“I will be more than happy to show you anything you like when I return. In the meantime, explore your new home. Anything you don’t like, we’ll call the decorator and have it changed.” He leaned forward, slowly, his eyes on hers the whole time.
It hit her then that he was waiting to see if she’d allow him to kiss her again. Everything was so stilted now between them, like every moment and every interaction carried the risk of blowing up into something else that could shatter them. She hated feeling this distance between them especially when she’d always felt that with him, she could be her most authentic self. So she grabbed him by the lapels of his suit jacket and yanked him forward. Then kissed him until they were both squirming and breathing hard.
“Maybe I don’t really need to go to work,” Trent whispered, and then nipped at her bottom lip again.
She shivered as his eyes remained on her mouth, before he ran his tongue over his lips in such a suggestive way that it made her blush. Damn!
“I think you do have to go,” she replied breathlessly. “Didn't you say something about board meetings and investors?”
“Not sure I really care about any of that right now.”
Since she doubted she’d have the strength to do it if she waited any longer, she stepped back. After a moment, he cleared his throat and then stood back, running his hands through his blond hair.
“Woman, you are dangerous.” He gave her a warning look before bussing her cheek with a quick kiss. “I’ll be home late afternoon. I’m taking you out to dinner. It’s high time I showed you New York. And whatever happens today, just go with it.”
With that strange statement, he left.
Despite how things were between them, Mara couldn’t suppress a frisson of excitement. She was in the Big Apple. Visions of skipping down Fifth Avenue danced through her head. She made a brief detour to the bedroom to get her cell phone before settling on the couch. She was used to paying bills in the morning on her cell phone banking app. To her surprise, when she pulled up her account, her mortgage showed a zero balance. Then she noticed that her car note, which she carried through the same bank, also had been paid off.
“Oh Trent, what did you do?” she said out loud.
She hit the button to drill down into her individual accounts and her mouth fell open. Two hundred fifty thousand dollars had been deposited into her savings account that morning. Fuming, she stared at the numbers on the screen until her eyes swam. This explained why Trent had been so worried before he left. He knew his money made her uncomfortable. Especially the idea that people would think she was with him so he could take care of her. This was really pushing her boundaries which was why he hadn’t told her he was going to do it beforehand.
Go with it, indeed.
Determined not to start her day on a bad note, Mara got up to explore her new surroundings. So far the only things she'd seen were the kitchen, that amazing closet and the bedroom. The living room connected to a hallway on the other side. She pushed open the first door and was immediately hit in the face with the scent of leather and chalk. She flipped on the light. One wall was dominated by a massive flat-screen television. A pool table took up the center of the room.
Matt would love to play a game before he left town.
She closed the door behind her and poked her head, briefly into the other rooms. Trent's home office was outfitted with the usual equipment and looked professionally decorated just like the rest of the house. It was all beautiful but cold. Unlived in.
With a sudden rush of clarity, she realized it was unlived in. Because Trent had been living with her.
Relief flowed through her, sweet blessed relief. This entire time she'd been terrified that she'd explore and come across more things about Trent that she didn't know. That this was his "real life" and the time he'd spent with her was the sham.
She heard the elevator open again and then the sound of footsteps. With an exasperated sigh, she turned and left the home theater.
"Trent, I told you that I don't need a babysitter." She stopped short when she saw the petite brunette stand up straight from where she'd been rooting around in the couch cushions. Mara recognized her instantly from the pictures Matt had shown her. She'd spent hours staring at this woman's face, wondering what she had that Mara didn't. Wondering what it was about her that made Trent leave at the drop of a hat and lie to his fiancée.
Mara looked her over, noticing with no small amount of jealousy the designer jeans that fit her slim hips perfectly and the way her long brown hair cascaded over her shoulders in subtle layers. Everything about her was perfectly styled and Mara suddenly wished desperately that she'd gotten dressed and done her hair before exploring the house.
Trent could protest all he wanted that Avery was just a childhood friend but Mara didn't believe there were too many women who could look at Trent platonically. And the fact that she could come and go in Trent's house whenever she wanted and Mara hadn't even known this place existed until recently just rubbed salt in the still fresh wound of betrayal.
"You must be Avery," she said finally.
To her surprise, the other woman just stared at her. After an uncomfortable minute of silence, Mara finally spoke up. "Um, Trent isn't here. He's at work."
That seemed to snap Avery out of her fog. "Right. Of course. I figured he wouldn't be here." She gestured over her shoulder toward the couch. "I can't find Travis' other inhaler. I figured I must have left it here somewhere."
She got quiet and when Mara looked at her again, Avery laughed. "Sorry, I'm being so weird. You just remind me of someone. That's all."
"Oh?" Mara wasn't sure what to say to that so she just sat in one of the overstuffed chairs facing the windows, tucking her bare legs beneath her.
"Trent told me that he was bringing you home but things have been so crazy lately. Travis hasn't been feeling well." She knelt on the floor and peered beneath the couch, thrusting her hand beneath it and sweeping it back and forth. When she sat back up, she turned in Mara's direction.
"So have you met them yet?"
Completely distracted by how animated, and, well, beautiful she was, Mara could barely keep the thread of the conversation. "Have I met who?"