AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Why was your week rough?” His deep voice startled her.
“What?”
“Daniel said you had a rough week. Why did he say it?” The green eyes scrutinized her. She didn’t like to use her mother’s illness to gain sympathy. But he had asked.
“My mother has Parkinson’s, and she takes meds, which my father should have monitored, but he’s never known how to stand up to her. She took some sort of cocktail that made her a bit…of a lunatic. She was hospitalized and after she returned home, she needed constant monitoring. And my father couldn’t cope.”
They sat so close that his clean, warm scent overrode the pub’s unattractive mixture of stained beer floor and old wood.
“I’m sorry to hear it. Do you have sisters or brothers who helped you?”
She felt his stare but gazed ahead at the long row of gin and tequila bottles that lined the bar.
“I’m an only child. My extended family helped. Why did you walk out today?”
She turned to him, but he had already lifted his mug to his lips, taking a long sip. He put it down and their eyes finally met.
“I’m justified in walking out, I have a conflict of interest. Looking into a company when I had sex with someone who would clearly benefit if I gave a favorable report is a clear breach of ethics.”
He was right, but they could be adults about it. She wished he’d say he walked away in order to eliminate a future conflict of interest.
“We, I mean, Kisharti, need you to do our review.”
The manta ray tattoo swam restlessly as his fingers flexed and relaxed on his mug. She overrode the urge to run her fingers along his arm, feel the soft hairs, trace the thin tail to its end right below the elbow.
“Look, Erez, we had sex one time, a one-night stand. Kisharti will be in a bad way if you walk out on us. There is no time to find another reviewer. Would it help if I said my orgasm was fake?”
He huffed. “Orgasms. I seem to recall more than one. Were they? All that screaming my name…?”
“Totally fake,” she quipped.
He laughed.
She looked away to hide her own smile.
“I waited for you here every night, I mean every night I didn’t have Gal with me, hoping you’d show up.”
The pang of loss was so sharp, it caught her unaware. She took a few calming breaths, sipped the tepid coke. She’d have come if it weren’t for her mother. She didn’t say it, because he would only think she was saying it to butter him up.
“Please take the due diligence job and examine Kisharti,” she pleaded. “Walking away means we won’t get the money.”
He took a long sip, one that lasted what seemed like minutes, draining the mug. He laid it with a thud on the bar top. His brother looked over at them, his green eyes narrowed.
“Another one?” he called.
“Yes,” Erez answered his brother.
“Erez…” she said softly, “this is important to me.”
He rolled his huge shoulders back, straightened his solid chest. For the one night they were together, those massive arms were around her, and when they finally fell asleep, he cuddled her, enveloping her completely. She closed her eyes briefly. No use pining for what she couldn’t have.
His brother brought another mug, and Erez coiled his fingers around the handle, but didn’t lift it to his lips “But then if I do review your company…” He turned to her, his jaw set.
“What?”
“My reputation is the most important thing for me. Do you understand that? If I take this job, then we can’t have any relationship.”
“Why is that a problem?” She tried to look unconcerned. There was never a chance for a relationship, anyway. “We’ll keep your reputation squeaky clean.”
