Page 58 of Sunny Goes Cold Turkey
“I know.” I sigh and slump against the bars of my wrought-iron headboard. “Why did you do that, Anders?”
“Do what?” The smile in his voice makes me want to push him into a lake—or drive over there and kiss him. One of those things.
“You kissed me in front of Immy, and everyone. What were you thinking?” My cheeks warm at the memory of the way he felt, and all of the eyes on us.
“Immy gave me permission.”
“Great, so you only kissed me because a kid said you could.” I grab a pillow and wedge it behind my back. I need to invest in acomfy headboard. “I can’t believe she told you to kiss me. What a little meddler.”
“She didn’t tell me to kiss you, exactly. Just” — he clears his throat — “When that kid gets an idea in her head, there’s no talking her out of it. And my kid has ideas about you.”
My heart is really thumping now, whether out of excitement or a fight-or-flight response, it’s hard to tell. I am scared of how attached I am to Imogen. Pain is imminent. “What ideas, Anders?”
“Yesterday she told me… she wants you to be her permanent nanny.”
He’s lying. I don’t know how I know, I just know. His tone is different. Actor-y. Those were not Imogen’s words, I am sure of that. Strangely, a little cloud of sadness hovers over me at the thought. Those words spark unfair hope in my lonely, childless heart. “You’re lying.”
“That was the nuts and bolts of it, okay? She wants you around long term.”
I gasp. “So you decided to reinforce your impressionable child’s delusions?” I shout. What a disaster. At least he’s rich enough to afford a good therapist for her.
He chuckles, “Not at all. I just kissed you. I asked her what I could do to make her happy, and she gave me some ideas. I improvised. Are you saying you didn’t enjoy it?” He pretends to be hurt, but he’s full of it. He knows exactly how well he kisses and how I responded.
“Obviously not, but I’ve been waiting for a threatening call from Oliver all night. He and Christopher looked so… done.”
“I just got off a call with them, actually. I took care of it.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
Impossible. I let the line fall silent. There’s no way it was that simple. I feel like I got pushed into a lion’s den, but the lion yawned and fell asleep. At any moment the lion is going to wake up and sic his team of lawyers on me.
“You still there, beautiful?” The smile is back in his voice. He’s needling me with every little word he uses. He knows exactly what he’s doing, and it’s working. But I’m not about to let him know that.
“Yeah. I just can’t believe it was that easy.”
“I wouldn’t say it was easy. I just told them I’m off the project if they won’t let me have a personal life.” There’s more shuffling on his end of the line, almost like he’s smothering his phone with a pillow.
“And they just said ‘okay’ and backed off?” I don’t buy that.
“Sure.” More muffled sounds come through the receiver.
“What on earth are you doing over there? And I don’t believe that they just said ‘okay’. There’s no way.”
He’s quiet for way too long.
“Anders?”
“Yeah.”
“What did they say?”
His answering sigh is gusty. “Chris said they will replace me if they have to. They won’t, though. He’s just trying to get my head back in the game, but he doesn’t need to. I’ve got this. It’s fine.”
“Anders.” His name comes out softer than I intend.
“We’re good, Sunflower.” His voice caresses my name in a way that violates every rule we’ve made—as if his kiss hadn’t done that already. The man is a lost cause.
