AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She glared at Marco. “Of course I do. But just the negative ones.”
“Because he hurt you,” Marco said gently. “But is it at all possible that you still love him a little, too?”
“No,” she snapped. “You know me better than that. You know this is all…complicated. By how long we knew each other and the future I’d imagined for us, but whatever love I felt for him died the moment I walked in and saw them in bed together.”
Her eyes narrowed as her anger shifted in a different direction.
“What are you even saying, Marco? Do youwantme to still be in love with him?” Something unpleasant flooded her heart. “Do you want me to…is this…are you trying to end it with me by suggesting I go back to him?”
He swore and shook his head. “Absolutely not. You are way too smart to go back to him. I’m just trying to be there for you,” he said quietly. “I don’t want you to feel that because we are sleeping together you cannot speak honestly with me about your feelings.”
Because we’re sleeping together.
At the end of the day, that’s all they were doing. Sleeping together. They’d swapped venues and were filling their time in between fantastic, mind-blowing sex with pleasant diversions like cooking and dinners in town, but it was all about sex.
She closed her eyes on a wave of misery, the genesis of which was very difficult to pinpoint. “Do you mind if I just…take a shower. I need a minute.”
“Of course,” he stepped back immediately, saying not another word, and Portia was glad.
As the planetouched down in London, Marco studied Portia. She was reading a book, ostensibly, though she hadn’t turned the page in several minutes and the hand in her lap was tensed into a ball.
He bit back a sigh of frustration.
She’d been different since the text message.
Or was it since he’d tried to tease out an understanding of how she felt about her ex?
Why had he pushed that? Why had he wanted to know so badly?
It was clear that she had no intention of forgiving Jack, but that didn’t mean she didn’t care for him. And so what? What if she did?
They’d known each other a long time, lived together, become engaged, planned a life and a family together. She wasn’t a robot. It wasn’t like she could just switch off her feelings.
Marco glowered as he turned his attention back to the portal window, only to find a moment later his eyes strayed to Portia yet again. Portia with her muted auburn hair and brilliant green eyes, skin that was fair yet golden, flawless and soft. His body stirred in familiar recognition of his desire for her, a desire that remained unabated despite how much they’d been together. If anything, his need for her had grown.
The plane sailed lower towards London, the city twinkling expansively beneath them, the Thames a black sludgy absence of light at this time of night.
When the wheels connected with the runway, Portia closed her book, slipped it into her handbag and pretended a fascination with the airport.
Marco ignored the frustration in his belly.
They’d flown into City airport, proximate to his house. And though he already knew the answer, as it was a work night, he heard himself say, “Would you like to come back to my place?”
She smiled when she faced him, but it was a smile that didn’t touch her eyes.
“I’d better not. I’ll have to be in the office early tomorrow. There’s a ton of emails I’ve missed.”
Marco nodded as though that didn’t frustrate him, and settled for organizing his driver to take her home. He caught a cab.
* * *
“How was your weekend?”Dante asked, standing in front of Portia’s desk, his face completely normal, his expression just as always. But guilt crinkled Portia’s tummy.
This affair she’d entered into had been so fun and light at first, but the longer it went on, the deeper her knowledge of Marco and his life developed, the more she felt that lying to her boss, her friend, was totally wrong.
“Yeah, fine,” she answered with a nod, returning her attention to the computer. “Yours?”
“Same old. But then again, I didn’t have my ex’s birthday weighing on my mind.”
