“Is that what you’re calling it now?” He recognized her attempt to stall for what it was and smiled, “I really want to know about it and there has to be a name for something as wonderful as what you’re doing.”
She became animated almost immediately and he leaned back in his chair and watched her talk, “It’s going great. Thank you so much for giving me supplies. It helped more than you can imagine. I’d been thinking about what else to do. You helped so much. It has been such a relief. Miranda is even more excited than I am, whirling around trying to help me even more than she can, getting in my way. Driving me crazy.” She said the last part with a chuckle, and he laughed, knowing how Miranda could get. Her energy was overwhelming.
Her smile dipped and he mourned its loss, wanting to see it again. It felt like the day had reduced its brightness and he felt the overwhelming urge to take her hands and promise her the world if just to get the smile back.
“Why do you look so down all of a sudden?” he couldn’t help himself, he had to know what demons he had to fight.
“Janaye called.”
His gut tightened at the mention of her no-good cousin, he had had his secretary do some research and he knew exactly what kind of woman Janaye was, a no-good freeloader. It was a wonder she had survived for as long as she had. Most probably on the rent that Trinity had been paying.
“And what did she want?” he made sure to keep his anger from showing so he didn’t freak her out.
She winced and he knew he wasn’t as successful as he had hoped, “She wanted a ‘little something’ for all the times she had ‘helped me out.’” She put finger quotes around her words, her own anger igniting his own.
“And?” he all but growled out.
She shrugged, “I hung up.”
His burst of laughter surprised her as much as it surprised him. “That’s my girl,” he put his hand on hers again as he said the words and things had never felt so right.
The waiter came back with their food and they dug in, with Trinity making little sounds of pleasure that had his hold on his control weakening, what he would do to hear her make those sounds under him. His loins tightened uncomfortably, and he shifted, trying to ease the discomfort.
She looked up at him and he stared at her with equal intensity, then someone approaching caught his attention and he sighed, his good mood evaporating.
Jessika.
She came toward their table her hips swaying in a movement he could bet was as practiced as the rest of her. She turned heads, but not his, his head and all of him was captured by the woman in front of him.
She halted by his side, her perfume nauseatingly sweet, “Mikey,” she purred.
Trinity’s head shot up, her eyes darkening at the sound of the nickname and she placed her hands on his own. That was uncharacteristic of her, yet it delighted him.
Jessika’s eyes went to Trinity and she looked at his wife with dismissing eyes. “If I knew you were that desperate for a wife Mickey, I would have offered up myself. Your desperation shouldn’t have led you into marrying trash. A total nobody.”
His hold on his control snapped at that moment and not for the reason he wanted it to. “There’s only one trash here and it’s not the woman across from me.”
Jessika flinched as if she had been slapped but he paid her no mind, he was riveted by the smile that blossomed on Trinity’s face, it felt like the sun decided to shine in the restaurant, more specifically on his face.
“But Mikey –”
“You better leave sweetheart, before the real trash is taken out,” Trinity’s voice was firm and he celebrated the return of the fierce woman he knew. Jessika huffed and left in a flurry of movement.
Trinity barely even spared a glance at the woman leaving, focusing only on him. “Thank you,” her voice was really messing with his head.
“You’re welcome. I’m pretty sure you can handle yourself either way.” He was especially proud of the subtle insult she threw back at her.
She laughed, a small sound that continued to do things to him.What was happening to him?
“Wanna get out of here?”
She nodded and he called for the waiter, needing the check.
They left the restaurant hand in hand. He was hit with a sudden pang of regret, unwilling to end the night just yet, unwilling to go back home and relinquish her presence.
He spied a discreet sign leading to the hotel casino and gently tugged her in the direction of a bank of slot machines, wondering what her reaction would be.
She loved it.
