Page 47 of The Betrayer
“I asked Tara for the door code,” she replied like it was nothing.
We both stood staring at one another for a moment. Angela was waiting for me to move, me trying to understand what was going on and how my girlfriend was standing in my apartment when she was supposed to be back in New York.
Angela finally got tired of waiting and came toward me, wrapping her arms around my neck and pressing her lips to mine. She didn’t seem to mind when I was too taken aback to respond in kind.
“What are you doing here?” I asked when she finally pulled away.
“I decided to join you because you’ve been gone so long, and I missed you.” Her full lips pulled down into a pretty pout. Instead of making me smile like the gesture usually did, it only annoyed me. I was in the middle of a big deal, and as far as Angela knew, I was still trying to pin it down. I hadn’t told anyone yet that it had gone through successfully. For all she knew, she was here to distract me from one of the most important deals of my life to date.
Angela must have sensed something in me, maybe a tensing or shifting of my face, because her expression changed, too.
“Oh, come on, Paul.” She pulled away, her pout becoming an actual pout. “It’s romantic. I flew all the way out here to be with you.”
Her words sparked guilt—wasn’t this romantic? Wasn’t this a grand gesture of how my girlfriend felt about me?
“You’re right.” I sighed, taking off my coat and closing the door behind me. I heard the lock slide into place. “I appreciate the thought.”
Mollified, Angela sidled up to me again, sliding her arms back around my neck, her expression sultry. “You’ve been working so hard, I thought you deserved some fun.” Her pout was back on her lips, her gaze trying to pull me in. But I didn’t feel very drawn to her at that moment.
“How did you get here, anyway?” I asked, extracting myself from her arms to put down my bag and drape my coat over the back of a chair.
Angela shrugged. “A friend greased the wheels for me.
“Who? Someone at the State Department?”
Another shrug. “Just an old friend.”
Clearly, Angela wasn’t going to elaborate, which instantly aroused my suspicions. I knew she had an ex who worked for the government—had she called on him to help?
“Seriously, Angela, I appreciate you being here, but I’m in the middle of working—”
Angela’s eyes flashed for a moment, though it was too fast to determine whether it was anger or hurt. Then she came toward me, pressing herself along the length of me, her gaze on my tie as she ran her fingers down it suggestively.
“Can’t I do something nice for my boyfriend?” she asked. “We’re getting serious, aren’t we? Isn’t this something you do with a serious boyfriend?”
I swallowed, unsure how to answer her question. Then her gaze moved up to mine, a slight smile tugging at one corner of her lips. Sure, we were decently serious, but we had only been dating for a few months. How serious could we be?
“I mean, how romantic would it be just to elope here in China? There are some beautiful places—”
Before I could even think about it, I took a giant step away from Angela. My pulse sped up, and I felt my eyes grow wide as I stared at her. Her response was quick, and she stepped toward me again, her hands held up in a placating gesture.
“Hey, hey, it was just a joke.”
When I didn’t respond, Angela’s mouth twisted into another frown, and she moved toward her suitcase by the wall. “Nice to know where you are,” was her parting shot as she disappeared into the bedroom.
For a moment, I didn’t move. Her suggestion might have been just a joke, but my body and mind hadn’t gotten the message. Just the mention of marriage sent me into a tailspin of panic.
Whatever I had said to my father about being serious with Angela had been just to rankle him. I hadn’t actually been serious. I’d already told Angela I wasn’t a big believer in marriage. Not after watching my parents’ marriage devolve into divorce.
I moved without thought onto the balcony, taking in great gulps of air like I’d been running a marathon instead of walking across the apartment.
It was apparent Angela saw a long future for us, but I didn’t know how I felt about it. Part of me saw a future. I hadn’t entirely pulled that out of nowhere when I’d been baiting my father, but I didn’t know what that looked like. I didn’t know what I wanted it to look like, and I didn’t think it was time to dive deeply into the question. I had to put all my focus on the buyout.
A noise behind me made me turn, my nerves already crackling under the pressure, to find Angela in the open doorway. She had changed out of her travel clothing into a negligee. The black lace looked like it had been etched onto her creamy skin, and the long length of her leg was visible.
So were other things, including her erect nipples.
Despite myself, my body responded, the blood rushing down so fast I felt almost lightheaded.
