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“You really moved out?” Bradley asked, interrupting us, his stormy eyes noting where my arm was and scowled. Before he gave Tricia an opportunity to answer, I glanced up at him with an upturned brow.
“She did,” I replied, answering for her in a deadpan tone, as the waitress came back and placed our drinks down beside us. I smiled, thanked her, and then looked back at Bradley as if to say, “Are you still here?”
“Right,” he replied, snapping out of a trance after he’d surveyed the scene. Stuffing his hands deep in his pockets, he nodded like he’d lost control of his head, his mind no doubt exploding from thoughts he dared not say to me in front of Tricia.
Regardless of what others thought of me, I wasn’t a ruthless man and I kind of felt sorry for him. The poor guy obviously still loved her, even after all those years when he had missed his chance as a kid. Perhaps if their relationship hadn’t been interrupted by that douchbag in high school, he may have stood a better chance with her. My chest tightened with that thought and a long pause stretched between us, until I felt Tricia’s body stiffen, and she gently withdrew from my arm.
Instead of holding on possessively, I let my arm fall from her shoulder and down her back, pulling it out from behind her and placing it on my lap. It was a strange feeling because I hadn’t felt threatened by Bradley anymore.
“Sorry I skipped out on you, but due to misunderstandings and foolishness on my part, James and I have been trying to get on the same page for years.” She sighed, heavily. “I never expected to see him here, and since I have, we’ve realized we still have some unfinished business. I won’t be able to deal with this if I’m worrying about leaving you alone in the room we shared, to spend time as friends. That wouldn’t be fair on either of us.” The girl had tact—I conceded.
“That’s cool… I’m cool,” Bradley mumbled, trying to sound like he understood, but his face told a whole other picture as the smile he’d worn when he addressed Tricia turned sour the moment his eyes slid from her to me.
“Thanks, Bradley, I know I’ve fucked up your plans for your downtime during the conference, but I’m sure if you seek Rhea out, you’ll find her great company.” I looked to Tricia again and flashed her a winning smile. “With us both out of action, Rhea’s going to find herself at a loose end as well.”
“Yeah?” he asked, rubbing the back of his neck when it dawned on him he’d rather be anywhere else and began to retreat. “I’ll be sure to check out what she’s doing, catch you later, Tricia,” he said, leaving me out of his reluctant goodbye.
“Poor guy,” I said flatly, as I reached for my drink, trying to sound as if I was bummed for him when inside I felt far more contented since we’d shown him exactly where he stood.
“Maybe sharing with him wasn’t the best idea,” Tricia mused, as if the penny finally dropped about why Bradley did what he had. She lifted her drink and took a large nervous gulp of it.
I brought her focus back to us, and although Tricia wasn’t excited at having to wait to be in my bed again after all this time, she accepted that we had to work to build trust and I be sure she wasn’t going to get cold feet again.
It was almost midnight when I kissed her slowly outside her new hotel suite door. Aiming for a tentative controlled gentle kiss, my lips brushed against hers and the instant they did, Tricia lost control. My scalp tingled when her fingers slid into my hair, her palm quickly applying pressure as her tongue lashed into my mouth seeking mine.
Sexual restraint wasn’t something I’d been used to practicing in life, and it had felt sadistic denying us until the night before we flew home when I’d cut us some slack and finger fucked her in the corridor beside her hotel suite door, just to ease the tension.
Doing a little to save letting loose on a hell of a lot more had felt like a reasonable boundary until the instant Tricia began to recover and she’d dropped on her knees, her hot swollen lips pressing against my erection through the material of my suit pants. Clamping my hand over hers, I had to still her action of undoing them, or I swear she would have blown me right there.
I had only found the will to walk away because I knew it might be the last night I would. With the conference ending, we had survived the agonizing wait and both Tricia and I could hardly wait to get back to my New York apartment.
