“Does he know?”
It was hard, but I wanted to get through it and have no more secrets between us. “It was the last thing Alice said to him before he . . .” I frowned. “Before her accident.”
She pressed her lips together and leaned back, hopefully just to give herself time to consider what I’d said, and not in an effort to put distance between us. I’d told her this to bring her closer, to prove I trusted her.
“Only a few other people know because they were there when Alice announced it. You,” I set my gaze on her, giving it my full intensity, “are the only person I’ve ever told. If this video gets out, it’ll ruin my chances at a political career, not to mention what it’ll do to my family emotionally. We’ve started to repair some things, and this would probably undo all of that.”
She nodded. “I get it. I’m glad your dad was able to move past it.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “Yeah, I don’t know if I’d go that far.”
“He hasn’t forgiven you?”
I wiped a hand over my mouth. “I haven’t asked him to. Like I said, it’s complicated. We’ve both made a lot of mistakes, and I’m still not ready to have the conversation, even though we probably should have had it years ago.” I grumbled it under my breath. “At least, that’s what Royce keeps telling me.”
Silence fell between us, and it was uncomfortable, but at least it wasn’t tense. Once again, she wasn’t sure what to say, and that was my fault. I glanced down at my watch to check the time, only to discover we were running out of it. Macalister Hale did not tolerate tardiness.
“We’ve shared our secrets,” I said. “So, did I pass your test? Do you trust me?”
She peered over at me as if she was making her final evaluation, and it made me uncomfortably hot. But she didn’t let me sweat for too long.
“Yes.”
“Good. After dinner, we can talk about how we get you back in front of Wayne’s safe.” I stood from my chair and extended a hand to help her up off the couch. I hadn’t realized how much I wanted to touch her until she accepted it and allowed me to pull her against me. “One more thing.” My voice was weighed down by its seriousness. “You know I’m committed now, so if whatever this is between us is an act, you don’t need to continue.”
She blinked her pretty eyes in startled surprise, and . . . was that hurt that threaded through them? “You think it’s an act?”
A thrill shot through me, easing the tightness in my chest. “No, not anymore.” My hands slid around her, one coming to a rest on the small of her back while the other worked its way up to cup the back of her head. “But I had to be sure.”
“It’s real, Vance.” It came from her lips as a whisper, just before I covered her mouth with mine.
FOURTEEN
EMERY
Confessing everything had set me and Vance free, and honesty spilled from his mouth as we rode in the back seat of his family’s Range Rover, heading to a charity auction that benefited the Museum of Fine Art.
“I want to fuck you so bad, you’ve given me a permanent erection.”
Should it have bothered me the driver up front could hear everything we said? Because it didn’t. There was nothing subtle about Vance when it came to sex, especially his dick. How had he described it when I’d gotten my first look in the shower? Oh, right.
Amazing.
He wasn’t lying about that, or the erection he was currently sporting, tenting the fly of his slacks.
A smile teased my lips, and I leaned into him, setting my hand on his thigh. “Tell me what you’d do to me if you could.”
It’d become my catchphrase, and as he did, blood rushed to heat my face. God, his mouth was filthy. It was in stark contrast to the perfect gentleman he could be with his impeccable manners, and I fucking loved it. In the last two weeks he’d told me all the ways he wanted to have me when his vow was done.
He was basically two-thirds of the way now. Only thirty-three days to go, and we were both counting them down. We were so freaking horny, it was laughable.
That night after our clearing of the air and an awkward dinner with his family, he’d taken me back to his room, and while I’d talked about Lambert’s safe, he bent me over the back of his couch, lifted the hem of my skirt to my waist, and buried his face between my legs. I’d come while we brainstormed ideas of how to get me unnoticed into the Lambert estate, and it was the most fun I’d ever had while planning.