Josh raised a brow but took a seat next to Lexi.
A minute later, Vito’s arm dropped, and his eyes opened. He caught sight of Lexi and sat up quickly, wincing.
“Mi scusi, signorina. I didn’t know we had company.”
“This is my wife, Lexi,” Josh said.
The dark eyes studied her for a long moment. “Ah, much becomes clear.”
Not to her it didn’t. She handed out painkillers and coffee and sat watching the two of them.
The coloring was completely different, Josh golden while the other man was dark. Everything about Vito screamed wealth, from his immaculately cut hair to his perfectly manicured fingers. But despite the obvious differences, they both gave off an air of assurance, as though they knew they were better than everyone else and had nothing to prove.
She felt totally intimidated, between the two of them. They were so…perfect.
She waited while they both finished another cup without speaking. She was guessing last night had been a heavy drinking session—had Josh been drowning his sorrows? Had he been bemoaning to his friends the fact that his crazy mess of a wife had inconveniently fallen in love with him? Vito clearly knew something about her.
Finally, they both put their cups down.
“You mind if I go wash up?” Vito asked Lexi.
“Of course. The bathroom is across the hall, the blue door.”
“Grazie.”
Once he was gone, Lexi turned back to Josh. He regarded her warily, like he expected her to leap on top of him and profess her undying love. She took a sip of her own coffee, but it was cool and she placed it back on the tray.
Come on, Lexi, give the poor man his freedom. Let him off the hook.
But she couldn’t get the words out.
“You said we needed to talk.” Josh finally broke the silence. “What’s happened? Is your grandmother causing trouble?”
“No, I told you—it’s good news.” She licked her lips. “Uncle Jamie came to see me yesterday.”
“The colonel? What did he want?”
“He said you’d suggested that he get an audit of my trust fund. The years when grandmother had control.”
He frowned. “I’d forgotten I mentioned it. And did he?”
She nodded. “Yes, and apparently she’d been helping herself to quite a lot. He gave me the proof.”
“Are you going to lock her sorry ass up?”
“Of course I’m not. She’s my grandmother.”
“You’re a nicer person than me, Lexi Slater. But then I’ve known that from the start.”
“But I will show it to her and tell her to back off. That I’ll use it if she tries to interfere or get access to my money again.”
“Hmm, maybe you’d better let me do that. She knows you—probably won’t believe you’ll see it through.”
“She’ll believe me.” Now for the hard bit, though it would probably make Josh’s day. “You know what this means?”
“What?”
Was he being purposefully obtuse? “We don’t need to stay married.”
He’d been gazing somewhere over her left shoulder. Now his focus shot to her face. When he didn’t say anything, she hurried on. “Grandmamma won’t contest the trust.” Still he didn’t say anything, and she twisted her fingers on her lap while she waited for his response. Nothing.
“I talked with my lawyer yesterday,” she said. “He’s looking into the quickest way we can get the divorce. He doesn’t think it will take too long if neither of us contests. Josh, are you listening to me?”
“Of course.”
“Well, say something. I thought you’d be jumping for joy. There’s no need to stay here now. It doesn’t matter if Harry or Grandmamma knows the truth. And think—soon you’ll be able to go out and get all that no-strings sex.”
She sounded bitchy, but she felt bitchy, and why wasn’t he saying anything?
At that moment, Vito appeared in the open doorway. He glanced between the two of them. “I’ve phoned my driver,” he said. “He’ll be here in a few minutes.” He stepped into the room and came to a halt in front of Lexi. “Thank you for your hospitality.”
As he turned to go, Josh jumped to his feet. “Can you give me a lift? I left my car at the office.”
“Of course.”
She stiffened and stared at him. She wanted to shout that they needed to talk. But did they? Was there anything left to say? So she bit her lip and kept quiet.
Josh turned to her. “I’m glad everything has worked out for you.” He strode to the doorway as though he couldn’t get out of there fast enough. “I’ll send someone over for my things.”
And he was gone. Just like that.
Vito stared down at her, one eyebrow raised. “Just tell yourself that he wouldn’t be running so fast if he didn’t care. And don’t give up on him.”
Then he was gone as well, leaving her alone and staring at the open doorway.
Maybe the problem was that he did care. If he didn’t, he would perhaps have stuck around, and they could have had a few months of no-strings sex and then parted amicably.
It didn’t matter; he was gone anyway.
…
Josh had had to leave.