“Can buy a lot when diamonds and pearls aren’t on the shopping list.”
“Who needs diamonds and pearls?”she asked.“Promise to build the house of her dreams and any woman would give up sex to marry you.”
“You think?”
“Sure!”
“Property holds its value and it’s a lot harder for burglars to steal.It’s not easy to get on that ladder, take that from someone who knows.”
His head tilted.“I’ve never seen your apartment.”
“And you never will,” she said.God, talk about nightmare scenario.Did kindergarteners compare themselves to Van Gogh?Another picture drew her closer.“My apartment is smaller than this one room… Mason used to say I’d double my square footage if I got rid of my shoes, but, yeah, that wasn’t happening.”
“You heard from him today?”
“He texted me last night,” she said, crossing her legs to side-stride and admire the pictures along the wall.“Heard I was seeing Nathaniel.”
“Maybe that’s why you couldn’t follow through.”
“Maybe,” she said, leaning in.“Is that a cat?”
“Pets make a house a home.”
“Says the guy who doesn’t have one.”
“I have you now.You’ve been here almost two weeks and already doubled my grocery bill.”
“Not my fault wine is more expensive than beer.”
“Good wine.What did Mason want last night?”
“I don’t know,” she said and sighed.“I don’t think Mason knows what he wants half the time.”
“You were with him for a year, can’t be easy for him to see you moving on.”
That was offensive enough to tear her attention from the art.“Are you kidding me?”What did she feel?Anger or shock?“It must be difficult for him to see me moving on?He was screwing Terra for a month before I found out.”She raised a finger.“And let me be clear, he was screwing her everywhere, including at work.Almost every one of my colleagues knew my boyfriend was screwing the hottest chick at Brooker before I even knew we had a problem.”
“You knew.”
“Yeah, okay,” she said, waving that away.“So I knew we weren’t exactly ecstatic, but wouldn’t it be polite to tell a woman you were through with her before moving onto the next one?”
“Think maybe the wife of your married guy felt the same way?”Oh.Bullseye.He didn’t mean to strike her deep.At least, she really didn’t think he did.But that one hurt.More than he could know.His expression morphed to a curious concern.“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—”
“It’s fine,” she said, starting for the door.
“Elle.Elle!Babe!”
No.She couldn’t…
Running up the stairs, she steadied herself on the wall to slip on one shoe then the other.
“I thought we were going to cook,” he said, appearing by her.
“Another time,” she said.“Maybe.”
She snatched her purse from the floor, intending to go straight out the front door.
“Maybe?”Camden put himself between her and the exit.“You don’t get out of this house on a maybe.”Her focus remained straight ahead.“You never talk about him.”No, she didn’t, even though they’d spent hours talking this week.Hours they should’ve spent working or she should’ve spent home.“Elle…” His voice was soft, almost like the not there touch he used to toy with a curl that hung over her cheek.“I want to know…”
