Page 7 of Solstice

“And what’s my style?”

“Honest and cruel.”

“Ouch.” I pretended to be offended, but who the fuck was I trying to fool? It was true, especially with her. Like I said, Ivy and I had no boundaries. Whatever I thought came out of my mouth or entered her head through touch.“That hurts.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Nothing I say hurts you.”

“That’s not true.” I paused, an amused competitiveness flickering behind her eyes. “You once said comparing me to Lucifer did a disservice to Lucifer. That hurt a lot.”

She laughed again, which made me smile, and I switched to the other foot, caressing that one with as much attention as the first.

“I’m serious,”she murmured in my mind.“Tell me what’s up with you.”

I paused, pursing my lips while I did my best to conceal my true intentions. I couldn’t tell her what I really wanted. I couldn’t even think it, or she’d know.“Just proud of you, X. That’s all.”

“Proud?” She gasped in feigned shock. “Wow. Talk about things I thought I’d never hear you say.”

“Can’t a man be proud of his wife after she wins a seat in Congress?”

“You have two, so it only counts as half.”

I didn’t know why, but it bothered me that Ivy continued to think she wasn’t as important to me as Carter or Miri. To be fair, what had I done to convince her otherwise? And why did I even care? Somewhere in the haze of the warm tub and the delicious wine, I forgot.

“Why didn’t it ever work between you and me?”There. I said it. It was out in the open now.

She narrowed her gray eyes, distrust in every tense, calculating muscle. “What do you mean?”

“Why can’t we be like we are when they’re here?” No sense in elaborating who I meant bythey.Between us, there could only be onethey.“Why can’t we be like that all the time?”

“Because I don’t like you.” She said it on a laugh, but it was a trained response, one she’d been saying for years. “And you don’t like me.”

The lies hit me in the gut like a slug, a palpable throbbing that squeezed my heart. “You know…you keep saying that.” I shook my head and massaged up her calf, hitting a spot that made her moan and arch into the touch. Her perfect pink nipples poked out of the water and I homed in on them, my fingers yearning to coast higher. Despite my twitching cock, I behaved myself, sliding my palms back down her legs to her feet, relishing her luminous, velvety skin. “And yet, here you sit. Naked. In a tub. With me.”

“So?”

“Methinks the lady doth protest too much.”

She stared at me from under hooded lids, the wine now having removed the rest of the inhibitions between us.“What do you want, Lex?”

I took a deep breath, let it out on a slow sigh.“A trip.”

“What trip?”

“Let me take you away. You deserve it.”

“Take me away?”She raised an eyebrow.“Like a date?”

“Sure.”

Ivy scoffed and rolled her eyes.“We’ve been on thousands of dates.”

“No, no.”I leaned back and smirked.“A real date. One where you like it. One where you let me convince you.”

“Convince me of what?”

I paused, swallowing before I added,“That what we have is real.”

“It’s not.” She pulled her feet away and sat up, wrapping her arms around herself. That political mask slid firmly into place, locking her emotions down like the wine didn’t matter. Like the connection between us didn’t matter. Like I hadn’t spent hours inside that brilliant brain.

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