All He Asks 2 by Sparrow Felicity

Author:Sparrow, Felicity [Sparrow, Felicity]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-12-08T08:00:00+00:00

Four

“Christine!”

I don’t feel the coffee scalding me until Raoul seizes my arms, whirling me around to face him, safely away from the puddle that I’ve created.

“Oh, ouch!” I grab a towel off the counter. He snatches it from my hands, dropping to his knees to dab gently at my feet. Tears sting my eyes. My skin is rapidly reddening.

“Here, sit down,” Raoul says, guiding me to a chair at my table. I lean back against the wall with my eyes shut as he cleans the coffee off.

His strokes become slow. His fingers trail up my ankle.

“Are you okay, Christine?” he asks. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

It’s possible that he’s not too far off.

Erik Duke was in my bedroom the night before. He was really there. He returned my laptop and then took my body, leaving me breathless in bed.

“I have to tell you something, Raoul,” I whisper.

He sets the towel down. “Anything.”

I struggle for words. The sight of Raoul here, in my kitchen, after all this time… It almost makes me forget why I was so afraid. His fingers resting on my feet—though I have long since been dried off—are breathtaking.

The way that Raoul kneels in front of my chair reminds me of girlish fantasies I frequently entertained years ago. The fantasy that, one day, Raoul might kneel before me in such a way with a ring, asking me to be his wife.

Thoughts of wives drag me toward the dark corner of my mind reserved for my discovery about Erik Duke’s past. The one I haven’t allowed myself to dwell upon just yet.

Now cold fear claws at the inside of my breast.

It’s hard to swallow around the sudden lump in my throat. But I must speak to him. I must tell him the truth.

“Erik Duke snuck into my bedroom last night while I was sleeping,” I say. “He put that laptop there.”

Raoul gazes at me expressionlessly, his face an opaque wall preventing me from making out his emotions.

And then he laughs.

“Funny, Christine, very funny.” He strokes my scalded skin one more time and stands. Extracting his pocket watch, he checks the time. “I should go. Don’t make any more coffee while I’m not here to clean you up.”

My jaw drops.

After all his concern about leaving me at Erik Duke’s lake house, I was certain he would have responded to my pronouncement with alarm. I have no idea how to handle being laughed at.

“I’m serious, Raoul. Erik came into my bedroom through the window last night.” I raise a shaking finger to point at it.

“Is he a wall-crawling spider, then?” His tone is frustratingly light. He still thinks we’re joking. “Can’t do anything with those horror authors. Always creeping around.” He checks his pocket watch again and angles for the door. “My driver will pick you up for the party at six.”

“No—but—”

“Until later, Little Christy.” He drops a kiss onto my temple. The brush of his lips, the intensity of his cologne, the gentle scrape of stubble—he’s still something out of a dream.

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