Charade (Swept Away, #1.5)(16)
“Thank you,” I said softly and closed my eyes as he walked into the bathroom. I reached down and quickly pulled the shirt back on. My body was angry with me because I hadn’t followed through with him and my brain was angry at me for even feeling pleasure at his touch. I wasn’t sure how I was going to get through this charade, especially if I was genuinely starting to feel attracted to David. I just had to keep reminding myself who he was. I had to remind myself why I was here.
five
“I can’t believe you’ve been dating David for two months and I haven’t met him as yet.” Rosie voiced her disapproval over the phone.
“Well, I’m not sure how long it’s going to last,” I sighed. “We don’t have much in common and I didn’t want to get your hopes up by introducing you.”
“Get my hopes up?” Rosie sounded annoyed. “Obviously, it’s going well enough if you’re still seeing him.”
“We see each other about once a week,” I murmured, unsure of what to say. David was getting really antsy about not having sex and I knew that he was no longer as patient about my abstinence policies as he had been in the beginning. As far as I could tell, it was all about getting me into bed now. That was his sole goal. “I don’t want to introduce him to my friends when I haven’t even been able to meet his family.”
“You want to meet his family?”
“I wouldn’t mind meeting his brother,” I acknowledged. “It just never seems to happen, though.”
“Why do you want to meet his brother?”
“I just want to know his family a bit better. See where he comes from, what kind of people they are, that sort of thing.”
“Aww, I see. Makes sense. Is this because of your dad?” Rosie’s voice was low and my heart stilled. What did she know?
“What do you mean?”
“I mean now your dad is dead, you don’t have any family, so you’re trying to latch onto the family of those close to you. But remember, Bianca, you can’t just get an insta-family. That’s not how life works. Be patient.”
“I know, I know. It’s not about wanting an insta-family. I’m just saying that it would be nice to meet some of his relatives. I want to know that he actually wants to be with me. I don’t want to sleep with him and have him just dump me.”
“Most guys don’t like to wait for sex.”
“I’m not making him wait on purpose.” And I wasn’t. The truth of the matter was, while I did find David attractive and while we generally had a good time when we hung out, I wasn’t interested in David as anything more than a friend. So while I did kiss him, at the back of my mind I was always thinking about my investigation.
“Let’s have dinner this week,” Rosie said decisively. “Maybe we can make it like a double date. You bring me and David can bring his brother.”
“You’d like to date his brother?” I was surprised.
“Wouldn’t everyone?” Rosie burst out laughing.
“I don’t know. I don’t know anything about him, other than he’s the CEO of Bradley Inc.”
“I hear he’s absolutely gorgeous.” Rosie’s voice softened. “And of course, he’s brilliantly smart, deceptively evil, and wonderfully charming. The fact that he’s an enigma makes him that much more attractive.”
“Wow, you’re really selling him.” I laughed. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you knew him already.”
“Well, that’s just silly,” Rosie said. “How’s the writing going, by the way? See any good movies lately?”
“I’ve seen so many movies in the last two weeks, it’s not funny. I’m getting invites to press junkets now. Did I tell you I saw Paul Rudd last week? He’s even more handsome in person than he is on screen.”
“Oh, I love him!”
“So do I. David wasn’t that happy for me though. I think he was a bit upset that I spent most of our date gushing about Paul.”
“You can’t talk about a hot guy to your boyfriend. Especially not to your boyfriend who’s not getting any. He must be going crazy out of his mind with blue balls.”
“Blue balls is a myth,” I muttered.
“Well, obviously their balls don’t go blue unless they’re dead, but you know he must be horny as hell and it doesn’t seem like you’re doing much to help.”
“I’m not going to go down on him, if that’s what you’re saying.” I cringed at the thought. Though, it wasn’t like we hadn’t come close. Every night we spent together we came closer and closer to being fully intimate, but it was a line I knew I couldn’t cross. The boundaries were already blurry, I couldn’t afford for them to disappear altogether.
“Do you even like this guy, Bianca?” Rosie sounded thoughtful. “I just don’t understand why you’re dating him.”
“I’ve got to go, Rosie. I’ll try and set up dinner for Wednesday night. I’ll ask David to invite Mattias as well. See if we can make it a foursome,” I said, changing the subject. I didn’t know how to explain how I felt as I was confused myself. David was such a handsome, funny guy that it was easy to forget why I was with him. It was easy to get caught up in his kisses, easy to touch him and be touched by him, but there was a side to him that I didn’t fully understand. And that had nothing to do with my father either. There was something about David that was almost too good to be true, a side that was too intense for me. A side that hinted at danger, though I wasn’t really sure why I thought that, as he’d never done anything to make me think he was a bad boy—aside from being Jeremiah Bradley’s son.