Be a Doll(39)

I raked a hand through my hair in frustration at having to explain myself when it came to my business. I had never had to before. I wasn’t in any tight spot, but if I wanted to keep progressing in my business endeavor and if I wanted to take the next step, I needed to put my pride aside and let my wife inso she could fulfill her duty, the very reason why she wasn’t Lila Hodge anymore, but Lila Grimes.

“We need to play the blissfully happy couple and I need to show my hostess skills. Is that right?’’ she resumed with assurance, her voice distant.

“In a fucking nutshell.’’

She sighed and I could just about picture her tight mouth, the fire in her eyes and her cursory look around my place. Our place.

“All right. Don’t you worry about dinner. Send me a text with these people’s names and maybe a thing or two I should know about them so I don’t feel too much out of the loop.’’ I heard her heels clacking on the floor as she started walking. “What time should we expect them?’’

“Eight sharp.’’

“Good. Everything will be ready by then.’’

I stood up and walked closer to the huge windows overlooking the city. “Lila…’’ I trailed off in warning.

“Shut up. I know what I’m doing. You won’t recognize the doting wife you married.’’ She stopped walking, the clacking of her heels gone through the receiver. “Don’t forget to text me.’’

She hung up without waiting for me to say something and it made me smirk. She was defiant in everything.

I turned around to put down the receiver and then faced the view once again.

Most days I found myself thinking that the world was fucking mine for the taking and I could easily discard my reasons for seeking something like that when I already had more money than I would ever spend, but at that moment I didn’t feel tall and strong. I felt small, lost and frustrated.

Things were out of my hands and I wasn’t used to it. For years, everything I had achieved was my doing. Tonight, everything was in Lila’s hands, a woman who despised me, who drove me crazy in all ways. A woman that fascinated me.

A dangerous woman for me, both as a businessman, and as a man.

***





LILA


I checked one last time the table set for four and smiled to myself. After rummaging through the cupboards to find suitable plates and glasses for that special dinner, I finally found elegant light gray plates and glasses of a modern shape that perfectly suited the modern lines of the apartment.

I had been running around all afternoon to get everything in order and finding a caterer willing to work on short notice hadn’t been easy, that was, until I dropped my name and the connection was made that I was Mathis Grimes’ wife. It’s funny how our society worked. A well-known name placed and suddenly doors opened.

Anyway, I was quite proud of my first foray as a trophy wife. It’s sad to realize that I was happy to do exactly what I had been taught to do at Carter Manor when I had been rejecting that role.

In one afternoon I morphed into the perfect little trophy wife Mathis had been looking for. And I was now feeling more in control, more as if I wasn’t so lost anymore. What a joke.

I sighed and straightened a silver knife before I stepped away from the table. I nodded at the nice contrast between the simple white tablecloth and the dark gray table settings under the light gray plates.

I risked another glance at the time displayed on the Blu-ray player and shook my head. The guests would be here in ten minutes! If Mathis wasn’t here to greet them…

I’d rather not pursue that train of thought. Instead, I stalked to my cell phone discarded on the coffee table and grabbed it, ready to send a text I hoped would show more my impatience than my rising panic at the thought of doing this on my own. But right before I started typing the front door opened and closed loudly.

I ran, not a care in the world of my stilettos that could very well break my ankle if I tripped and sighed when I saw Mathis wearing a different suit than the one he wore upon leaving the apartment. A thought crossed my mind then.

Had he been with another woman?

I had no business caring about such a thing, but somehow my stomach stumbled and revolted. I was thankful for my light lunch otherwise I wondered how I’d be able to push through my nausea.

“You’re late!’’ I blurted instead, slightly out of breath as I put down my phone on the console table in the entry hall. “And you’ve changed.’’

Mathis stared at me, his eyes going from my simple yet elegant bun with only a few discreet strands encasing my perfectly made up face and then to my body hugged by a midnight blue wrap dress stopping just above my knees. I felt his dark eyes caressing my curves, briefly stopping at my breasts covered by the supple fabric. My heart sped up and my skin tingled, but I resisted and didn’t fidget under his intense gaze. Then, his eyes went to my stilettos and for a reason I couldn’t explain his stare burned even more there.

His lips stretched into a wry smirk as he brought a finger to his lower lip, tracing it once as if he just savored a delicious meal.

I gasped quietly.

“I changed at work. I always keep a couple of suits there.’’ He snatched his phone and keys from his pocket and put everything in the big bowl on the table console, a bowl that probably cost more than you’d expect upon seeing its simple round shape and the clear material that seemed to be glass and nothing more fancy. “Why, jealous?’’