divorced.”
“Oh.”
“Don’t sound like that,” he said. “She’s just an old friend. There is nothing sexual there.”
“Okay, so you took your old friend to dinner. Good for you.”
“I also gave her a house.”
“A house?”
“Well, her mother’s house. When it came on the market a few years ago, I purchased it. I promised Mrs. Wagman that if I still had it in my possession and Stacey ever needed it, I would give it to her.”
“Oh.”
“There you go again.”
She shrugged.
“She’s divorced and has custody of her three kids. Apparently she and her husband were causalities of some Ponzi scheme and their marriage didn’t hold up under the strain. I’m not using the property so I sold it to her for one pound.”
“That was very generous,” Willow said.
“Are you mad?”
“We’re not in the type of relationship that would make me mad that you didn’t discuss this beforehand.”
“Oh,” he said.
“Come on, don’t do that.”
“Okay, so if you gave your ex, what’s his name David, a house your expectation is that I wouldn’t be concerned?”
“That would never happen,” she said. “Me, giving David a glass of water, much less a house.”
“So you think it was wrong, what I did?”
“James, you obviously have some unresolved issues with your ex. I don’t. David and I hashed it out and that was the end. You call her on her birthday, you exchange Christmas cards and you obviously care enough to make some promise to her mother. You have unresolved issues.”
“Will, I want that type of relationship where you get mad because I didn’t tell you ahead of time.”
“Do you have any clue how many guys would kill to have the type of relationship you have with me?”
“Do you know how many women would kill to have the type of relationship I am asking for with you? I know you care about me and I know that somewhere in the back of your mind, you want what I’m asking for.”
“You think so, yes?”
“I know that. I know you’re a very smart woman and we both know that no contraceptive is foolproof. So every time we do this, there is a chance that you can get pregnant, but you don’t seem to care.”
“Are we having a fight because I don’t care that you are gifting your ex?” Willow asked.
He didn’t answer right away. He told her about his gift to Stacey because he didn’t want to have a fight. He should be happy Cassandra was wrong about Willow’s probable reaction. Yet, somewhere deep inside, he wanted that fight.
She moved to get up and he held her still.
“Just tell me how you really feel,” he said.
“About what?” she asked.
“Us.”
“There you have it,” she said. “The chemistry is starting to fizzle.”
He let her go. She got up off the bed and went to the bathroom. He heard the shower.
Willow welcomed the hot water over her body. She was mad at him indeed, but not about Stacey. He was making her feel ashamed of being with him. She’d already been shamed by David and had fought tooth and nail to overcome that. She liked the new woman she had become; strong, independent, and sexy.
Her mind kept going back to the day of the accident. When she had looked up into that worried, handsome, and familiar face and all she could think about was being in his arms. She dismissed her reaction. It was adrenalin, endorphins, whatever biological term that existed for such a situation. The fact was, almost instantly she’s felt a raging sexual desire for a man she had once described as hawkish in his political and business life.
A torrent of torrid sexual scenes had raced through her mind. She was resistant when he voiced his interest in her only because his private life was summed up by a string of indiscreet encounters. Most of those encounters ended up on the front page of the tabloids. But, there was still that nagging familiarity about him that seemed to pull her in and she liked it. She liked that she could get him excited at the drop of a hat. She liked that he responded to the new Willow with such feverish desire.
She finished up her shower and towel dried herself before going back to the bedroom naked. He was in bed but had dressed in tee shirt and boxers. She reached for the bag she had hurried packed.
James watched her get dressed in new underwear. He got off the bed only when she removed short and a button down shirt. He walked over