Page 39 of The Spare
“I’d explain, but someone might question your honor.” His voice was low, and his eyes flickered over my face. The cool tone sent shivers skittering up my body. I felt feverish. Goosebumps one minute, a cold sweat the next.
We were dangerously close to flirting. I didn't know what we were doing, but I liked it.
“You forget, Xander and I often witnessed your and Henry’s…antics.” I laughed lightly and ignored the sting of jealousy the memory gave me.
He winced.
I didn’t mean it in a judgmental way. The years preceding his time away were pretty quiet, or at least I didn’t bear witness to him with a different girl every weekend as I had in the past. Work took up more of his time.
He paused again before answering my original question. “Nothing past a few dates, and before you ask why, I was working. I didn’t have time for a relationship.”
I nodded for a second, thinking about that. It must have been lonely. I felt a little sad for him. And a little annoyed. Why hadn’t he visited if he was alone?
It wasn’t until that moment that I felt his thumb stroking a pattern along my wrist. The slow movements sent an electric hum through my skin. Our arms lay lazily on the back of the couch, overlapping slightly. He looked like he didn’t realize he was doing it.
A bolt of courage ran through me, and my heart beat palpably in my chest. “Why did you bring me jalebi?”
“You’re going to waste one of your questions on that?”
I nodded.
“You like them, and before you burn another one—that’s what friends do.” His expression was marbled with thought.
“You waited in line for them.” Imagining Marcus in line for anything was just ridiculous. Marcus and Xander didn’t grow up in the elite world we did, but they fit right in once they both made their way into it. Considering how successful Marcus was and the team of people taking care of most of his mundane tasks, I relished knowing he did this for me himself.
“I have the ability to be nice,” he reminded lightly.
“Oh, I know.” I leaned in, careful not to jostle my arm. The heat from his touch was addictive; I didn’t want it to stop. “The world sees you very differently than we do. Don’t forget that.”
The world saw the solitary billionaire. The Wunderkind whose meteoric rise was documented in financial journals and business schools across the country. They lauded his cold, calculated demeanor.
I saw Marcus. Reallysawhim.
I knew the caring, almost to a fault, man beneath the façade. The vulnerable one he locked away. The glimpses I caught made me yearn for more. If only to prove to him that he didn’t need the walls he’d built.
Not around us.Me.
Having spent my life wishing to be seen for who I truly am, it hurt me that he didn’t covet that fact like the treasure it was.
He nodded. The air became heavy again.
“Well, thank you.” I croaked. I didn’t know what to say. He was touching me, and it was driving me absolutely crazy. He couldn’t have realized he was doing it.
Just as he was about to say something, he was interrupted by raucous yelling from upstairs. Henry and Xander were screaming at the screen.
I didn’t bother looking in the direction of the noise. I knew what it was and had become accustomed to it at this point. “I think Xander stole your best friend.”
He looked up in the direction of the staircase, and then back at me, flashing a smile that sent a flutter through my stomach. “Then I guess the only fair thing to do is steal his.”
His thumb traced the same slow pattern on my wrist.
CHAPTER20
Marcus
Xander and Henry leaving Sloan and me alone on the couch an hour ago was the best Christmas gift I could have received. I found myself thinking about her constantly. She was a habit I couldn’t break.
“I saw that.” Sloan noticed when I glanced down at an incoming call and ignored it. I should have taken it privately. It was a board member. Normally, I would have interrupted to take it. “Did you just ignore work?”
