Chapter 26
CHAPTER
SO, HAS WALT BEEN ACTING funny lately?”
Rhett climbed off Judith Nash and lay beside her, breathing hard while pulling the sheet over both their sweat-frothed, naked bodies. She had noted his heavily bandaged left arm when they had undressed. Rhett had told her he had injured himself while doing some rock-climbing.
“Ripped the crap out of it. Got stitches all the way up. Lucky I didn’t kill myself.”
“Oh my God, you poor thing.”
She had been extra gentle with the injured arm.
Now he lit up a cigarette and offered her a puff, but she firmly declined and then just as firmly told him to put it out.
“I can’t go home smelling like smoke, Rhett. I’m supposed to be out with a girlfriend who’s a triathlete.”
“Sorry. Force of habit. I should quit. I hear it’s bad for your health,” he quipped. He stubbed out the smoke in an ashtray on his nightstand.
They were in the master bedroom of his penthouse.
As usual, Judith had come up in the service elevator wearing a floppy hat, sunglasses, and a long coat, despite the warmth of the evening.
She would leave the same way, walk two blocks to a parking lot where she had left her car, and then drive home with a cover story to tell her husband.
“So, about Walt?”
“We just had amazing sex and you want to talk about my husband?” Judith asked. She turned to look at him, her brow furrowed and her features tight. “I remember not that long ago when we’d do it, and you’d be ready to go again in five minutes.”
“I’m not in my twenties anymore.”
He cracked a grin that made Rhett actually seem ten years younger.
She kissed him on the lips. “I actually like you just the way you are.”
He sat up and took a sip of scotch from the glass next to the ashtray. “Okay, here’s my offer: Answer my question about Walt, then seduce me all over again with that gorgeous body of yours and we’ll go for round two. Orgasm guaranteed.”
“Why are you worried about Walter? He’s the rock of frigging Gibraltar.”
“You make that sound like a bad thing.”
“Rocks are boring, Rhett.”
“If we go for round two, it won’t be boring.”
She slipped her hand to his crotch. “To sweeten the deal, I’ll start it off with something I know you really, really like and which I don’t even do for Walter.”
“I love things you do for me that you won’t do for him.”
“You had no intention of going to the funeral, did you?” she said abruptly, letting go of him.
He eyed her curiously. “Forgot all about it, actually.”
Judith made a pouty face that was reminiscent of her daughter. “Although the flowers were a nice comeback.”
“Walt said it went okay.”
“Actually there was a man there who publicly humiliated him.”
Rhett glanced sharply at her. “At his dad’s funeral? What was that about?”
“Walter’s dad was one mean son of a bitch. Completely cut Walter out of his life. He was in Vietnam. I think it made him nuts. And his friends, too, including the jerk that was talking crap about Walter from the church pulpit.”
“Damn,” said Rhett.
“And that Agent Orange stuff? Walter’s father got sprayed over and over with it. He got a big financial settlement from the Army. He left some of it in trust for Maggie. Walter is the trustee. We just found all that out.”
“Is he going to let Maggie use the dollars for her influencer business you’ve been telling me about?”
“I’m sure Walter will analyze everything and then arrive at a decision that is fair and equitable.”
“Fair and equitable. Rock of Gibraltar. And boring as shit.”
She smiled weakly. “Let’s not talk about him anymore. I really do care for Walter. A lot. He’s a good husband and father. He works really hard. He’s just… I don’t know. Too damn predictable.” She let out a sigh.
“Well, to answer your question about why I’m concerned about Walt, I found out that your predictable hubby phoned a competitor and asked about taking an executive position there.”
Judith sat upright so fast the sheet slipped off her. “He never told me about that.”
“Which is why I’m worried.”
She took Rhett’s scotch from him and took a sip before handing it back and covering herself with the sheet.
“He’s always seemed perfectly happy working for you.”
“He really works for my father, not me. Walt is a superstar in my old man’s eyes. I’m just the nepo hire.”
“Well, he is great at what he does.”
“And yet here you are.”
She gave him a sharp glance. “I didn’t say he was great at everything.”
“You married the Eagle Scout, but you really like the badass boys like yours truly.”
She giggled. “Did you know? He was an Eagle Scout.”
They both laughed hard, holding on to each other and shaking with mingled amusement.
“So, no clue what’s going on in the man’s head?” said Rhett when they’d both calmed and lay back against the pillows. He fingered the groove along her collarbone while he admired the soft, ample breasts just below.
“No. He and Maggie did have a falling-out. She really wants to build her influencer career and he told her that her proposal was bullshit, which, knowing Maggie, it probably was. She’s smart and quick on her feet, but attention to detail and work discipline are not in her wheelhouse.
She definitely did not take after her father in that department. ”
“Few people know business better or work harder than your hubby. He is scorched-earth when it comes to that. Never misses anything.”
“But he talked to her again and she’s all right now. But I don’t see how that would make him want to change jobs.”
“Me either.” He finished his scotch.
“How did you find out about the other firm?”
“We have spies everywhere.” Something in his response seemed to pulse in Rhett’s eyes.
Judith, who was looking at him, apparently noticed. “You okay?”
“Yeah, just thinking of stuff. Luckily Walt is Superman again, coming to save the day with a real earnings blowout for his division. Let me survive another year in my dad’s eyes.”
“Then make sure he gets a great bonus. I want to go to Thailand, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Malaysia in the fall and shop to my heart’s content.”
“With or without Walt?”
“He has no interest. I’ll probably go solo.” She gave him a significant look and hiked her lovely eyebrows enticingly. “Maybe you and I could hook up there. I won’t have to sneak up the service elevator. We could actually go out in public as a couple.”
“I’m always up for sex and shopping with hot chicks in new lands.”
“You should be a greeting card writer for Hallmark,” she said sarcastically.
He slid the sheet off them. “I’d actually much rather be a lover.”
She looked down at him there. “Well, Rhett, you clearly don’t need my help.”
He pulled her toward him. “Sorry, Judith, you promised and can’t renege on the deal now. And keep your eyes and ears open about Walt. Don’t want to see that bonus go away.”
Later, as he labored on top of a loudly moaning and writhing Judith, he was thinking far more about her husband than he was about her.