and distrust between us. He stepped away from the car and began to approach, but the look on my face brought him up short.
“Hi,” he said, tried for a smile and gave up when he saw my reaction or lack thereof.
“Hello.”
Well, this was awkward. I rubbed the goose bumps on my arms, unsure whether they were caused by the bitter cold or by the way he was looking at me. His blue eyes roamed with abandon from my hair to the dark painted toes poking out from under my dress. It made me feel seen, exposed. Like he was slowly peeling away my armor, trying to get past my defenses. As if I would ever allow that to happen again.
“You look…” A gust of breath, an expression of near defeat on his face. A genuine one. “Beautiful.”
Then I remembered that my husband was a con artist. “Let’s get this over with so you can go back home.”
Opening the back door, Scott helped me in and followed.
“You’re still mad.” Gazing ahead with a sulky frown, he was devastatingly handsome, I begrudgingly had to admit. So I locked it down, kept my eyes trained ahead, and tried not to look at him unless absolutely necessary because this jackass and his drop-dead sensuality made a woman forget to protect herself. And now that I knew what it was like to kiss him, feel him, I was smart enough to know I was in twice as much danger.
“No…not anymore.” I shrugged, blasé as all get out even though I didn’t feel blasé in the least. What I felt was a heaping portion of disappointment. I’d get over it, though, just like I got over everything else. “You’re not used to being inconvenienced. I get it. It was asking too much to hope you’d changed––”
“I have changed…look, Syd––”
I almost snorted. God help me, I was close. Moreover, he sounded genuinely offended which aggravated me further. “Growing a beard and shedding a few pounds does not constitute character growth, Scott,” I cut him off before more BS could spill out of his mouth. “But whatever. It’s fine. You do you.”
The car pulled up to the New York Public Library, Patience and Fortitude (something I lacked at the moment), the two lion statues, watching over it. A long string of limos and Town cars filed in behind ours. Not waiting for the driver to come around, Scott jumped out first and offered me a hand. Then he threw his arm around my neck and tucked me as close as two people could be while fully clothed.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I tried to nail him in the ribs with an elbow, but the snake adroitly grasped and pinned my arm between us.
“Acting like a man in love, Sunshine.”
“Save the pet names for your women.”
His mouth dipped close to my ear, the brush of his lips making my pulse race. “I don’t have women. I have one woman––an angry little wife. And this one’s just for you. Now be a good girl. We have a show to put on.”
Scott
My wife hated me. Which was a real bummer because I was starting to really like her. Leaning against a column, hiding away from critical stares of my parents’ friends and business acquaintances, I nursed my whiskey.
Across the room, Sydney was talking to Devyn and my brother-in-law, John, who had flown in from California for this godforsaken dog and pony act. The booze was top shelf, the food was five-star rated, and the flower arrangements ostentatious––rare out-of-season blooms pouring out of every available crack and crevice. This party had my father’s fingerprints all over it.
Speaking of the man, he was seated at a main table up front with a bunch of his cronies congregated around him. He looked a little worse for wear, which worried me, but I dared not bring up the subject. Dad detested any sign of weakness and would deny anything was wrong anyway.
I watched Damon Hastings approach Sydney and pull her aside. I didn’t like the way Hastings was looking at her. Like Sydney was chum and he smelled blood in the water. If he so much as moved a hair follicle closer to her, I was going to get up close and personal with the son of a bitch and make it clear he needed to go hunt in different waters.
“Hiding?” a voice called out from somewhere behind me, one that had the magic power to make my nuts crawl back into my body.