Page 28 of The Last Affair
She hadn’t even realized she’d dropped her hands to her lap, linking her fingers together and holding tight. His hand covered hers now, warm and familiar.
“Yeah,” she sighed. “I’m good. Just taking in all the details.” He didn’t believe her. She could tell by the set of his jaw, the gentle squeeze of his hand and the way his eyes had grown dark with concern. “I’m good.” If she said it more than once, maybe he’d believe her. Maybe she’d believe it herself.
“You know what might be a cool idea?” Major’s voice seemed a bit louder than it had been, and Desta forced a smile as she turned in his direction. “What if Riley and Chaz get married at the same ski resort Desta and Maurice stayed at?”
Desta held her breath because in that moment she was totally sure Major knew, and he was having a good time teasing.
“That’s probably not a good idea,” Nina immediately replied.
“It was a really nice resort,” Maurice said. He still had a hand over hers beneath the table, and when she pulled one away to reach for her glass again, he laced his fingers with hers. “With a terrific view. Once Des and I realized we were both staying there, we spent the weekend together exploring the little ski town and enjoying the slopes. There’s a wonderful restaurant at the resort, but the place within walking distance has more of a selection. Des and I thought their food was great.”
It was the way he’d saidDes and Ifollowed by the curious stares that had her picking up the glass and emptying it of every drop of wine. She was tempted to reach for the bottle but stopped when Maurice lifted their entwined hands from beneath the table, resting them atop the white linen tablecloth for all to see.
“Well,” Marva said after a brief silence, “it seems things just keep changing around here.” She used a napkin to dab at the corners of her mouth before sending Desta a luminous smile.
“I knew it! You owe me ten dollars,” Major said to Nina, who smiled at Desta before shaking her head at her husband.
Ron had been holding a butter knife in one hand, a roll in the other. Now he pointed the knife from Maurice to Desta. “You two? Spent the weekend together, as into-gether?”
Desta sat motionless, waiting for him to say she was fired. She kept her shoulders squared and her eyes on Ron because if that was how this was going to play out, so be it. What was done was done, and she wouldn’t undo it now if she could. The wine was definitely beginning to kick in.
“Yes, we’re together.” She was glad Maurice didn’t mimic the way his father had said the word.
“It just happened last weekend,” she added. It shouldn’t matter, but she knew for certain there wasn’t enough wine in this house that would make her comfortable explaining this had really started via an online-dating site.
“I think it’s wonderful,” Nina added. “You two make a great-looking couple.”
“Well, at least now the sexual tension that was always brewing between you two can finally be resolved.” RJ looked bored and immediately changed the subject to who would be traveling to each of next year’s Fashion Weeks.
“Sexual tension brewing between us? Where’d that come from?” Maurice had been holding that question in, waiting for the moment he could get his brother alone to ask him about it.
They weren’t technically alone now, but since the women had all gathered in the living room to discuss wedding plans, the men had retreated to his father’s study where there was a full-scale bar on one side of the room and a large-screen TV on the other. There was a massive cherrywood desk in the center of the room, and across the space were more leather chairs, high-backed and deep-cushioned. They circled a glass table loaded with classic magazines that noted high points in RGF’s history as leaders in the industry.
RJ shook his head and propped his ankle up on his knee. “It came from all those meetings I had to sit through with you two barely being able to stop snipping at each other.”
“We did not snip at each other during work meetings,” Maurice insisted.
“Yeah, you did. And during poker games,” Major added. “I just thought you’d have the good sense to get over whatever thing you had for her, considering how close she is to the family. But when I saw the two of you leaving her office the other day, I knew something was going on.”
“Wait, what exactly did you see?” He’d been to Des’s office so many times throughout the past week. Not all the visits were work-related, but he’d been pretty sure they kept it G-rated, at least when the door was open. No matter how hard he’d tried to stay away from her, the effort had proven futile, especially since being with her helped to take his mind off the non-work-related stress he’d been experiencing this week.
“Yeah, but you don’t usually leave with your arm around that person’s waist, so low it could’ve been considered on her butt.” Major grinned with that announcement as RJ rolled his eyes.
“See, that’s the part I’m stuck on,” Ron said to his son. “Not your hand inappropriately on her in the office. But the fact that she’s been around us for all these years like she was a blood relative. And you, in your position at RGF, work particularly close to her. I’d have thought you would steer clear, as well.”
“Love chooses,” Chaz interjected. “Not business dealings, family relations or any of the other social trappings we tend to get into.”
“Whoa. Wait a minute. Hold up.” Maurice was shaking his head vehemently. “Nobody said anything about love.” He certainly hadn’t. And he wasn’t thinking it, either.
“You’ve never brought a woman home to meet the family before.” The corners of Major’s mouth wavered as he fought off another grin.
“I said we spent the weekend together. And okay, we were together a lot this week. But that’s it, we’re just having fun.” He shook his head because he didn’t like the sound of that, like what they were doing was trite and inconsequential. It wasn’t. “I mean, we’re just dating. Casually.” As opposed to seriously—something he’d sworn never to do again.
“Well, I’m not saying you can fall in love in that span of time. You know I don’t give a damn about love, anyway. All I’m saying is it’s about time. Now we can move on to more pressing matters.” The director of sales at RGF, RJ was always about business. As driven as every member of the Gold family was, the company was all RJ had, especially after the infamous proposal so long ago.
Chaz got up and went to the bar to refresh his drink. Riley had been bringing him to as many family dinners as he would attend over the past year since they’d been together, so he was already used to moving around the house. “A relationship can easily jump from sexual desire to love in the blink of an eye. Especially if that connection was already there in the form of a friendship. Or even an opposing relationship.”
He was referring to the feud that had since been squashed between the Golds and Tobias King, the owner of King Designs and Chaz’s uncle. Despite the companies being in direct competition—and Ron’s and Tobias’s refusal to speak to each other for more than thirty years—Riley and Chaz had started a secret affair that hand grown into a relationship and now an engagement.
