soles of her sandals. That was bad. “Byron? Really?” she scoffed to remind herself that she shouldn’t go there.
“Sometimes he got it right,” Will said, unruffled by her lack of appreciation for his compliment.
