The waiter arrives and takes our order. We don’t even need to look at the menu these days. I have the filet, and Ambrose has the risotto, and I sit sullenly sipping my wine, trying to release some tension from my shoulders.
“You are very intense tonight, my friend,” Ambrose says with a little smile.
“Sorry. It’s been a shitty day.”
“Hm, is that all? You look as if there is something else on your mind.”
I scrape my teeth over my lip, thinking about Amelia’s slender fingers holding the latte cup in my office. The beautifully entwined initials around the base glow in my mind, as if they are scored in fire. Then Amelia’s fingers change, morphing into those perfectly manicured red claws, sliding over Sinclair’s neck in my mother’s kitchen.
“Ever since I went to my mother’s, I’ve been on edge,” I admit. “It pisses me off that Megan is back in my life. I guess that’s been nagging at me this week, and this stuff with Barnes isn’t helping. He’s hanging on, just like she is, and I want him gone. I want them both gone.”
I’m dismayed to see I’ve drained my glass again and switch to water. The food hasn’t even arrived yet, and I don’t want to be drunk off my ass when we leave. I glance at Ambrose, who is watching me lazily from the other side of the table.
“Do you remember what Megan told me when we split?” I ask him.
“I do. She said something very untrue.”
“That I’m cold and unfeeling.”
“Which you are not.”
“I’m not dating you, Ambrose, so I’m not sure you have an informed opinion on the subject,” I say with a little smile.
Ambrose tips his head in agreement. “True, but you and I know I have seen you in…other guisestoo. And there is nothing unfeeling about you. Not as a friend, or a lover.”
I smirk as my fingers smooth over my glass.
“Tell me,” he continues. “Do you and the angel I saw in your office have the same arrangement as you and Megan once did?”
I stare at him over the rim of my water glass and roll my eyes. “You’re a goddamn mind reader, you know that?”
“I have been told before.”
I chuckle. “Great, so you figured out we were fucking as soon as you met her?”
“That, and the fact that you looked as if you had just blown your load when I walked in, yes.”
“Jesus, Ambrose,” I murmur, tugging at my collar.
“You cannot hide that look from me, my friend. I know it well.”
I grunt, grinding my teeth. Ambrose and I had an arrangement that worked well for both of us. Megan and I would fuck, and he would watch. Occasionally, I would even let him fuck her when she was in the mood.
I imagine fucking Amelia in front of him, and this time the thought isn’t unpleasant. In fact, I feel my cock twitch as I meet his gaze.
“So, do you?” he asks.
“No. She’s not exactly what you think, either.”
He frowns at me. “In what way?”
I lean back in my chair and consider whether it’s a good idea to tell him the truth. If I know Ambrose, and I do, there is only one way this night is going. I can see the interest in his dark eyes across the table, and anticipation is already building in my chest.
It isn’t the act itself that bothers me, but what might follow.
If he knows Amelia’s profession, would he try to hire her? And why do I care if he does?
I clear my throat. “Amelia is an escort,” I say, keeping my voice low. “She’s hired for the purpose of giving me what I want, when I want it. Within reason, of course.”
