“Who are you?” she asked in a nasal voice, the curl of her top lip clear.
Thea coughed again, her hand at her mouth. She couldn’t catch her breath and clung to the doorjamb like a limpet.
Adrienne waited a few seconds before tightening her eyes and stalking straight past Thea into the room. She glanced around as if checking for signs of Felix before looking back to Thea. “I asked who you were.”
Thea sucked in a rattling breath before closing the door and leaning back against its cool wood.
“I, I’m Thea. Thea Fox. Felix’s…”
“Friend?” Adrienne finished the sentence for her, dragging out the word.
Thea coughed again and straightened, moving further into the room.
“So, Ginny was right.” Adrienne drew her lips into a tight line.
Thea shook her head. Her eyes watered, and she struggled to catch her breath.
“Where’s my husband?”
There wouldn’t be any formal introduction, then. “In the shower,” she ground out, her throat closing.
Adrienne’s second eyebrow raised to join the first. “I won’t enquire how you know that.”
Adrienne ran her eyes over Thea, like she was cataloguing every detail. Every imperfection. Damn, she was tall. Even without heels, she’d tower over Thea. Perhaps over Felix, too. Maybe that’s why he wanted her to wear the midnight blue heels last night. Perhaps he had a thing for tall women.
“I was aware he had a new friend, but I didn’t know he’d be parading you around at the hotel in front of our associates.”
Ginny had definitely called her.
“Well, off you go to get him. When my husband has finishedwashing you from his body, ask him to come downstairs. I’ll be waiting here.”
Thea’s stomach lurched. She knew about Felix’s floating sex hammock mezzanine? Of course, she did. They’d been married. She’d probably designed it and had her wicked way with him non-stop up there. Thea’s throat was on fire now, and she bent double, hands on her knees, her racking cough filling the air.
“Adrienne.” Felix’s gravelly voice came from the staircase.
Both Thea and his ex turned to see him standing halfway down, taking in the scene. He wore a white towel slung low around his hips and dried his hair with a smaller cloth. The freckles on his shoulders looked like eggshells, and the sunlight caught the faintest trail of blond hair that disappeared behind the white cotton. Why did he have to look so unspeakably hot at this moment?
Adrienne’s eyebrows raised even higher. “You’ve been working out, Felix. I like it.”
Thea’s eyes widened, and her shock at the blatant lust on Adrienne’s face brought on a fresh attack of coughing. Both Felix and his ex turned to her.
“I didn’t touch her,” Adrienne said before walking over to the harp and pulling the same string Thea had tugged on only hours ago.
Felix shook his head and came to the bottom of the stairs. He took Thea’s arms and guided her to sit on the couch. His eyes gave nothing away. No apology, no shock. Of course, they didn’t. He was a successful businessman. He could maintain a poker face for hours.
Felix disappeared into the kitchen, returning moments later with a glass of water. He passed it to Thea, and their fingers met on the glass, brushing against each other for a fleeting moment. He raised his eyes back to Adrienne.
Thea glanced between the both of them, gulping down the cool liquid. Its blissful chill settled her throat.
“Why are you here?” Felix asked, his voice and face deadpan.
Adrienne scoffed. “I wanted to meet the woman who’s made you throw all your commonsense out of the window. The woman that you’re putting before your son. Your family.”
The skin at the back of Thea’s neck prickled, and her mouth hung open. Was she talking about her? As far as Thea knew, Felix had thrown nothing out of the window. They’d only just met. Sure, he’d provided her with at least twelve orgasms in the last eight hours, but he wasn’t putting her before anything. And not before his son.
Felix sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “I thought we talked about this the other night. Nobody’s putting anyone before Lucas. He’s my priority.”
Adrienne narrowed her eyes. “Well, where is he then? You could have brought him to town. He could have stayed at mine. Better still, we could both have stayed here.”
