Moonlight Over Manhattan(54)
Cramming the small details of life into a phone call wasn’t the same.
“I barely see him. He’s mostly at the hospital.”
“He can’t be at the hospital the whole time. I mean he has to come home and eat and sleep at some point surely?”
“He does, but we don’t spend time together.” Apart from the three hours they’d spent talking over dinner the night before, and two the night before that. Would Fliss notice the change in her tone? Probably. Harriet knew she was a hopeless liar. She needed lie training, as well as date training.
Her “date” with Ethan was hours away and after tomorrow she was probably never going to see him again. Unless she jumped out of another window and sprained her ankle. Or transformed herself into the type of woman who inspired lust instead of pity. A woman who could seduce a man with one slow blink of her eyelashes.
Dinner? Sure. Just wait while I change into my little black dress.
She was desperate to ask Fliss what she should wear on a date that wasn’t a date but if she did that she knew she’d never be able to wriggle out of the inevitable questions. And frankly it was more than a little humiliating that he was taking her out in order to help her. She was almost thirty. She shouldn’t need help with dating. Why couldn’t he have asked her out like a normal woman?
That would have been the best thing he could have done for her confidence.
But whatever the sentiment driving the invitation, she planned to head back to the apartment soon and spend the next hour trying really hard to make it look as if she hadn’t tried hard.
Fliss was still talking. “So he hasn’t put his healing hands all over you yet? Shame. Have you seen him naked?”
“How are we twins? We are so different.” And she hadn’t seen him naked, but she’d started imagining it whenever he walked into the room, which was unsettling. The longer she spent with him, the more she was wishing that tonight was a proper date.
Why couldn’t she meet someone like Ethan in the normal course of her life?
“You should pretend to be me for a few days. Throw off your shy self and drag him into the bedroom for some fun.”
She wondered how Ethan would react if she walked into his bedroom minus the butterfly pajamas.
But she’d never do that, would she? And even if she did, it wouldn’t work. You needed the personality to go with the actions and she’d never been the sort of woman to confidently strip off her clothes in front of a man without at least small signs of encouragement. “No way.”
“Harriet, he is perfect for you.”
“You’ve never met him and I’ve barely told you a thing about him.”
“Which tells me everything I need to know. If there was nothing to tell, you’d be telling me everything.”
“That makes no sense.” It felt strange keeping something this big from her twin. If they’d still been sharing an apartment they would have talked about it. But things had changed, and not just because Fliss wasn’t living with her anymore. Harriet bent to tug Madi’s nose out of another snowdrift and reminded herself she was capable of making a decision without her sister. If they were walking to a restaurant a block away, she’d wear jeans and boots. Casual. Then he wouldn’t think she was getting the wrong idea. “To answer your question, he has not put his healing hands all over me and no, I haven’t seen him naked.” She straightened and saw Ethan standing next to her.
Oh holy crap.
How long had he been standing there?
Her face flamed so hot she expected the snow around them to melt and turn to floodwater. Where had he appeared from? Had he heard? If he’d heard, she was doomed. “I have to go.”
“Why? We’ve only been talking five minutes. Don’t go. I promise to stop teasing you. If you don’t want to talk about Dr. Sexy, we won’t talk about him.”
At least she hadn’t put her sister on speaker.
“I’m freezing. Need to get inside. I’ll call you later.” She tucked the phone in her pocket and braved it out with a smile, although she didn’t quite meet his eyes. “Hi. You’re early.” And now she sounded like a wife. How was your day, dear? Can I fetch your slippers? “I mean, no accidents today? Everyone in New York City is happy and healthy?”
“I wouldn’t go that far.” He took Madi’s leash from her. “That was your sister on the phone?”
“Yes, we were catching up.” Had he heard? He must have heard. Should she apologize or ignore it and pretend it hadn’t happened? Ignore it. Definitely. “I haven’t seen her in weeks. We have business to discuss.” And sex, and all the other topics Fliss always insisted on covering.
Ethan brushed snow out of her hair, his touch gentle. “You couldn’t have found somewhere a little warmer for your business discussions?”
No, but they could have found somewhere a lot more private.
“I’m well wrapped up.” No silky lingerie for her. When she was walking around the city in winter she wore layers that wouldn’t have let her down in the Arctic. “I wasn’t expecting you home for a while.” Still sounding like a wife, Harriet. Like she’d been watching the time and the window, waiting for him to come home. To his home. It wasn’t her home, even though she felt more comfortable in his apartment than she did in her own right now. “I meant home as in your apartment, obviously.” Finally she looked at him and realized he was unusually pale. “Are you all right?”