Page 55 of The Marriage Bid
“Also because you saw where I stay and how tiny the place is? Is that what you wanted to say?”
“You said it, not me.”
She clicked her tongue and resumed strolling.
“Your place is nice,” I said.
“But…”
“Nothing.”
She gave a small shake of her head. “You keep saying that, but—” Saffron was bumped by someone walking past fast, the cup in her hand sloshing all over her white blouse. “Fuck!”
I had no time to save her coffee, but I managed to save her from hitting the concrete by holding her in my arms as she stumbled. “Are you okay?” I said, trying not to think about her breasts pressing against my chest. Or the way her supple body felt, reminding me of the act we performed this afternoon. The wet liquid was now seeping onto my shirt as I righted her again.Her cup rolled on the ground while I held mine away from her so she wouldn’t get wet again.
She pushed away from me and glanced down at her blouse. “Ugh. This was my favorite one.”
“Come on.” I jerked my head forward. “Let’s get you cleaned up. My place is close by.”
“It’s fine, I think I can get back—”
“Not like you can walk like that. I have a car.” I pointed to my car. My driver had been slowly driving the car along with us.
A faint frown tugged at her brow. “You’ve had a car following us the entire time?” I took her arm and marched her towards the vehicle, but she didn’t resist.
“It was following me. You just happened to be next to me.”
“Yeah, right.”
I didn’t respond. I was just happy she was going to my place.
Chapter 25
Saffron
It felt odd to come back to his apartment again. The instant reminder of five years ago came like a punch to the gut. I didn’t expect to feel so weird about it. We were just colleagues now, right? If you discount the sex today. Or the way he was behaving now. This was not the same snarky Tyler I was used to. The retorts were still there, but he was a little more—kind? Even describing him as such made little sense. It was the sex. It had thrown me for a loop. I had not expected to do that with him. And then I had gone back to my office as though I hadn’t just had my back blown for lunch.
And when I signed off for the day and chose to visit a café, who did I bump into again? That last one was my fault. I don’t know why I had forgotten that his sister owned it. In truth, I hadn’t been thinking about it when I went there. I was walking aimlessly and entered the café because I was craving coffee. The same coffee that was now tainting my blouse.
“Let me get you something to wear,” he said and went upstairs. I trudged into the living room and sat down on the maroon couch. He had changed little except in updating the furniture and adding a few accolades. There were awards and certificates he had decoratively placed on the wall. There wasnow a forest-green bookshelf in the corner. Most were books on architecture and design.
Tyler came back with a T-shirt and sweats. “I am not wearing your ex’s clothes.”
“These belong to me.” He threw the T-shirt over his arm and unrolled the pants. “The sweatpants are a bit old. I last wore them when I was a teenager, I think. But they’re clean.”
I got up from the couch and grabbed the clothes. “Thanks. Where can I—”
“There’s a guest bedroom; second door to the left.”
When I came back down again in his clothes, which were surprisingly comfy, fire lit his eyes when he saw me. “They fit. I’ll send your clothes to the dry cleaner.”
“You don’t have to. It wasn’t your fault.”
“I’m the one who suggested we walk.”
“That’s a flimsy reason. It’s not like I blame you or anything.”
He shrugged. He had put on casual clothes of his own, and the sweatshirt he wore made him a lot more disarming than he was. I preferred suit Tyler. Suit Tyler was a lot more straight-laced, but this laid-back version of him made my stomach wobble.
