The Lion's Den(68)

“You slept with him.”

She smiled confirmation. “How did you know?”

“Um, he bought you a Mercedes? Your pussy must be made of solid gold, because I’ve never had a man buy me a Mercedes after one week. Or ever, actually.”

“It was two weeks, and they were the most insane weeks of my life,” she raved, her cheeks flushed. “I mean, I’ve seen wealth, but nothing like this. He owns, like, half the world. He knows all these powerful people. It’s like they’re in a club—princes and prime ministers and CEOs and movie stars. Insane. A Mercedes is nothing to him. I could have asked for a Bentley and he would have bought it, but I didn’t because I don’t want him to think I’m in it for the money, you know?”

“Yeah,” I said dryly. “Wouldn’t want him to think that. Wait. Didn’t you say he was married?”

“Yeah, his third wife. But they live separate lives—I’m not the first affair he’s had, obviously, but he says he’s never felt the way he feels with me—and anyway, she’s, like, fifteen years older than me. They’re getting divorced in the next couple of months. It’s just too expensive right now.”

“Does he have kids?”

“Yeah but they’re grown and he totally wants to have more with me.”

“I thought you didn’t want kids.”

“I mean, I never have before.” She shrugged. “But with him it would be different. I would have, like, a nanny for each kid. They would have the best of everything, and I could just be there for the good parts.”

She didn’t seem to be kidding. “Sounds healthy. How old is he?”

“He’s sixty. Well, sixty-three. But, like, a young sixty-three. He plays polo, he swims, he does mountain climbing—he’s super well rounded.”

“Isn’t that weird? I mean, you’re twenty-six. Do you even know any of the same cultural references?”

“It doesn’t matter. We talk about art, and business, and wine.…”

I laughed.

“What?” she said. “I really like him. I do. And you should see the clothes he bought me. We went shopping in Singapore—the shopping there is insane; it’s the best in the world—and they shut down an entire floor of a luxury department store so that I could shop. He’s so sweet!”

Amazingly, she sounded serious. Or maybe she’d convinced herself of how much she liked him in order to take advantage of all a relationship with him stood to offer. Regardless, her complete devotion either to the man or to the lie she was telling herself was pretty impressive.

“Oh, he got me these, too.” She stroked the giant diamond studs in her ears. “And when I got back, that car was waiting for me.”

“And how was the sex?”

“It was good!” she said. “I mean, not like Eric good, but nothing is going to be Eric good.” She shivered. “And Eric didn’t buy me a car. He never bought me a damn thing. And anyway, I’m not thinking about him anymore. He’s not worth my time.”

She’d always raved about how great Eric was in bed, obviously dying to dish the dirty details, but I never bit, Summer and Eric’s sex life being about the last thing in the entire world I wanted to discuss. I much preferred to hear about her not-so-sexy tryst with some old dude. “So saggy-old-man balls are a myth?” I teased.

She sighed, not amused. “I just…I’ve been through a lot in the past few months.” She looked at me pointedly, and I knew she was referring to the incident with Three that we’d agreed not to mention. “I’m doing the best I can with what I’ve got, and this could be really good for me…” She took a deep breath, and I saw she was holding back tears.

I reached out and grabbed her hand, realizing I was being insensitive. “I’m sorry, Summer. I wasn’t thinking.”

She nodded, and a tear slid down her cheek. “I just…” Her voice shook. “I need you to be supportive of me, okay?”

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.” I pulled her in for a hug. “I totally support you in whoever you want to date.”

“Thanks.” She grabbed a Starbucks napkin and wiped away her tears.

“So, are you still gonna work for him, or…?”

“He’s gonna keep paying me a salary and benefits, so I’ll technically be working for him, but I’m not actually gonna be working. And you don’t need to worry because I’m never gonna be here. He travels all the time and wants me to come with him.”

“That’s great!” As much as my heart went out to her for what had happened with Three, feigned enthusiasm was about as much as I could muster for her salaried-girlfriend position. I hoped this meant he’d get her an apartment of her own as well, but I kept my mouth shut on that front, not wanting to come off as even more callous.

A rapping at the front door stopped our conversation short. “Who is it?” I called out.

“Eric,” came the voice on the other side.

I choked on my coffee.

Summer buried her face in her hands. “I totally forgot he was coming today. He has a show in Beverly Hills. I asked him to pick me up here.”

“One second,” I called. My heart fluttered like a bird caught in the rafters. Despite our slew of emails, I hadn’t actually seen him since our kiss in his elevator. “I thought you weren’t seeing him anymore,” I whispered.