Her mouth dropped in shock.
“What?” I scowled.
I thought shelikedsmall talk. Would she make up her mind already?
“You’ve never asked me a thoughtful question. You never askanyonehow their day is going.”
“Never truly cared.”
“And you do now?”
Fuck, no. But you seem to care an awful lot about social niceties, and I’d love to skip to the part where your thighs are pressed so hard against my ears I’ll be able to hear the ocean.
Before I had time to answer, she started blabbing, “It was great. Always good to catch up with Cal and Dyl. After the third cocktail, Enzo’s reinforcement came along, and I got a bit upset. Cal and Dylan challenged me to take the piss by running your Amex through every available PIN card machine. We waited for you to stop us. But…you never did.”
She sighed dreamily, allowing her head to plop on my shoulder. My heart hammered violently in my chest. Sickening desire and a heady sense of danger swirled inside my gut. I wanted to push her off and jerk her closer. To ruin her and save her from me. Each sexual encounter we had ended with me spiraling into an attack of rituals. Equations. Counting. Rereading soothing paragraphs.
Still, it was worth it.
Life had been hell from the moment I was born. But for the first time, I was enjoying the dancing flames.
She began nuzzling my neck. My blood roared in my veins, pulse pumping, quicker, harder. I balled my fists to stop myself from pouncing on her.
“Someone’s in an agreeable mood,” I croaked, my muscles bunching painfully. “If spending a few million is what it takes to make you putty in my arms, I’m happy to make it a daily occurrence.”
She sighed contently, her sweet breath fanning my face. Her lips moved down my neck, robbing me of the little sanity I still possessed.
To make matters worse for my cock, I had a conference call in ten minutes. One where I actually needed to speak.
“Apricity.” I fumbled for the button to lift the partition divider between us and Iven. “I—”
“Stop the car!” she yelped.
The Rolls-Royce screeched to a halt.
Gia bolted out the door. I followed after her out of instinct. Her heels pounded the pavement, rushing toward a Duane Reade. Unless this was about her buying condoms so we could fuck our way into next month, I was not happy about this recent development.
Also—I had a huge stack of those extra-thin Japanese condoms at home.
Gia stopped next to an elderly woman in a cleaning company uniform and a tattered coat. She was holding an unholy number of bags.
“May I help you to your car with those?” my wife inquired in her crisp English accent. “They seem quite heavy.”
The woman tilted her head dazedly. Her nose was red, and she looked exhausted. “Are you talking to me?”
“Yes,” Gia said, her voice earnest, snatching some of the bags. “Which way?”
“I’m taking the subway.”
“No, no. It’s too late and cold for that,” Gia insisted. “Where are you off to?”
“Yonkers.”
“We’ll take you th—”
“I’m calling her a cab right now.” I embraced my wife’s shoulders, physically removing her from the stranger before she started massaging her feet. “I’m sure this lady wouldn’t want to spend an entire car ride with complete strangers.”
Gia nodded thoughtfully. “Right. I hadn’t thought of that.”
