Page 131 of The Grand Duel
I shake my head. “You haven’t. At least no more than I have. I’m sorry that I upset you.”
She nods, a sad smile pulling up her lips.
I close my eyes, my jaw clenched tight. When I open them again, she’s wearing a frown I know deserves answers.
Jesus. I scratch at my brow, shifting in the seat. “I haven’t been with a woman in the way I was with you these last two days in a very long time,” I explain, letting my stare settle on her. And because it’s the truth, I add, “You run at a million miles an hour, and I don’t want you to stop, but I feel like I can’t keep up.”
“Because you don’t date,” she echoes, remembering our conversation from the ice cream parlour.
I nod. “Exactly. I don’t know if I’d be any good at it, but if I was going to start, you’re the only woman I’d be interested spending time with.”
Her lips twist up, but she dips her head.
“Lissie,” I say, waiting for her eyes again. “I don’t want it to be awkward between us after this. I’d be happy for things to juststay as they are. So long as you can forgive the way I treated you this morning.”
She rolls her lips. “Nothing to forgive, Aldridge.”
A weight seems to lift from my chest.
“I walk, you run?” she says, reaching forward with her pinkie held out. “Maybe we’ll meet somewhere in the middle.”
I carry my smile across the distance between us, moving into the seat next to hers.
She rolls her eyes, and I think I want to kiss her.
Instead, I reach up and join our pinkies. “You walk, I run.”
TWENTY-FIVE
Charlie
We land before lunchtime, our meeting still on the cards.
Lissie has been busy on the way home, straight back in work mode.
I, on the other hand, am still back in our hotel room.
I wasn’t lying when I said I’ve not been with a woman in years like I was with Lissie. And the way she felt in my arms, the sounds she made…I can’t help but wonder if maybe there’s another way rather than the one I’ve been living.
“Did you get my email about the Jimmy Renswrath case?” she asks from beside me in the car. “They sent over those receipts you wanted, but I thought they looked a little…”
“Great,” I conclude, knowing what she’s about to say.
“Yeah. They don’t seem of the real world.”
“I’ll have a look.” I peer down at her as she opens a new email and reads it over before hitting reply and typing. “Will you be free to come with me to my meeting this afternoon?” I ask.
“Not likely,” she says without looking up or pausing in her typing. “I have a very important meeting myself.”
I frown. “An important meeting with who?”
She glances up at me and smiles. “Do you need to know, Charles?”
“I think as your boss, it would be pretty acceptable for me to want to know.”
She grows coy. “Just a couple of old friends. I plan to work through lunch and take it late if that’s okay.”
No.