Then the panic was violently shoved behind a blindingly bright smile. He immediately pushed back from the stool, standing up with such frantic speed that the heavy wood scraped harshly against the floorboards. He crossed the kitchen in three long, aggressive strides.
“Rose, my love. You’re home,” he said, his voice a pitch too loud, a fraction too enthusiastic.
Before she could take a step back, before she could even open her mouth to ask the question burning on her tongue, he wrapped his arms tightly around her waist. He pulled her flush against his chest, his grip almost bruising, and brought his mouth down on hers in a deep, desperate kiss.
It was aggressive. It was possessive. It was a weapon of mass distraction.
The familiar scent of his expensive cologne and the overwhelming heat of his mouth flooded her senses, violently scrambling her thoughts and easing the terrible, agonizing knot that had formed in her chest just moments before. He was kissing her like a man starved, and despite the alarm bells ringing in her head, her traitorous body leaned into it.
When he finally pulled back, his breathing was slightly uneven. He kept one heavy hand firmly on her hip, anchoring her to his side, acting as though this domestic bliss were perfectly normal.
“Katherine had an emergency,” David explained smoothly, gesturing vaguely back toward the island. He didn’t look at Katherine. He kept his dark eyes fixed intensely on Rosália’s face. “Her laptop completely crashed, and she needed to send out some contracts for her sponsors. Sean isn’t home from the city yet, so she came over to see if I could salvage the hard drive.”
Rosália blinked, her mind scrambling to piece together the whiplash of the last thirty seconds. She looked over David’s shoulder. Katherine was waving enthusiastically, completely oblivious to the silent, suffocating tension vibrating between husband and wife.
“Hi Rosália! I am so sorry to crash your evening,” Katherine chirped, offering a dramatic, apologetic pout. “David is a total lifesaver. I was literally in tears trying to get this stupid thing to turn back on.”
Rosália swallowed hard, tasting the lingering phantom flavor of copper and panic. She forced the corners of her mouth up into a gracious, perfectly practiced smile.See?she scolded herself, her heart still hammering against her ribs.You’re losing your mind. He’s just fixing a computer. He despises her, remember?
“It’s no problem at all, Katherine,” Rosália said, stepping out of David’s suffocating hold to walk further into the kitchen. Her legs felt slightly numb. “I’m glad David could help. Actually, I was just about to start dinner. I’m making a roast chicken. You should stay and eat with us.”
Katherine’s eyes widened, her hand fluttering to her chest. “Oh, no, I couldn’t! I’ve intruded enough, and Sean will probably be back...” She trailed off, tapping the screen of her phone, before a bright smile returned to her face. “Well, actually... Sean just texted that he’s stuck in a board meeting until late. If you’re sure I wouldn’t be bothering you guys?”
“Not at all,” Rosália insisted smoothly, opening the heavy refrigerator to pull out a bottle of chilled Chardonnay. Her hands were shaking. “I insist.”
Dinner was an agonizing study in contradictions and slow-building torture.
Rosália moved through the motions of the perfect hostess, serving the beautifully roasted chicken and freshasparagus, pouring the wine with a steady hand. But the atmosphere at the table was suffocatingly thick, the air pressure dropping so low it made her ears ring.
David, the man who could usually hold a boardroom spellbound with his charisma, barely said a word. He kept his eyes fixed entirely on his plate, cutting his food with precise, mechanical motions. The muscle in his jaw feathered constantly.
Katherine, on the other hand, was entirely unbothered by the tension. The younger woman eagerly accepted glass after glass of the heavy white wine, the alcohol quickly flushing her chest and cheeks with a pretty, youthful pink.
“So, Katherine,” Rosália prompted, elegantly swirling the wine in her glass, desperate to fill the oppressive, terrifying silence. “How is work treating you?”
Katherine’s face lit up, absolutely thrilled to have the spotlight. “Well, I love working as a personal trainer, but my main focus right now is building my online brand. Pilates, mobility flows, high-intensity interval training. It’s all about teaching women to reconnect with their bodies, you know?”
She took a large, sloppy gulp of her wine, leaning forward over the table, her low-cut top dipping dangerously.
“You should absolutely come test out one of my private classes, Rosália! You have a great frame for it,” Katherine continued, her voice growing louder, slurring just the slightest bit. “Women always tell me how much my mobility routines change their lives. And, honestly? Their husbands arealwaysso grateful when they become a little more... flexible.”
Katherine threw her head back and let out a loud, ringing laugh, wiggling her eyebrows conspiratorially at Rosália.
The joke landed on the linen tablecloth like a live grenade.
Rosália stiffened, a deeply uncomfortable, humiliating heat creeping up her neck. She let out a short, awkward, breathless laugh, desperately turning her head to look at David. She fully expected to find her sophisticated, snobbish husband rolling his eyes in absolute disgust at the crass, incredibly inappropriate comment. She needed that shared look of superiority to ground her.
But David wasn’t rolling his eyes.
He was staring directly at Katherine. The silver fork in his hand was completely suspended in the air. His dark eyes were blown wide, fixed on the younger woman with an emotion Rosália couldn’t decipher. Was it disgust? Annoyance? Confusion? Or something more... something dangerous that had no right being there.
As if feeling the sudden, freezing drop in temperature, Katherine abruptly stopped laughing. She blinked heavily, her hand flying to her forehead.
“Oh, wow,” she giggled weakly, pushing her chair back. The legs scraped loudly against the floorboards. “I think that wine went straight to my head. I’m spinning. I should probably go home before I pass out on your beautiful rug.”
She stood up, but her knees immediately buckled. She swayed dangerously to the side, gripping the edge of the dining table to catch her balance.
“Careful,” Rosália said instantly, standing up and tossing her linen napkin onto her chair. “Let me help you, Katherine. I’ll walk you across the lawn.”
