Betrayal (Infidelity Book 1) - Aleatha Romig Page 0,7
drinks.”
“Not sorry enough to stick around?”
“No! I think I scared him off. My imaginary boyfriend was going to kick his ass.”
“Good riddance!”
“Yeah. Remember,” Chelsea said, “this week is about us. I’m sorry I left you. From now on it’s just us.”
“Well, about that…” As I filled Chelsea in on what happened in her absence, she trembled with excitement.
“Oh my God! Alex—I mean, Charli—that stuff just doesn’t happen to you. I mean, in all the time I’ve known you, you’ve never gone out on a date until you’ve had the prospective guy fill out a ten-page résumé.”
I rolled my eyes. “That’s not true.”
“No. It’s not, but seriously, I saw that guy over here. I couldn’t see him that well because I was a little busy getting my drink paid for, but the parts I saw were hot! He’s tall and buff. I’m sure he works out.”
“The sun was in my eyes. I’m really not sure.” I tried to sound unimpressed. “He could be hideous without the glare.”
“Right. I’m sure. That’s why you agreed to go to dinner with him, and not even in a public place but in the presidential suite!”
My stomach twisted. “Oh shit. That wasn’t smart. I-I don’t think I should go. And technically, I didn’t agree. I didn’t answer.”
“What?”
“I don’t even know his name. How can I go to the presidential suite if I don’t even know who I’m going to see?”
“You said that he told you what to do… he said to say your name to the doorman.”
I nodded as the twisting in my stomach moved lower. He had. He’d told me what to do. I hated to admit that it excited me more than scared me. I shouldn’t like that. Alexandria knew that and so did Alex. That was why Alex was always careful about whom she dated. They were all nice men or boys, and all respected Alex as a classmate and friend. None of them would have told her where to be. They would have asked. That’s what women were supposed to want.
Why then are my insides melting at the thought of Mr. Deep Voice?
“Who do you think he is?” Chelsea asked.
I lifted my shoulders. “I have no idea, but I think I want to find out.”
She clapped her hands. “Oh! I love Alex, but I think that maybe even I could learn a thing or two from Charli.”
“With an i,” I added with a grin.
“DON’T LET ON that you’re nervous,” Chelsea said as she spun me around for the hundredth time.
“I’m not nervous. You’re making me dizzy.” With each turn, the skirt of the simple yet elegant blue dress billowed as it flowed from the halter bodice. The high, wide sash accentuated my waist while the bodice dipped between my breasts. It showed enough cleavage to be sexy but not enough to be slutty. That was what Chelsea said. I pulled the material together hoping she was right.
“He saw you in a bikini. You’re not showing any more in this dress. Besides, it still leaves something to the imagination.”
As Chelsea continued to play with my long auburn hair, the style in the mirror began to grow on me. “I don’t usually wear my hair up.”
“And you don’t usually meet perfect strangers for dinner and dessert,” she added, allowing her voice to emphasize the last word.
I shook my head. “No dessert. Charli may be spending this week discovering life, but she’s not spending it on her back.”
“No one said you had to be on your back. Come on, there are a lot better positions than that!”
I playfully hit her shoulder. “You know what I mean. Alex still has standards.”
“But this week Charli is taking over.” She backed me toward the bed in my room. As I sat, Chelsea sat beside me and squeezed my hands. “I’m not saying to go against your moral code, but come on and live a little. Have some fun. Be daring.”
“Be you?”
“Yeah,” she said with a smile.
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m not exactly the daring kind.”
“Do you want to know what I’d do?”
I shrugged my shoulder, and the long silver chain around my neck moved between my breasts sending a cool shiver down my spine. I was curious. After all, I knew what Alex would do. I knew what Alexandria had done. I wondered exactly what someone else, someone not haunted with a split personality, would do. Then again, Chelsea may not be the one to ask. She had always been more daring than, well, than