Page 43 of Beneath The Truth
I stepped out of the elevator to be amazed by an incredible view through the walls of glass of downtown New Orleans and the Mississippi Riverbeyond.“Wow.”
The woman turned toward me.“Wait until the sun sets.It’s magnificent.With our solid glass walls and height, you get a three-hundred-sixty-degree view.We’re very proud of our renovatedspace.”
“I can see why.It’sphenomenal.”
Rhett squeezed my hand, and I knew this place would always be special to me.No matter what happened for the rest of the evening, I would remember itforever.
22
Rhett
Ari’swide gray eyes scanned every detail, taking them all in.Despite the sweet building and killer view, I was way more interested in studyingher.This building would stand for a century or more, but I had no idea how long I’d get with Ari.I’d already wasted years, so I wasn’t about to waste anotherminute.
“As you requested, Mr.Hennessy, we have a table for you in the corner.”The hostess led us toward a table that had a decent amount of privacy, for which I was grateful.“Is thisacceptable,sir?”
Ari’s surprised gaze was already on me, as though she was shocked that I’d request something private.We might have known each other for years, but we still had a lot to learn about each other.One thing she’d quickly figure out was that I planned to take every advantage of our limited time together and make the mostofit.
“It’s great.Thankyou.”
The hostess motioned to a piece of wood on the table between us, which looked like a section of a stave from a whiskey barrel.Burned into it was the whiskey tasting list.“I’ll leave you with this for now.Your server will bring you the cocktail menu and a list of tonight’s specials.”She left us with a smile as Ari and I slid onto the high stools of the talltable.
“This place is really nice and so unique.Thank you for bringingmehere.”
“I figured I’d have to get creative to impress the girl who has hundreds of fancy California restaurants to choose from on anygivenday.”
Ari laughed.“And I rarely see the inside of those restaurants because I’m too busy working.I can usually identify their take-out containers, though.I see those toooften.”
My little workaholic.“What do you do besides work?I know you’ve got some self-defense skills that you practice regularly, but tell me about your otherhobbies.”
“Hobbies?Like things I do in my free time?”She sounded completely confused by theconcept.
“Pretty sure that’s thedefinition.”
This time she threw back her head and laughed.The deep throaty chuckle hit me right in the chest ...and elsewhere.I shifted on my seat to make sure my thin dress pants didn’t stranglemydick.
“Free time isn’t exactly something I have.If I could create a thirty-hour day, I might have time for both sleepandfun.”
The thought of Ari never taking time to enjoy life bothered me, which was ironic since I didn’t do it ofteneither.
“You have to do something to blow off steam or keep you entertained when you take a breakfromwork.”
A guilty look flashed over her face, and an image of her masturbating behind a big desk slammed into my mind.In my fantasy, her head was thrown back as she came, and my name was on her lips.Fuck, now my dick was rock hard.Thankful for the table blocking her view, I pushed the image out of my head.Or at least Itried.
“What was that thought?”I asked, my voice coming out with a husky edge I couldn’tcontrol.
“Nothing.”
Ari snatched up the whiskey menu and scanned it.I tugged it out of her grip, taking possession of her hand and squeezing until her gaze lockedwithmine.
“Tellme.”
She attempted an innocent, confused expression, but she wasn’t good enough at it.She swallowed, but didn’t break our stare.“Sometimes I play around on thecomputer.”
It made sense because she was the ultimate computer nerd, but why would that send guiltysignals?
“Wait, youwatchporn?”
Her mouth dropped open.“No!I mean, yes, but I was talking abouthacking.”
