novelxo Chapter 285
Chapter 285
As subtly as I can, I sit back in my chair, lifting my glass of wine to my lips and pretending to take another sip as I slip my gaze towards Daniel, who is already looking at me with his eyebrows slightly raised. I flick my eyes away quickly, not wanting to give ✅ anything away, but grateful that he, too, sees what is happening.
Slowly, Kent turns his head towards Natalia. “I seem to be doing fine as a bachelor, no?” he asks, and I’m surprised to hear a little bit of an Italian accent come into his voice, perhaps harkening back to his younger years when he spoke Italian with her every day. Those days when he fell in love with her, and told her about it, and asked her to marry him, all in that language.
But I smirk a little, inwardly, to think that they’re all speaking in English at this dinner for my sake. I still have a little power here, even if she’s trying to take it all.
“You are doing all right,” Natalia replies, leaning even closer to Kent and letting her eyelids drift down so that she’s looking up at him through her lashes. “But with the right woman, Kent? You could do so much better. Be so much more relaxed.”
And I feel the inner urge to bare my teeth at her as Natalia slips a hand onto Kent’s shoulder and then lets it drift, ever so casually, down his back – the fond kind of gesture that could be friendly but which we all know in this moment is so, so much
Chapter 285
more.
2/4
Kent, going a little stiff at her touch, turns his attention back to his meal and picks up his knife and fork as he takes a deep breath. His voice is different now – harsh, controlled, as he begins to cut at his chicken. “I’ve decided never again to marry, Natalia,” he informs her, and then looks around the table at Daniel and Alessi, as if remembering suddenly that they’re here. But I’m very, very interested to see that he does not, in fact, look
al me.
Natalia shifts herself subtly, pulling her hand away from him
and reaching for her own fork. “Ah, Kent,” she breathes, a subtle smile on her lips. “You will change your mind. You just need to… pick the right woman.”
Kent doesn’t say anything, just continues to cut his chicken and lift bites of it to his mouth as the table goes silent. Daniel chimes in after a moment, breaking the awkwardness in his own particularly skillful way that makes the change of conversation. seem natural as he asks Alessi about some of his own memories of childhood.
I don’t say anything at all, instead sitting in my seat, stewing silently at Natalia’s gall. Clearly, clearly, she thinks that she is the “right woman.” And god damn it, as I stare down into my glass of wine, my stomach twists with jealousy and hate for her.
And I act…maybe a little impulsively.
Maybe a little stupidly.
Chapter 285
3/4
But I don’t let myself think about it too much as I drain my glass of wine and then, careful to be discreet, I slide my hand off of my lap and move it across the few inches that separate me from Kent. Hardly daring to breathe lest it attract someone’s attention, I slip my hand across the fabric of Kent’s pants and dip between his legs so that my fingers come to press against the soft flesh of his inner thigh.
Kent immediately goes tense as I squeeze his leg, letting him know, not so subtly, that he’s mine, not hers.
And that he’d damn well better remember it.
Kent is only still for a moment, though, before taking a deep breath and continuing to eat as if nothing has changed. I watch the others around the table and am grateful to see Natalia laughing with Alessi and Daniel, concentrating on something in his story.
Satisfied that no one has noticed, I give Kent a final squeeze and then, letting my nails rake a bit against the fabric of his pants, I slowly move my hand back to my own lap.
As I do, Kent turns to glare at me, for just a moment, his expression clearly communicating you’re going to pay for that.
I just blink up at him for a second, my fierce eyes saying I’d better.
And then I turn back to Daniel, smiling at him and joining in on
Chapter 285
the laughter even though I have no idea what was just said.
Write your comment
Gifts