Or maybe it was her feet not moving in a straight line.
Three glasses of wine were more than she normally consumed in a night.
That last one went down fairly fast.
“Watch it,” Arik said when she tripped stepping out of the elevator. “Your heel caught in the ridge.”
No, it hadn’t, but it was nice of him to give her that excuse.
“I can’t wait to get them off,” she said. “Are you sure it was okay to leave when we did?”
They’d finished their second dance, more words spoken about Arik and her around them. She’d wanted to escape the floor when she’d heard her last name in hushed tones, but told herself she’d been warned.
It hadn’t stopped there. After the assumption of who she was or where she came from, there were words focused more on Arik, his father, and how much they were alike.
Yeah, she didn’t buy that.
They’d returned to their table, he handed her the rest of her wine and said it was time to go.
She gladly downed it, waved to Sophie and they cleared out through the front door and to his rented sedan.
“No one is going to care,” he said. “Might give them less to talk about, but my father will make up for it, I’m sure.”
“Can I confess something to you?”
“Of course.” He guided her to their room, swiped the card and opened the door.
The minute she was inside, she kicked her dangerous pumps off her feet and felt steadier with her arches touching the carpet.
“I thought maybe you were exaggerating your family’s behavior.”
“And now you know.”
“I do. I’m sorry for you.”
“Don’t be. It’s why I keep my distance.”
She sat at the bottom of the bed. Even her butt was numb from the chairs under the tent.
Though they’d kept it warm in there, almost too hot by the heater, but the breeze that came through cooled it to a perfect temperature.
“Has it always been this way with your father?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “I think he’s getting worse as he ages. Mortality can mess with your mind.”
“He doesn’t look his age.”
“Money bought that,” he said, laughing. “Just like Brandi’s overly inflated implants. Matches my father’s ego.”
She let out a soft laugh. “I wonder if he’ll ask her to pay him back once he finds someone else to replace her.”
“Nah. He throws money around. It’s a game to him and why he’s broke. It goes back to his ego. He’s getting what he wants out of it.”
“Attention or sex?” she asked.
“Both. It works for him, but he can keep me out of it.” He hesitated, searched her face, then said, “About what was said on the dance floor.”
“Think nothing of it. You can’t control words and thoughts out of others.”
