Page 10 of Reckless
I was not desperate.
I was not available for emotional experimentation.
And I was definitely not about to let myself get tangled up with the one Norouzi brother who looked like sin in a black shirt and had a reputation that made even Britney sharpen her knives.
Roxanne’s hand slid from my shoulder.
“Dessert,” she declared brightly, like she hadn’t just silently detonated something.
Everyone moved again.Conversation resumed.Charlie started talking.Hope laughed.Michael said something dry to Britney.Life at the table carried on.
But I could still feel it.
That awareness, that awful live wire running from one side of the table to the other.
I forced my attention to my plate.
Across from me, Xerses said, very quietly, for me alone, “This should be interesting.”
I looked up so fast I nearly spilled my tea.
“What should be?”
“The weekend.”
“Nothing is happening this weekend.”
“If you say so.”
“I do say so.”
He lifted his glass.“Then we agree.”
“We absolutely do not agree.”
Something moved in his face.“That’s what makes it interesting.”
His expression was smooth again.Controlled.Almost bored.
Only his eyes gave him away.
And that was enough.
I started feeling like prey.
Two
The Claim
Xerses
My mother had spent the first forty minutes of dinner pretending she wasn’t watching me.
That was how I knew I was in trouble.
Roxanne Norouzi never pushed.She smiled.She poured tea.She fed people until they were too content to defend themselves properly.Then she moved the pieces where she wanted them and let the rest of us discover, usually too late, that we’d been maneuvered by a woman in diamonds and silk who called everyone habibi while quietly running the room like a military operation.
It would have been impressive if I hadn’t been one of her preferred battlefields.
