A thought pops into my head, and suddenly I have the answer about us I’ve been searching for.
“We’re only talking about waiting for a year or so, right?I mean, there are surely a hundred ways to have an affairthat no one finds out about.Burner phones.Adjoining hotel rooms?”
Matt stares at me incredulously, then breaks into a wide, almost childlike grin.
“Overcoats and fake noses?”
“I’m serious!”
“You think we could sneak around for a year or so and hide this?Impossible.”He kisses my forehead, checking to make sure we’re alone, before we’re both laughing at the craziness of it all.
“You know what?I’ll take that challenge,” I say, pulling back to look at his face, and then leaning in, hesitating slightly, and putting my lips against his.
“Secret meetings in the driver room?”he says breathlessly.
“Dirty motorway motels, tucked away, far out of the city,” I reply, my hands hovering near his waist.
“I could get a fake girlfriend,” he replies.
“So could I,” I say, as his warm mouth hits the base of my neck.“Keyla might do it.”
“Fuck, you’re perfect,” he says, running his hand up my body to cup my breast on top of my shirt.“I could never resist you.I can keep a secret for the time being.”
“Our secret.”
“Except Archie has pretty much figured it out.”
“And I think Barry has known for ages....Still, we emerge in fourteen months, just as you retire, and I’m established as a successful team principal.Successful enough to survive a sex scandal.”
“Then you’d really know you made it,” he says, laughing into my neck.
“We have enough people around us who we trust.”
Matt pulls back and looks at me.“You’re not being serious, Chloe.Right?”
“Why not?”I ask, running my hands down his arms, his muscles flexing at my touch.
“Because it’s mad?”he counters.
“It isn’t mad,” I say, my smile softening.“It’s what I want.And I think we’d be hard-pressed to do this any other way, Matt.”
God, I want him.I’ll take him anywhere I can get him.No one is here, but someone could come at any moment....
“It’s either that or you leave the team, and you’re not leaving the team,” I say, as Matt reaches beside me to open a door.It’s a broom cupboard.He looks at me and grins.“I’ll let you go eventually.A year.Maybe two.”
I close my eyes as he kisses my ear, guiding me into the small space.He gives me a soft, lingering kiss that tells me everything I need to know.
“So, you’re quietly mine?”he says, his eyes a little misty.
“I always was,” I say, leaning forward and shutting the door behind us.
EPILOGUE
Chloe
London
One Year Later
