I probably should have looked away. I should have read the paper, or checked my emails, or done anything else with my attention. But I couldn’t. I liked to look at her, a little too much, and that was becoming a problem.
I cleared my throat and set down my fork. “When you finish class tomorrow, I’ll need you to do your homework right away.”
“Why?” She peeked up at me with a mouthful of pasta.
“Because we have a work function to attend.”
Her brows pinched together. “What kind of function?”
“A picnic,” I griped.
She laughed. “You put on a picnic?”
“No. My partners do.”
“Ah.” She nodded. “Those must be the other names on the door. Vincent and Emily. I was wondering.”
“It’s a large firm,” I told her. “I like the private side of the building, but you’ll meet the everyone else tomorrow.”
“Can’t wait.” She snorted. “I imagine your office parties are all the rage.”
“They aren’t,” I assured her. “It’s just business.”
“It’s time to get ready for bed.”
Gypsy looked up from her magazine, her steely gaze staring right through me. “It’s only eight.”
“Yes, but you have a big day tomorrow. We both have to get up early.”
She set the magazine down in her lap and closed the pages but didn’t move. “Why are you doing this?”
“This was the deal you agreed to.”
“I would hardly call it agreeing,” she said. “You blackmailed me into this situation. But regardless, I want to know why you’re acting like you have some sort of parental role in my life. I’m a grown woman.”
“Are you?” I cocked my head to the side. “What is the last grade you completed, pet?”
“That’s irrelevant.” She glared. “Those were circumstances outside my control and—”
“I never said they weren’t. My point is that you want to be an adult, yet you have none of the basic skills required to survive in this world.”
“That isn’t true,” she insisted. “I get by. I’ve always gotten by. And if I don’t know something, I figure it out.”
I wanted to touch her. She was always beautiful, but never more so than when she was vulnerable like this. “Wouldn’t it be nice to do more than just get by for a change?” I asked.
Her eyes met mine, and for a split second, I saw the fear there. The idea of allowing anyone to help her was terrifying. Gypsy had only ever learned to take what she needed or wanted, but now she needed to learn to accept what was given freely.
“Come.” I held out my hand, and she stared at it as if it were poison.
I knew she wouldn’t take it but hope still lived inside me. Instead, she rose on her own and crossed her arms. “What now?”
“If you want a shower to help you wind down, then you need to take it now. Otherwise, you can get dressed for bed.”
She padded down the hall without protest, and a minute later, the shower turned on. I had to restrain myself from following the way I wanted to. Instead, I walked into the kitchen and drank a glass of ice cold water. But even that didn’t stop me from thinking about her naked body beneath me.
It didn’t help matters when I walked into the room and found her in one of her silk nightgowns. It was beautiful and classy and everything that Gypsy was, but it also emphasized her every curve. Curves that my hands ached to touch. It felt wrong when it was never my intention to be this way with her. She was my wife on paper only, and that couldn’t change.
“You’re staring again,” she noted as she moved to her side of the bed.