41
Ihad to rush to get out of bed that morning after those morning activities had rendered me a little late. I grinned as I showered and wondered if I should invite him in to join me, to see just how many times he could make me come before I had to leave for work. I got ready as fast as I could, and he planted a kiss on my cheek before I went out the door.
“Have a good day,” he told me, and I smiled back at him.
“You too,” I replied, and I felt that familiar little fizz in my chest, the one that came every single time he did something that could have been mistaken for the actions of a loving husband. He seemed to have cheered up from last night. I had asked a couple of times what his father had spoken to him about that had gotten him so out-of-sorts, but he didn’t tell me, offering me vague half-answers to deflect the question. Probably something about work, something too dull to bother me with. I didn’t let it get under my skin. All that mattered was that he was back in his usual form this morning and couldn’t have been the sweeter or more attentive husband, making me come before I’d so much as rolled out of bed and then bringing me coffee and letting me linger as long as I could between the covers.
I arrived at work just before I was due in and hoped that nobody would figure out why I had been cutting it so close. I could see a couple of my coworkers glancing at me as I made my way in and did my best to stem the little smile that was threatening to slide up my face.
I took my seat behind my desk and started on my filing for the day. We had just had a huge donation of books come in, and I needed to go through all of them and figure out which were double-ups and which were in good enough condition to be put on the shelves. It was a long job, but I enjoyed it, always liking the chance to go through a big pile of books. You never knew what you were going to find deep down in there.
I lost myself in the work, and before I knew it, it was nearly lunchtime. My stomach was grumbling because I had missed breakfast, and I knew I needed something to eat soon. Where was I going to go? There was that sandwich place not far from here, but I was more in the mood for a salad.
Suddenly, a knock came at my door. A hard one. And again. I jerked, peering at the door as though I could figure out who was standing on the other side if I just squinted hard enough. Who was hammering on it like that? They could at least give me a little warning. What the fuck was going on in the library that was so urgent, they had to come crashing down on my door like that out of nowhere?
“All right, I’m coming, I’m coming,” I muttered as I got to my feet and stretched, making my way over to the door and pulling it open.
I found myself faced with Cleo. She had a face like thunder, eyes dark and flashing as she barged into my office and slammed the door behind her.
“Cleo, what the hell are you doing here?” I demanded. “You can’t just come barging into my—”
And that’s when I fell dead silent on the spot. I saw what she was holding in her hand, and I recognized it.
“The contract,” I gasped, and before I could think, I went to swipe it from her on instinct, but she pulled her hand away and shook her head.
“You really think I’m just going to hand this over to you?” She raised her eyebrows at me. “Come on now, Amaya, you seem smarter than that.”
“Where the hell did you get that?” I demanded. My heart was hammering, and my mind was racing already. I had no idea what the fuck I should do. Snatch it from her? Burn it? Deny any knowledge of it? Everything Kristo and I had so carefully put into place these last couple of months, they were over. I wanted to scream the place down, fear running through me at every turn.
“I found it in Kristo’s office,” she snapped back, and she began to pace back and forth. “So it’s true, is it? All of it?”
“I never signed it,” I pointed out to her, and she lowered her gaze to the papers and gave them a once over. Seemingly satisfied, she returned her gaze to me and shook her head.
“But you were thinking about it if he bothered to draw them up,” she pointed out. “Damn, I thought after all this time he’d found someone who wasn’t a gold digger, but you—”
“I’m not a gold digger,” I snapped back. “I had no idea who he was when we met. I didn’t go after him for his money.”
“And what about your sister? Is she real?” she went on. I nodded.
“Everything else is real,” I promised her. “It’s just things are complicated between us, Cleo, that’s all. I don’t want to get into it.”
“Oh, I think I understand it perfectly,” she snapped. She looked as though she was on the brink of spiraling out completely, and I knew I had to act fast to get her to calm down.
“Cleo, you need to listen to me,” I told her urgently, catching her by the shoulders. “What’s going on between your brother and me right now is really complicated. I don’t even understand it, not really. You can’t tell anyone else about this, all right?”
She stared at me for a long moment, and I could see the doubt in her eyes, the distrust, the anger that I had lied to her. And I knew where she was coming from. These people had let me into their lives, and how had I repaid them? By lying to them, by letting this stupid contract that I had never even signed dictate how I acted with them.
“Fine.” She rolled her eyes. “I won’t tell anyone for now. But you have some serious explaining to do, you understand?”
“I understand,” I replied. I would have said anything to her at that moment if I thought it would get her out of here.
“I’m keeping this,” she waved the contract in my face. “And I’m talking to my brother.”
“Sure, of course,” I nodded. “I’m sorry, Cleo. I’m sorry you had to find out about any of this.”
“Yeah, me too,” she replied grimly, and she paused for a moment, just staring at me, and a little sadness flickered over her face as though she was bidding farewell to the woman she’d thought she’d known when we had gone shopping together. And with that, she left, and I sank back into my seat and did everything I could to still my pounding heart. Fuck my life. That had been close. My appetite was forgotten about now, and I snatched the phone up to call Kristo.
He answered after a couple of rings, and he sounded calm and cool. He obviously hadn’t had the Cleo treatment yet.