I tilt my chin up.
“Mr. Maksimov.”
“Adam, love.”
“Mr. Maksimov.”
“Adam. Try it.” His voice goes quieter, the way a man’s voice goes quiet when he isverysure he is going to get what he wants. “It’s just two syllables.”
The way he says it. Like he is teasing me. Like we areflirting. In my foyer. With a bag at his feet. And my daughter upstairs.
I open my mouth to put him in his place, and what comes out is… “Adam.”
Quiet. Soft.
His pupils dilate again.
His jaw twitches.
I have made a tactical error, and we both know it.
He picks up his bag and steps over the threshold. He is close…so close…close enough that I can smell him again, the intoxicating blend of cologne andhim.
He walks past me into my house, sets the bag down at the foot of the stairs, turns, and looks at me where I am standing in the open doorway.
“Right then.” He runs a hand over his beard. “Show me where I’m sleeping, love.”
Six
Lisa
The word hits me somewhere it has no business hitting. It’s the second time he’s said it in two minutes, and I am starting to think he is doing it on purpose, the way a man strokes a dog to see if the dog is going to bite. The dog is not going to bite. The dog is going to roll over and embarrass itself.
Get your shit together, Lisa! The man asked you a question.
I open my mouth to answer, but then we hear Jasmine exclaim, “Oh my God!”
Her voice carrying from the top of the stairs.
I close my eyes for a second.
Adam’s head turns toward the staircase, slow, unbothered, and there she is…my child, leaning over the second-floor banister, peering down at the man in my foyer with her mouth open and her eyes the size of dinner plates.
Adam looks up at her, and his whole face changes. His mouth softens at one corner. His eyes go warm.
Oh, look at that.
“You must be Jasmine,” he says, in a voice that is a full notch warmer.
She nods, struck silent at the sight of him.
“Adam Maksimov.” He inclines his head, doing the tiny bow thing. Theterrifying gentlemanthing, except recalibrated for someone who does not need to be terrified. “I’m sorry to be turning up at your house without notice, lass.”
Jasmine swallows.
“It’s…it’s okay.”
“Your mother has been very gracious.”
