She walked into them and tipped her head so he could kiss her neck. “Hi.”
“You just waltzed in there—”
“I sashayed, according to Chris.”
“And asked for a promotion.”
“I was bolshie and big noted myself like a man would and it worked.”
She laughed then turned her face so he could get to her lips. He took them, then took her waist and sat her on the kitchen counter. Now he could get to her legs.
“You were brave.”
Did he have a right to feel proud of her? Her cleverness had nothing to do with him, but the feeling that swelled inside him could only be called pride.
“I was foolhardy. In every scenario I rehearsed with Les I was losing my job and I was losing you.”
He ran his hands up her calves to the back of her knees, got one between them to her thigh. She clamped her legs around it. Her skin was so hot through her stocking. He had a picture of her cool under pressure in the office but steamed up under him in bed.
“Never going to lose me, Aud.”
He undid her jacket with his free hand, there was a silky slip of a thing under it that flowed on her like last night’s whiskey had coated his anger.
“I like the sound of never.” She had one hand in his hair, one under the back of his shirt.
The skirt was too close around her legs to let him stand between them, to allow him to move his hand much further up her thigh. Something had to give, the skirt, his hand. He could see the outline of her bra, her nipple. What? “Did you just say—”
“I spilled it.”
They both jumped at the sound of Mia’s voice. He pulled away from Audrey and reached for the kitchen towels. His phone rang, vibrating on the counter, they all looked at it. He went with Mia and cleaned up the spill. Then he got her bathed and teeth cleaned and into bed without much protest. Little monkey knew she was in trouble. His phone went off again. He let it ring out. He read The Cat in the Hat until Mia’s eyes started drooping and when he got back to the kitchen it was empty.
Audrey came in while he was listening to the messages. The suit was gone, in its place she had her chunky dressing gown on. He wanted to smash his phone underfoot. Sky’s timing was superb, beat even Mia’s.
“It’s not what you think,” he said.
“What do you think I think?” Audrey levered herself back on the kitchen counter where she’d been before. She still had the shoes on. They were usually the first thing she dumped, along with her bag, phone and watch.
He tossed his phone into the fruit bowl. “You think I’ve got something going on the side with Sky.” Goddamn, that fucked him off that she’d think that, but why else the cool manner, the stodgy dressing gown. He knew she’d looked down at the phone screen same as he did and saw Sky’s name come up.
She took the clip out of her hair and shook it out. “I don’t think you’ve got something going on the side. You don’t have time for a side and even if you did, you are not a man who’d two-time a woman.”
There was nothing in her voice to give him a clue where her head was at. She might be mocking him. “You don’t think. But you saw.”
“I saw an ex-girlfriend, someone you cared for, call you. Annoyingly.” She played with the tie on the robe. “If you’ve got something you want to tell me, you’d better do it.”
“There are
no secrets. You know everything there is to know about me.” Audrey simply didn’t need to be bothered with this. “Sky wants us to get back together again.”
“Ah.” Audrey reefed the tie on the gown tighter.
“She’s been calling.” He scrubbed his head, irritated beyond cranky kids and spilt milk. “I need to go see her, talk her down. I’ve been putting it off. Yes, she means a lot to me, but I was never in love with her, Audrey, and there’s no future for Sky and me.”
“You’re sure? You don’t owe me anything. We can go back to how we were before. This new job is going to soak up time. I won’t have much energy for anything else.”
He folded his arms. First he’d gotten defensive about Audrey knowing Sky was calling, and now Audrey was saying she didn’t have time for him. Head spin. Hadn’t she just said the whole never being lost from each other thing sounded good?
“Are you telling me there’s no room for me in your life, only Mia’s?” That’s what the fugly dressing gown said, loud and clear.