19 Chapter 18

Isabella

"Wine or something stronger?" Tristan asked when I arrived at the cellar. We had played with Rory for a while after dinner, then he had disappeared earlier so Rory wouldn't realize we had plans together. I didn't know why he thought a six year old would notice that but I didn't question it.

"I'll have wine. White." I sat at the bar, trying not to look as nervous as I was. Something told me Tristan did not just call me over for drinks and I knew to trust my instinct.

I sat quietly as he picked a bottle of white wine and two glasses and poured us each a little. He pushed my glass in front of me. "I have something for you."

"What?" I asked nervously.

He left the room for a while and when he returned, he had a jewelry box in his hand. I frowned.

"This is to thank you for giving Aurora a chance and not running off. Also, I'm sorry for acting up." He opened the box to reveal a pretty diamond necklace.

"Mr. Lexington, you…"

"Tristan." He corrected me sternly.

"Tristan," the name felt like an incantation leaving my lips. I could almost feel heat creep up my face just saying it, which was insane. It was not my first time being close to a man. I had just left a long term relationship, for heaven's sake. Yet for some reason, this man made me want to avert my gaze, as if my eyes knew they would be drawn to him if they met his. It took me moments to remember what I was going to say. "You didn't have to."

"I wanted to." He took the necklace out of the box and stood, circling me. He placed the necklace on my neck, then pushed my hair off to one shoulder to lock it. His fingers gently brushed against my skin and I felt the heat creep up my face once again.

He took long fiddling with the necklace. Any longer and I would have started to think he was stalling on purpose. When he was done, I looked down at my neck to admire it. Something felt odd. Why was he staring at me?

When he took his seat again, he picked up his wine glass. "Cheers?"

I picked mine up and clinched it with his. I took a small, nervous sip. Growing up in a world full of scheming people, I had learned to always have my guard up and never put myself in a situation where I couldn't understand the other person's intention. He had not given me any reason to believe so but I somehow thought Tristan had another agenda.

Whatever was on his mind, he didn't say it out aloud.

"Has anyone ever said you look like someone else?" He asked.

And there it was. He suspected my identity.

I should have dropped the facade and apologized for dragging it for so long. Why did it matter who I was anyway? Tristan didn't care. All he cared was that his daughter was taken care of.

But when I remembered what he had said about Rhys, I couldn't get the right words out of my mouth. Instead, I dug myself deeper into the pit. "Who?" I asked.

"Isabella Cartier."

My blood chilled even though I had expected it. I laughed. "I wish."

I thought he would drop it but he didn't. "I don't envy her," he continued. "Her brothers are all assholes and so is her father."

My first instinct was to want to defend my brothers, especially Misael and Carson. Misa was the epitome of kindness and Carson wouldn't even swat a fly. They had enemies alright, but most of those were made by simply being Cartiers. It wasn't their fault.

Well, even if it was, I still wanted to defend my brothers. But I had pretended not to know them, so I couldn't. I used the chance to ask, "do you have something against them?"

"Tons." He responded in one word and downed the rest of his wine. He didn't elaborate any more before picking up a bottle of tequila and two shot glasses. "I want something stronger, don't you?"

I was going to say no. I wasn't a good drinker and would get lightheaded pretty fast so I avoided it whenever I could, but this was my chance to get something out of tristan's mouth.

It was a long shot but it didn't hurt to try. If I didn't lose msyelf and get too drunk, that is. When I nodded, he brought a place of cut up lime wedges and a salt shaker. I expected him to shake the salk onto his palm but my new boss had something else in mind.

He took my hand and turned my palm up, then licked a strip from my fingers to my wrist and I felt it all the way up my arm. He then shook some salt onto the damp patch he had created and licked it off, taking his time to caress my palm with his hot, wet tongue. It was a little ticklish, sending tingles down my body and when he looked up to meet my gaze mid-action, I knew he was doing it on purpose. He was trying to demonstrate the wicked things he could do with his tongue.

By the time he downed his shot and sucked on his lime, I was out of breath and all he had done was lick my palm and suck on a piece of lime. I fpught the urge not to glance up at him and failed. I stared at his lips as he took his time sucking the juice out of the lime, my brain conjuring up images I was sure he was not trying to display.

Maybe it was all in my head. Maybe he only licked the salt off my palm for convenience and nothing to do with any of the things I was imagining. After all, why would he ever simulate oral sex to me when he knew I was married? If Aurora was the result of a failed marriage, then he had more reasons to stay the fuck away from me.

So I decided to test my theory.

"Your turn." He smiled.

They say you only see what your mind wants you to see. If his thiughts were innocent, he would not notice what I was about to do. When I picked up the salt shaker, I took his left hand hand and turned it. Emulating him, I licked a path to his wrist and shook some salt onto it. Only, I deliberately dropped some on his fingers. I then licked the salt off his palm and traced my tongue back down his fingers. I licked slowly to the tip of his middle finger and deliberately trailed my tongue around it, gently sucking the tip for a few seconds.

There wasn't much salt left on my tongue when I downed my shot. I quickly wedged the lime into my mouth and sucked on it, all while glancing at Tristan. He looked like he was seconds away from bending me over his knee for that.

It was clear now. My boss was trying to drive me crazy, but so was I.