Afternoon Delight - By Mia Zachary Page 0,42
told me online in person. The relationship doesn’t have to end, it just changes.”
She slumped in her chair and wouldn’t look at him. “You lied to me.”
Her voice sounded more petulant than irate and he didn’t want to fight with her, but Chris felt his own anger was also justified. “When did you plan to tell me your real name, ‘Jade’? How long were you going to keep lying to me?”
She blinked several times but didn’t answer. Knowing his point was made and not wanting to push her any harder, Chris backed off and concentrated on his own lunch. Rei would definitely walk away now and he had no intention of begging her to see him again. If it was over, let it be a clean break with some of his self-respect intact.
Rei picked up her fork and toyed with hot Concord grapes and peach slices as the last of her anger evaporated into embarrassment. She was so pissed off with Chris…. However she couldn’t avoid the truth. She was just as guilty as he and, thinking back to their e-mails, he’d offered her several chances to reveal herself.
Rei tipped the oyster and brine into her mouth, then tossed the empty shell back onto the plate and reached for one of the rolls in the breadbasket to cleanse her palate. The slimy feel of the oyster sliding down her throat was not an experience she cared to repeat, despite the supposed aphrodisiac effects.
That was another truth she had to face. What kind of person was she really, to use him just for sex, never wanting to know more about him, treating him like he was nothing more than a sex toy? She’d wanted to get swept up into a passionate affair, but while sex without any personal connection might be passionate, it wasn’t satisfying and it wasn’t right.
Her plan had been to break it off as soon as they went too far and Chris had gone as far as he could to make something more of their liaison. But a personal connection was exactly what she wanted to avoid. Despite what Chris had said about being receptive and taking chances, there were too many negative possibilities once she rescheduled the tests for Dr. Solís.
In the meantime though, he hadn’t asked for a lifetime or any other type of commitment. There was no reason they couldn’t be friends…with benefits. They could continue to be lovers while getting to know each other better. Rei drew a deep breath and apologized.
“I don’t know when I would have confessed who I really am. ‘Jade’ made for such a great shield, you see. With an alter ego I was free to be anybody I wanted, except myself.”
Chris wiped a smear of ketchup from the corner of his mouth. “You’re an attractive and intriguing woman, Rei. Why would you want to be anyone else?”
She heard the interest and concern in his voice and a part of her wanted to respond. However, she still chose to keep some secrets to herself and so told him only part of the truth.
“I wanted to let my hair down, get a little wild and crazy. It’s easier to do that when you’re hiding behind a different persona. I didn’t need or want to know anything about you, except in bed, because that’s the only place Jade existed. That was unfair to you and I’m sorry.”
“I accept your apology, Rei, if you’ll accept mine.”
She looked up to see hope and understanding in his light green eyes. Smiling, she held out her hand. “Hi, I’m Rei Davis. I’m a commissioner in the Unified Family Court. My interests include travel, romance novels and NFL football.”
He gently gripped her fingers. “Hi, Rei. My name is Chris London. I own a dating service, I like to swim and play golf and go to jazz concerts.”
“This is weird, isn’t it? On the one hand, I shouldn’t trust you because you deceived me. But if you hadn’t, I never would have made a new friend.”
“Now that we’ve been introduced, where do we go from here?” Chris must have seen her hesitation because he reached for her hand this time.
“I’ll have to think about—”
“Yeah, yeah, you’ll call me.” He dropped her hand in frustration, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’ve heard it before—every other time you’ve backed away.”
“That’s not—”
“Maybe if you’d stop running long enough, you’d see—”
“Hey!” Rei smacked her fingers on the tabletop. “If you’d stop interrupting me, I could finish what I was going to