Tales of Darkness & Sin - Pepper Winters Page 0,124
Foster after the business was concluded and there was no one left but us. Like a dreamy idiot, I’d imagined a night like the one in the Hamptons when we walked the beach, only this time, we would walk the streets of New York. Even in the city that never sleeps, it’s easy for a pair of lovers to walk hand-in-hand beneath the glow of the lights, talking and getting to know one another better.
But we’re not lovers—and if I leave it up to Foster, we never will be.
I suppose that’s right. Appropriate, even. But there’s nothing appropriate about the way he looked at me tonight. Every time I turned around, I could feel his gaze boring into me, keeping an eye on me as if to make sure I didn’t wander too far from his reach.
Even now as we stand on the stoop outside my house, I can see his gaze is tempted to flicker down at my cleavage. He doesn’t let it, though. Not this time, not with the privacy of my empty house just on the other side of this door.
He knows the rest of my family is at the Hamptons house. He knows it’s only me staying here right now.
God, I wish I were immune to those gorgeous blue eyes. I wish my stomach didn’t twist up when he gazed at me the way he is now.
That, or I wish the man would just make a damn move.
Standing here on the stoop outside my house, looking at his handsome face bathed in little more than moonlight, I make a decision.
He’s not going home just yet. He’s coming in the house with me. Whatever happens or doesn’t happen after that, fine, but I’m at least getting him inside.
“I have a confession to make,” I tell him, looking up at him through my long eyelashes.
Already onto me, he narrows his eyes. “What’s that?”
“I’m afraid of the dark.”
He’s skeptical, but plays along to see where I’m going with this. “Is that so?”
I nod earnestly, mustering all the big-eyed innocence I’m able. “Not once I know I’m safe, of course—I don’t sleep with a nightlight or anything like that. But walking alone into a dark, empty house… now, that’s spooky.”
“Spooky?” he deadpans.
I nod again, my eyes widening imploringly. “Oh, yeah. Creaking floorboards, shadows behind every door—it doesn’t take much to convince me there’s a serial killer hiding in one of the rooms I haven’t walked into yet.”
I pick up on the reluctant amusement in his husky tone, so he must not be working too hard to hide it. “Sounds like you have quite an active imagination, Miss Parker.”
“Oh, I do,” I assure him, my eyes glinting with mischief. “The fact remains, though…” To really sell it, I sigh dramatically and look off to the side as if forlorn. “If I have to go inside this house all by myself, I might have a heart attack.”
Foster shifts his weight and looks at the front door of my house like it’s a beast I’m asking him to vanquish. Not to play along with my “I’m so frightened! I need a big, strong man to protect me” scenario, but as if he is the one afraid of what’s on the other side of that door.
For a split second, I think I read it wrong and my game won’t work, but after a longer pause than I was prepared for, he finally responds and sets my mind at ease.
“Well, we can’t have that, can we?”
I grin, grabbing my purse and fishing out my keys so I can unlock the door.
I lied on the doorstep; I’m not afraid of the dark. I’m not afraid of spiders or heights—I’m not really afraid of anything. I don’t continue the game once we’re inside, but he doesn’t expect me to. Foster knows the score. He knows that was merely my way of getting him through the door.
I take a step back and close the door behind him. I lean closer than I need to, so close my breast nearly touches his arm. Our gazes lock and linger for a few seconds.
“Would you like a drink?” I ask softly, careful not to disturb the moment.
“Perhaps. Are we talking lemonade or something stronger?”
I smile, reaching down and twining our fingers together. His whole body tenses when I do. My heart swells at my boldness, then begins to race. I don’t say anything. I simply lead him down the hall to Daddy’s study.