“No.”
“Lunch then.”
“Are you serious?”
“I’ll be on my best behavior.” His eyes scanned my face, and for a moment, his bravado seemed to give way to a hint of that desperation he’d mentioned earlier. “You said your husband’s out of town.”
For the first time tonight, real anger rose in me. Not just for what he was insinuating, but at myself. Why couldn’t I just walk away? Why did I let him get to me—and why did I consider accepting his invitation? I knew, no matter what, how something like this could end. Just thethreatof infidelity—the accusations leveled on both sides, the vulnerabilities exposed and exploited—not even the act, had eroded my parents’ marriage.
“How dare you?” I asked.
He sighed, his minty breath tempting me closer. “I’m not asking for anything more than a meal.”
“Asksomeone else,” I said sharply.
“I don’twantsomeone else,” he shot back. “Haven’t you heard anything I’ve been trying to tell you?”
He was angry now, too, buthehad no reason to be. I delivered my good-bye slowly so he’d hear every word. “If my husband knew what you were suggesting . . .”
David loosened his grip a little. “What?” he challenged. “What would he do?”
Nothing. Bill would be hurt, but he wouldn’t take action. And David seemed to know that somehow.
“Being away this weekend was his mistake,” David said. “If you were mine, I’d never let you out of my sight unless I absolutely fucking had to. And if I did, no man would make the same mistake I did and presume you were single. Every person within a mile radius would know you weremine.”
His. His words, his cool breath, his firm but reverent grip on my arm—it all made me want to let him kiss me. Because there was no question in my mind that he ached for it. And me?
Achewas too mild a word.
I need to know how he tastes.
That terrifying thought spurred me to take my arm back and hurry inside. I should never have let David think he had even a chance of kissing me.
Iwas the one who’d made a mistake. Not Bill.
5
Lucy’s engagement-announcement party remained in full swing. I found her and Gretchen right where I’d left them, talking to Andrew as if the earth hadn’t shifted in the twenty minutes I’d been on the balcony with David. As if everything wasnormal.
While Andrew and Gretchen argued over the reasons she needed to get into the stock market, I tried to remove my heart from my throat. With every second that passed, guilt ate at me. I’d let David say too much. We’d gone too far and nowhere at all. There was nowheretogo.
As he reentered the party, I took him in for the last time. There was no reason we should ever see each other again and every reason we shouldn’t.
He towered over everyone as he made his way in my direction, then stopped a few feet away, holding my gaze as he rubbed his jaw. Finally, he took a breath and said in his endlessly deep voice, “There’sthe bride-to-be.”
Lucy looked over, and her face lit up. “Hi, David. I’ve been meaning to find you.”
He spread his arms. “Here I am,” he said, dazzling her with a large smile, one that was almost too big for his face. A knee-weakening smile that I hadn’t yet seen.
She stuck out her bottom lip. “Why do you have your coat on?”
“I’m sorry to swoop in and out, but I’ve got somewhere to be.”
Andrew settled his arm around Lucy. “We’re glad you could make it. And I’ll be taking you up on that offer to go out on the water.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that.” Lucy patted her fiancé’s chest. “We’re in trouble if Andrew falls in love with your sailboat, David.”
“Why don’t you come, Luce?” David asked. “I’ll take you both out.”
