“Genevieve.”
“A word, please, will you, Soraya?” Without giving me a chance to respond, she motioned for me to follow her and began to walk toward a set of French doors.
Feeling emotional from what had just transpired up in the bathroom, she was the last person I wanted to speak to at the moment. Yet I followed along like a puppy. She closed the doors behind us.
“Have a seat.” She gestured to a brown leather couch. Unlike the rest of the house that was bright and airy, this room was dark and masculine. Built-in bookcases lined the walls, and a massive cherrywood desk was positioned on one side of the room. Genevieve walked behind the desk and opened a cabinet. She pulled out an ornate crystal liquor bottle and two glasses, pouring amber liquid into both before offering one to me.
“No, thank you.”
“Take it. You may need it.” Her tight smile was laced with more spite than sweet.
Screw it. No reason to abstain anymore. I took the glass and sucked half of it back in one gulp. It burned a path from my throat to my stomach.
“I thought it was time the two of us had a little woman-to-woman talk.”
“And since you’ve cornered me into a room, I assume whatever it is you want to talk about isn’t something you want Graham to hear.”
“That’s right. Some things are just better off between women.”
“Well, go ahead, Genevieve.” I settled back into the couch. “Get whatever bitchy thing you want off of your chest so we can all move on.”
“Alright. I won’t beat around the bush then.” She sipped her drink. “I want you to stop fucking my daughter’s father.”
“Excuse me.”
“What part didn’t you understand?”
“You have no right to tell me what to do.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. Your actions have a direct impact on my daughter. She deserves a family.”
“Graham’s being involved with me has nothing to do with Chloe.”
“Of course, it does. You’re being selfish.”
“I’m being selfish. You slept with Graham’s best friend then didn’t tell Graham he was Chloe’s father for four years so your husband wouldn’t leave you. And I’m the selfish one.”
“We’re not talking about me.”
“Like hell, we’re not. You only want Graham away from me so you can attempt to dig your claws back into him. This has nothing to do with the welfare of your daughter.”
She let out an exaggerated sigh. “You wouldn’t understand, Soraya. You aren’t a mother.”
I felt it in that moment. A gurgling of emotions beginning to bubble their way up from within. The bathroom and now her not too subtle reminder. “No. I’m not a mother.”
“This is a chance for Chloe to have her family. Graham and I have a lot in common. We share a common business, travel in the same social circles and have a child together.”
“He doesn’t love you.”
Genevieve laughed. “You can’t really be that na?ve, can you? Believing some ideologic notion that love will conquer all.”
“No, but…”
“We’re compatible, and I’m the mother of his child. If you were to disappear, after a few weeks, I’d be back sucking him off under his desk, and he would forget you even existed.”
I flinched. Being in a highly emotional state, the visual of her under Graham’s desk was as if I was struck with a physical blow. She smiled like a wolf that’d just found a lame sheep. Then went in for the kill. “We’ve fucked right there on that couch you’re sitting on. This was, after all, his office. It’s the only room I didn’t redecorate after things ended. It reminded me of him.” She shrugged and finished the remnants of her glass.
“If you think that Graham would come back to you, after what you did to him, you never really knew him very well.”
“Tell me, Soraya. Who is the one woman in Graham’s life he values more than anyone?”
“His grandmother.”
“And he still mourns the loss of his mother after more than ten years. Can you honestly tell me that family doesn’t mean everything to that man?” She stood. “He’ll get over you. He won’t get over not waking up in the same house as his daughter every day.”
CHAPTER 24
GRAHAM
“ARE YOU FEELING OKAY?” I’d gotten stuck talking shop with Bret Allandale for three-quarters of an hour. Finding Soraya in the yard looking out at the sunset over the water, I wrapped my hands around her waist and stood behind her.
“I’m good.”
Without thinking, my fingers stroked her flat stomach. There were people milling around the yard, so I lowered my voices. “The thought that my child could possibly be growing inside of you, inside this beautiful body, is absolutely incredible.”
“Graham…”
“I know. You don’t think you’re ready. But I think you will be an amazing mother. How pissed would you be if I admitted a part of me hopes you are pregnant? That way you’ll have no choice but to put up with me.” I pulled her hair to the side and kissed her neck.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Anything.”
“If I were pregnant, you’d want to raise the child together?”