Page 36 of The Inmate
Maybe we can be friends after all. After all, there’s nothing that binds two people like a shared secret.
Sincerely,
Dawn Schiff
ChapterNineteen
PRESENT DAY
NATALIE
The headlights appearin my front window. I glance outside just in time to see the silver Audi pulling up right behind my own car. I pull my compact out of my purse and do one last check. Not that it matters so much, but it’s almost an instinct at this point.
And then the doorbell rings.
I dash over to the door in my stocking feet. I don’t check the peephole or ask who it is. I know who it is. I open my lock and my deadbolt and throw open the door.
Seth Hoffman, my boss, is standing on my doorstep. His shirt is even more wrinkled than it was this morning, and he’s got a five o’clock shadow on his chin. He’s always clean-shaven in the morning, but he grows hair fast.
“Hey,” he says.
“Hey,” I say.
Now that we have dispensed with the small talk, Seth steps forward and grabs me, smashing his lips against mine. He kicks the door closed behind him, and a second later, we’re ripping each other’s clothes off.
God, I really, really missed this. I’m wild about Caleb, but I don’t think anyone has ever driven me wild the way my married boss does. Even though I knew it was the dumbest thing I could do, I found myself falling for him hard. But I was the one who ended it, because I was pretty sure Melinda was going to slit my throat if it kept up, and also, I was becoming increasingly convinced he would never, ever leave her.
I was wrong about that one.
As Seth and I collapse together onto the sofa, his lips still on mine, I feel almost dizzy with excitement. This must be the way a drug addict feels when they get a snort of cocaine after being off of it for four long months.
Seth pulls his lips away for a moment. “So what happened to Caleb, huh?”
“Still in the picture.”
“Is he?”
“Yes. This is a one-off. Okay?”
He doesn’t even have to think about it. “Okay.”
Then he goes back to kissing me. I missed this so damn much.
Over an hour later, we’re both on the sofa together, our bodies still intertwined, naked and sweaty andhappy. Ireallyneeded that. I didn’t even realize how much. It wasn’t cheating, exactly. Caleb and I haven’t even slept together yet. You can’t cheat on somebody if you’re not sleeping with them. And anyway, this was a one-off with an old flame. It doesn’t even count.
“Jesus,” Seth murmurs into my hair. “You’re unbelievable, Natalie.”
“You’re not so bad yourself.”
He laughs. “It’s you. You bring it out in me.”
“Sure I do.”
“It’s true.” He lifts his head to look at me. “That’s why Melinda and I split up, you know. Because of you.”
“You didn’t tell her that, did you?”
“No,” he says in a way that makes me not quite believe him.
