Page 12 of Reckless
“You disappear like you are twelve.”
Charlie snorted into his drink.
I turned to him.“Would you like to live through dessert?”
“Not especially.”
My mother ignored both of us.“There will be guests.”
That was all she needed to say.I leaned back in my chair.“No.”
She blinked once.“No, what?”
“No, I’m not interested in your guests.No, I’m not being seated beside anyone’s daughter.No, I’m not discussing my future with women whose fathers think a merger is foreplay.”
Michael made a sound that might have been a breathed laugh.
Britney, seated beside him, didn’t even try to hide her amusement.
My mother’s expression remained beatifically maternal.“You’re assuming quite a lot.”
“I was raised by you.I’m not assuming anything.”
Parvis took a slow sip of tea at the head of the table, saying nothing.Which meant he was enjoying himself.
Roman cut a piece of lamb with infuriating calm.“If you know what she’s doing, why are you always surprised when she does it?”
“Because I keep hoping age will soften her.”
“It has,” Charlie said.“You should’ve seen her when Jeff was twenty-four.”
Jeff didn’t glance up.“You’re all very brave while she’s at the far end of the table.”
“She can still hear you,” Hope said.
“Good,” Charlie replied.“I have no secrets.”
“That,” Michael murmured, “is one of your more alarming traits.”
My mother finally moved away from me with the kind of smile that meant she changed strategies.
I’d spent years avoiding women like the ones she thought made sense for me.Beautiful, connected, polished and usually accompanied by an expectation package so heavy it could’ve sunk a yacht.
I preferred uncomplicated.No mess.No false innocence.No romantic aspiration hidden under strategic patience.No woman quietly imagining she’d be the one to control my schedule.That bored me at best and irritated me at worst.
It wasn’t even cynicism, not exactly.
Truthfully, I did not have time for romance.I had a company to run, investors to manage, products in development, competition I intended to bury, and a family large enough to create drama without my adding to it.If sex came attached to clarity and everyone got what they wanted, there was no reason to complicate it.
That had worked for me just fine.
Right up until Kelly walked in and made the room sharper.
I noticed her before anyone announced her.I always did.
Hope pulled her into the dining room by the arm, and the whole atmosphere shifted half a degree.
That last part interested me.
