the large recliner. The couch… She couldn’t sit there without recalling the things they’d done on it.
“The list is small.” He sat on the table and slid over until his knee bumped hers. “But there were moments when you seemed to be wearing an ill-fitting façade. By the way, I ordered pizza. Pepperoni and pineapple.”
She laughed. “If Madame V had ever known I ate that with you…”
“She’d have thought I forced it on you ,” he finished with a flirtatious wink.
She directed the conversation away from the past and particularly away from Madame V. That topic too easily reminded her of the three-month-long assignment as a call-girl, the lies she’d told to maintain her cover and the almost deadly ending.
An hour of comfortable conversation later, with the pizza sitting between them half gone and mostly cold, Trevor grew silently reflective for several minutes. “If I ask a question will you answer it?”
“That is a question. My answer would be a suggestion that you ask a direct question.” I’ll figure which evasion to go with.
“You’re not agreeing to give me an answer.”
“No, I’m not.” Regardless of how she still felt about him, and the relief she’d found when learning he wasn’t engaged, some answers could never be given. It was an inescapable fact of her life.
“When we were together, before, how much…” He dropped his face into his hands and dug the tips of his fingers into his scalp. “How much of what we shared was real for you?”
“Trevor,” she whispered over the pain his doubt inflicted. String that tightrope a little higher next time.
“All the times we lay in bed or sat on this couch talking… The dreams we shared… Were those things real?”
Saying yes would lead to him asking if they were still. Saying no would break his heart, and hers. Both scenarios sat uncomfortably heavy in her shrinking chest. She really had grown into a bad liar over the last few months. “A lot has changed since those nights.”
“But not everything.” He stood, took her hand and led her to the sofa she’d avoided earlier. “You’re free of Madame V, and that life. You’ve come back to me. Something from then had to have been real.”
She couldn’t tell if it was desperation shaking his vocals or if his conviction was simply too strong to remain level.
“I can’t get into a relationship with you, Trevor.”
He tugged her down beside him, keeping her close. “We had a relationship beyond business from the start. Then and now.”
Charm sparked in his gaze, compelled her to stay focused on him. He erased the distance between them, smudged the line of her resolve. Her belly tightened low and deep. Her sex trembled.
“Trevor.”
“Then.” He kissed the left corner of her mouth. “And now.” He kissed the right. “We were never just business…” He kissed her nose. “Though I’d have paid any price to get you away from Madame V a lot sooner.” He kissed just between her eyes. “I’m damn glad you escaped.”
Escaped. Ha. Near death with starvation, she’d been dumped in a gutter a few hours before the FBI raided Madame V’s mansion. Which of Madame’s lackeys had been her dumper would likely remain a mystery—one she didn’t care to solve now that she was safe.
“Thank you.” It sounded more like a question, but the man was messing with her mind again. Her free hand inched across her lap toward Trevor’s. Her brain held out for distance but clearly her body wasn’t interested in caution. Her brain won and stopped her hand.
“I’m proud of you, Lori, and I find myself not caring what I don’t know about you.”
You would if you knew.
He took her mouth with his and drove thought from her mind. Her body, suddenly a heated, prickly-skinned mass of need, held the controls.
The small insights he was gaining, the tiny glimpses of pieces he was putting together, made words unnecessary for him to understand why she’d avoided the couch.
“The list is small.” He sat on the table and slid over until his knee bumped hers. “But there were moments when you seemed to be wearing an ill-fitting façade. By the way, I ordered pizza. Pepperoni and pineapple.”
She laughed. “If Madame V had ever known I ate that with you…”
“She’d have thought I forced it on you ,” he finished with a flirtatious wink.
She directed the conversation away from the past and particularly away from Madame V. That topic too easily reminded her of the three-month-long assignment as a call-girl, the lies she’d told to maintain her cover and the almost deadly ending.
An hour of comfortable conversation later, with the pizza sitting between them half gone and mostly cold, Trevor grew silently reflective for several minutes. “If I ask a question will you answer it?”
“That is a question. My answer would be a suggestion that you ask a direct question.” I’ll figure which evasion to go with.
“You’re not agreeing to give me an answer.”
“No, I’m not.” Regardless of how she still felt about him, and the relief she’d found when learning he wasn’t engaged, some answers could never be given. It was an inescapable fact of her life.
“When we were together, before, how much…” He dropped his face into his hands and dug the tips of his fingers into his scalp. “How much of what we shared was real for you?”
“Trevor,” she whispered over the pain his doubt inflicted. String that tightrope a little higher next time.
“All the times we lay in bed or sat on this couch talking… The dreams we shared… Were those things real?”
Saying yes would lead to him asking if they were still. Saying no would break his heart, and hers. Both scenarios sat uncomfortably heavy in her shrinking chest. She really had grown into a bad liar over the last few months. “A lot has changed since those nights.”
“But not everything.” He stood, took her hand and led her to the sofa she’d avoided earlier. “You’re free of Madame V, and that life. You’ve come back to me. Something from then had to have been real.”
She couldn’t tell if it was desperation shaking his vocals or if his conviction was simply too strong to remain level.
“I can’t get into a relationship with you, Trevor.”
He tugged her down beside him, keeping her close. “We had a relationship beyond business from the start. Then and now.”
Charm sparked in his gaze, compelled her to stay focused on him. He erased the distance between them, smudged the line of her resolve. Her belly tightened low and deep. Her sex trembled.
“Trevor.”
“Then.” He kissed the left corner of her mouth. “And now.” He kissed the right. “We were never just business…” He kissed her nose. “Though I’d have paid any price to get you away from Madame V a lot sooner.” He kissed just between her eyes. “I’m damn glad you escaped.”
Escaped. Ha. Near death with starvation, she’d been dumped in a gutter a few hours before the FBI raided Madame V’s mansion. Which of Madame’s lackeys had been her dumper would likely remain a mystery—one she didn’t care to solve now that she was safe.
“Thank you.” It sounded more like a question, but the man was messing with her mind again. Her free hand inched across her lap toward Trevor’s. Her brain held out for distance but clearly her body wasn’t interested in caution. Her brain won and stopped her hand.
“I’m proud of you, Lori, and I find myself not caring what I don’t know about you.”
You would if you knew.
He took her mouth with his and drove thought from her mind. Her body, suddenly a heated, prickly-skinned mass of need, held the controls.
The small insights he was gaining, the tiny glimpses of pieces he was putting together, made words unnecessary for him to understand why she’d avoided the couch.
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