Read Online A Weekend of Misbehaving by Carmen Falcone - Free Book Online

ushered her outside. “Let’s talk,” he whispered.
    “All right.” She followed him in silence, which was not like her. Was she mad at him? Either way, outdoors would be a much safer place to set things straight than in their room—as spacious as it was, it was all too intimate now. The image of the big bed wasn’t lowering his blood pressure.
    They strode through the manicured gardens. When they reached the wooden stairs leading to the beach, Alice removed her shoes and carried the pair in one hand while the other lifted the hem of her black dress.
    With each step she descended, her hips swayed, the tips of her hair dangling from her shoulders, and he watched, attuned to every detail. He touched his lips, but besides dryness, there was nothing left from the kiss that afternoon. The memories, which swayed back and forth in his mind like a pendulum, had to suffice.
    By the time they reached the beach, a line of sweat beaded his brows, and he undid two buttons to ventilate the scorching heat sweeping over his body.
    She let the shoes slide from her fingers and fall to the sand. With her hands perched on her waist, she faced him. “What do you want to talk about?”
    “What’s wrong?”
    She sighed and dropped her hands to her sides. “You should have told me you were going to lie to them about going to New York. That way I wouldn’t have made a fool out of myself.”
    Why did that matter? He shrugged. “I wasn’t lying.”
    Her eyes widened. “Say what?”
    It was his turn to sigh. “Why so surprised? It makes sense. I was going to tell you. I was hoping you’d come with me. It would be just like it is now, with Cara, but in another city.”
    “Really?”
    He rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Yes. I can only do what I do because of you.”
    For a moment, she stared at him in silence. With arms folded on her chest, she didn’t seem the least bit interested in going anywhere with him. “Thanks, Mr. B, but I can’t go with you to New York.”
    Again with the stupid Mr. B. “What? Why not?”
    “I have my life in Austin. My sister and niece live with me, and I help Mom with everything. My mother acts tough, but she has all kinds of stress-related issues. She’s had an ulcer in the past year, her blood pressure needs monitoring, and at the rate she works, I don’t think things will get any better.”
    He thrust his fingers in his hair. “I’m sorry about your mother. I truly am.” He had never met her mother but assumed she had to be a special person for raising such a caring daughter. “Just consider, though. I’ll give you a worthy raise, and you can continue to help them any way you want. Your mother will get the best medical care; I will make sure of it. Plus, think about all the experiences you can have in the city. This is not the kind of opportunity people say no to.”
    Of course, asking for her instant acquiescence was maybe too much.
    Alice chewed on her bottom lip as she entertained the idea. “There’s more to it. My sister is bipolar, and sometimes she can’t even take my niece to school. Who knows when she’ll disappear for a few days again? I don’t know if you are familiar with the disease, but she gets overwhelmed easily and has mood swings. She has energy-sucking episodes. I can’t just run away and leave my mother to deal with it all herself. It wouldn’t be fair.”
    “Is sacrificing a better opportunity for yourself fair?”
    “A better opportunity for myself or for you? I thought coming here would mean job security, and I just learned it’s the exact opposite.”
    He put his hands in his hair, his fingers clenching the strands as if he could extract a solution. Anything to take the pain from her voice. “I’m sorry.” A sigh fled from his mouth. What was it with him and women? Some way or another, he was always apologizing. He’d apologized all through his doomed marriage, and now to the only woman he hadn’t literally screwed but felt like he had. Especially because