Not So Nice by Emma Lyon
Ryan
To say I was confused would be an understatement.
Graham had been giving me compliments all night, had practically eaten me alive with his eyes when I’d come out of the bedroom dressed in the clothes Beatrix had sent. Now he was claiming my smiles like a bulldog pissing on his territory. I was tempted to believe it was all part of the act, but there was no reason for him to keep it up when others weren’t around.
But I didn’t hate the way Graham clung to my side, his hand on my back as Lorde said a few words to the group. Lorde was actually a good speaker—gruff but sincere—and I saw the utter devotion on Tristan’s face as he watched his husband speak.
Whatever Graham had been up to tonight—the flirting, the hungry looks, the casual touches—it was nothing compared to that. That was real. This was…well, I didn’t know what it was.
But maybe….
I shut the lid firmly on that thought. For eighteen months Graham had only ever seen me as his assistant. Just because he was finally seeing me didn’t change anything. He was probably just as attentive at the beginning with Slake and all his other conquests.
“Think we convinced them?” Graham murmured in my ear.
Thankful for Graham reminding me what this was about, I said, “Maybe.” Lorde was wrapping up his speech. “I’ll be right back. I need to use the restroom.”
I slipped from the curve of Graham’s arm and out of the dining room door to the sound of applause following Lorde’s talk. I found a sign to the restroom, and once inside, splashed my face at the sink.
I stared at my reflection, wondering how I could be enjoying myself and yet be so miserable at the same time.
You know why.
The truth kept bubbling to the surface as much as I’d tried to keep it down. It was Ethan’s fault, really. He was the one who’d accused me of being in love with Graham in the first place. The one who’d first made me wonder.
Of course you’re attracted to Graham. He’s rich, powerful, and hot. He commands the attention of a room just by being in it. He’s pure charm and magnetism when he wants to be. You’d be crazy not to feel something.
But it wasn’t any of those things. I’d worked for him long enough to know that the charm was a front he put up to the world. His true face was in his late-night calls, his teasing. His unexpected laugh or smile at something I’d said, like I’d surprised it out of him. He was flawed but he was also human, and even though he could be a bastard much of the time, I liked him anyway.
That was the problem.
Movement in the mirror had me looking over as Tristan entered the bathroom behind me. He must have seen something in my face because he paused. “They don’t make it easy, do they?”
“No.” I looked at my reflection again. I wasn’t rich, or powerful, or beautiful like Ethan. Graham could have any man he wanted. There was no reason he would want me.
“Your husband’s a really good speaker,” I said, because Tristan was still standing there.
“Yes.” He couldn’t hide his smile. “He’s good at a lot of things. And pretty terrible at others, but then, so is everyone.” He hesitated, then added, “Nathan seems quite taken with you. Have you been together long?”
I hated lying to him, even more now that it was just the two of us here, but I didn’t want to ruin things for Graham. “Not long.” Out of a need to unload some of what I was feeling, even to a relative stranger, I said, “Sometimes I’m not sure.”
He grinned. “I don’t know about Nathan, but Gabriel is sure as fuck complicated. He still makes me crazy sometimes. But Nathan sure seems into you.”
I thought about the warmth of Graham’s hand on my back, the interest darkening his eyes. How he’d made me feel like I was the only person in that room.
Was it enough?
I already knew the answer. Graham might be interested in me tonight, but a night was as long as his interest lasted in anyone.
Tristan had already disappeared into one of the stalls. I dried my hands and returned to the dining room. Graham looked over when I entered, mouth smiling and eyes warming with heat when he saw me. He held out his hand.
“Let’s find something to eat,” Graham said as I took it. “There has to be something decent at the buffet table.”
I went with him, letting myself pretend for the moment it was real.