“Was it only once?”
He shook his head, a mischievous grin playing over his lips.
“Who else knows?”
“No one. Me. Penelope… that’s her name, Ol’s sister. And now you.”
It hit me, the weight of what he was saying.
“I need to see your face,” I said, reaching for his glasses. He surprised me by grabbing both my wrists. “What?”
He did not speak, lowering my hands to the banquette between us. He’d hooked his thumb inside the double leather band of my watch, and then slowly, deliberately, rubbed it against my pulse point.
“What?” I repeated.
“I just wanted to touch you.”
I heard my own breath quicken then and knew that he’d heard the same. And there I sat, transfixed, while he stroked the inside of my wrist. It was decidedly chaste, and yet he may as well have had his hand between my legs, the way it was affecting me.
Fuck.
“So,” he said after several moments had passed. “Did you come here to sell me art?”
I shook my head. Was this how he did it? The seducing? Subtle, effective, complete. They had rooms here, didn’t they?
He smiled, releasing my wrists. “No? I thought that was your intention, Solène.”
I loved the way my name sounded in his mouth. The way he savored theen. Like he was tasting it.
“You, Hayes Campbell… You are dangerous.”
“I’m not really.” He grinned, pulling off his sunglasses. “I just know what I want. And what’s the use in playing games, right?”
Our tea arrived just then. It was a flawless presentation. A still life.
“You’re on tour,” I said once we were alone again.
“I’m on tour,” he repeated.
“And then afterwards, you’re where? London?”
“I’m in London, I’m in Paris, I’m in New York… I’m all over.”
I took a moment to collect my thoughts, gazing out the window at the greenery. Nothing about this made sense. “How is this going to happen?”
Hayes slipped his hand beneath the table, grabbing mine on the banquette again, curling his finger inside my watchband. “How would you like it to happen?”
When I didn’t say anything, he added: “We can make it up as we go.”
“So I just meet you for lunch when you’re in L.A.?”
He nodded, biting down on his bottom lip. “And London. And Paris. And New York.”
I laughed, looking away. The realization of what I was agreeing to sinking in. The arrangement.
This was not me.
“This is insane. You realize that, right?”
