‘Of course not,’ James clipped. ‘I was just moving some stocks...’
She knew that he was lying—Leila had heard a woman’s voice on the other end of the phone.
She had sensitive ears too!
‘How come you’re not at work?’ James asked.
‘Their evening player has asked to swap and so I am working tonight instead,’ Leila answered. ‘I have to be back at six.’
‘I don’t want you...’ James halted himself. Who was he to tell her that she couldn’t work when she so clearly loved it? Who was he to rein her in when she was just starting to find herself?
And, James questioned, who was he to force her to marry him?
He just wanted her to want to now.
‘Whatever you feel like doing,’ James said.
‘Anyway, clearly we need to have some time alone,’ Leila said. ‘To make our private phone calls and things.’
James heard the little dig and he gave a wry smile as Leila huffed off to the bathroom.
She was the most adorable creature of habit—as soon as she came home, she would remove her make-up and he followed her in, watching as she took out a make-up–remover wipe. Leila started taking off her mascara but he could see the angry strokes of her hands.
She was jealous, James thought, but it made him smile for she had no reason to be.
‘Leila.’ He came behind her and tried to catch her eye in the mirror but she was deliberately ignoring him.
‘Leila...’ James slid a hand around her waist but she shrugged him off and so he sat on the marble vanity beside where she stood angrily taking off her make-up.
‘Just because I’m on the phone to a woman it doesn’t mean that I’m seeing someone else. You are the most insecure person I have ever met.’
‘I’m not insecure, James,’ Leila corrected. ‘I’m very secure with myself.’
‘You could try trusting me.’
Leila breathed out. Yes, she could try trusting; it just felt like a scary place to be. She wanted to trust him; she wanted to believe that he was here for more than their baby, that somehow a marriage between them could work.
She wanted to tell him that she loved him.
He handed her another make-up wipe and she took it.
‘I’m your personal make-up remover assistant,’ James said, and watched her lips do their best not to smile.
She liked him in the bathroom with her, how he even made taking off her make-up stupid fun.
He picked up her moisturiser and squeezed some onto his fingers.
Sexy fun, Leila amended, remembering those fingers removing her lipstick that night, and so she rather pointedly took the bottle from him and put on her own moisturiser.
Not fazed, happy to sit, James’s eyes alit on the pills in her bag.
‘Fat lot of good they did,’ James said, but not unkindly, and that was enough to bring that reluctant smile to her lips.