He sat by the tubs edge and watched me as I finished cleaning up. “All done,” I chimed cheerfully.
Neil held out a towel for me and helped me out of the massive tub. He wrapped the big fluffy towel around my body and began drying me off. It was a kind of treatment I still wasn’t used to, but knew that I could learn to love very quickly. It was so much fun to have someone showing me this kind of attention almost 24 hours each day. But I still had some questions in my mind. I knew he felt very strongly about me, but was this the kind of relationship that he wanted to make exclusive? We hadn’t talked about it and if I was going to be true to my feelings, I thought it was a little early to commit to too much. I was open to hearing what Neil wanted out of this, but I was also fine with keeping my options open. Just because we had slept together didn’t mean that I needed to give everything up and jump right into a relationship with this guy.
We were both quiet as he dried me off. Then as I was standing there naked, he turned me around to face him and planted a kiss on my lips.
“Last day. How do you feel about it?”
I looked around the opulent bathroom. “You’ve gotten me used to a standard of living I won’t be able to sustain outside of this palace of a penthouse you live in.”
Neil laughed. “I’ll see if I can talk to your manager about a raise.”
I looked at him cautiously. “You wouldn’t, would you?”
“If you wanted me to, I could. Definitely.”
I shook my head slowly and firmly. “I don’t want anything that has happened here between you and I to have an effect on the way things are for me at work. It would be too much for me to deal with. I might not have known who you were to start with, but I am sure there are plenty of other people I work with who know exactly who you are. Having them know that we had any kind of association…it would…”
“It would make things difficult for you. I understand.” Neil reached for my clean clothes and handed them over to let me get dressed.
Once I had some clothing on I turned to face him again.
“What do you expect once you get back to normal life?”
I thought for a moment. What did I expect?
“I think I’ll be focusing on my brother and my parents for the foreseeable future. You?”
Neil was quiet as he looked in the mirror. “I think I need to spend more time with my parents. We’re close, but life has a way of…getting in the way I guess. They’ve always been such great role models for me and I would like to be around them more, soak up some of their wisdom. Figure out how they managed to find their soulmates so young and stay married for 40 years.”
“Forty years? Wow. I thought my parents had been together for a while. I guess compared to most people they have, but yours…”
Neil nodded. “It’s really something. I know that the line of work I have chosen and the sorts of recreation I enjoy may not make this easy to believe, but I’ve always wanted that.” He turned to look at me then. “To get married and have kids, have a real family of my own. I know I’m not ancient by any means, but I’m 31 and it seems like it’s time to start getting serious about all of this.”
I nodded in agreement, still not quite sure what to say about that. “I guess we’ll both have some family obligations to get back to.”
Neil tilted his head uncertainly. “Mine is more about spending time, yours…well, you’ve got some real obligations in front of you. Josh will need you now more than ever.”
I’m not sure if I would have noticed exactly what he said if he had left the long, lingering pause there at the end of his statement.
“I never told you my brother’s name was Josh. Did Elle tell you? Someone else at the club?”
He could have found his way out right then, but instead he shook his head and said the last thing I expected to hear.
“Samara, I know Josh. In fact, I’ve known your brother for some time now.”
Chapter 11
“How do you know Josh??
? I asked, completely baffled as to what connection Neil Vance, owner of Club V, could have with my brother.
“Come on, let’s go to the roof. Meredith will bring up breakfast. I’ll tell you all about it.”
Neil grabbed a blanket and we went upstairs to the roof terrace and sat on one of his outdoor sofas. The morning was bright, but it was chilly and the blanket had been a great idea.
I curled up close to him and rested my head on his shoulder. “So, tell me.”
He took a deep breath as he stroked my hair gently. “I don’t want you to get freaked out about it when I tell you the whole reason I first met your brother. See, after that first night that I met you, I couldn’t get you out of my head. Sure, I could have shown up at the club to see you, talk to you, maybe ask you out, but I had a really good idea that you would turn me down if I did that.”