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This was better than those costume dramas Jun loved to watch. Was Sterling going to play the this is my wife card? Did she not see the band on his left hand despite him conspicuously moving that hand to his thigh, or was she ignoring the gleam? How did this work?
She pretended to fiddle with her hair. “I’ve been pulling the usual long shifts. Four days on, three days off. You know how it is.”
Oh, did he now! I practically pattered my feet at the drama. Yes, she needed to keep telling me what Sterling knew.
“Marissa is a doctor.” Sterling tried to pull me into the conversation.
“Oh, how interesting,” I said, trying to sound bored and casual. Let it not be said Sterling did not have exquisite taste in women. Marissa was hot and smart and in a noble profession and not afraid to go after what she wanted.
“So what are you doing in Palm Beach? Haven’t seen you for almost a year.” Marissa leaned forward against his bicep, skillfully plastered against him without looking like she was crawling on him. I studied the points of contact, because she was right against him without being obvious about it. I needed this skill for future use.
“Business.” Sterling tried to pull away without being obvious about it, and she slithered closer, also without being obvious. Her breasts seemed to devour his arm. They were glorious. And her rump. It was a shame she was sitting on it. That fabulous ass was all the motivation I needed to do more squats.
The word business invoked a gleam that lit up every part of her. My new drink arrived in record time. Probably because the waiter wanted to see what was going to happen. I threw back the rest of my first one, then settled in to enjoy my fresh drink. I couldn’t tell if I was supposed to save Sterling, or if he was just waiting for her to get bored and fall away. I resisted intervening, like a nature photographer videoing some elk smashing into each other.
She fiddled with the sharp points of his collar, flicking the back and forth lightly, her lips just inches away from his face. “We should get together the next time you’re in town. Catch up and all.”
I had to fight to prevent snorting my drink up through the straw and out my nose.
Sterling didn’t hide his disapproval. “I’m here with someone else and you ask me that?”
“So what?” She gave me a smile that I couldn’t read. It had the cast of a predator, but diluted with so much clueless arrogance the effect was comical. “You and I can still have some fun, Sterling.”
I managed to not choke on laughter.
She raked a fingernail down his neck and purred. “You were always fun.”
He jerked his head away.
I paused in my snickering. Sterling had just progressed from please take the hint to I SAID NO.
But he was fully capable of saying something and/or physically defending himself from this woman.
What were the human rules in this situation? What was I supposed to do?
She walked her fingers down Sterling’s chest towards his abs. He seemed to freeze another degree, her hand stopped, but she stuck out her lower lip in a luscious pout. “Stop being a wet blanket. Your date’s not clawing at me.”
Now her other hand snaked over his thigh, towards the inside and violating a mini-skirt’s hemline if he’d been wearing one. “Maybe she wants to watch. I can’t blame her. I’d want to watch us fuck too.”
Sterling twitched, unable to retreat farther, and seemed unable to move.
Holy shit.
Fight, flight, freeze, and Sterling had frozen.
I damn near threw my drink to the side. Fun time was over.
Instead, I shifted my drink to my other hand, leaned over, and shoved Marissa’s offending hand off his thigh. “Run along now. You’ve had your fun playing with my toys.”
“Excuse you, and who are you?” She smacked at my hand.
I flicked my fingers at her like she was a minor pest. “His wife. Now run along. Shoo. Off with you. Shoo, shoo.”
She pulled back slowly, as if the impact of my words stunned her and her body swam through the reaction as it tried to process the reality. She looked at me with abject astonishment and pure disbelief.
“When did you get married?” Marissa demanded, oozing back off him like silly putty peeling off paper and indignant I’d taken her bone.
“About a month ago. Matchmaker. Tired of dating.” Sterling shifted, and the movement pushed her the rest of the way off him. I caught the scent of her perfume, and his relief at being free.
