The Billionaire Next Door(32)
As the man waved and dissolved into the pedestrian stream, Lizzie glanced at Sean. His brows were down low and his mouth set tight.
She was not surprised when he said, “How about we head home? I could use a shower.”
“Sounds good,” she said. Even though it didn’t. She wasn’t in a hurry for the day to end, but she sensed that even if they kept walking around now, it would be over anyway. Sean had gone somewhere in his head and his mood had changed. Which was odd. Rolly Whoever-he-was had seemed perfectly nice, yet Sean had been in a hurry to get rid of him.
They were quiet as they walked down Newbury then went through the Commons and down into the parking garage. Sean didn’t say much on the way home, and when they pulled up to the row house, she had a feeling he was going to make an excuse to go upstairs.
She told herself it was better this way as she could start getting her résumés out.
Yeah…right.
As they got out of the car and went up to the shallow front porch, she said, “Well, thank you for the day. I had a wonderful time.”
Sean stopped. Looked her in the eye. Took her hand in his. “I’m sorry, Lizzie. About being a buzz kill.”
“Why did running into that man bother you so much?”
Sean glanced across the street, but she was sure he wasn’t seeing the other row houses. “He and I went to college together.” In a dry voice, he added, “I was on scholarship, Rolly wasn’t.”
Oh, that explained it. It must be hard to see people who were so much more successful, who had so much more.
“Money isn’t everything, Sean.”
He smiled his disagreement. “Sometimes it feels that way. Sometimes I think my whole life is about chasing the stuff.”
“I totally get that,” she said as she thought about her mom. “But come on, how much did today cost us? The two sandwiches were eight bucks. The cookies were what…four dollars? A six-pack of water was a dollar ninety…on sale, I might remind you. And the cones were nine dollars with an eleven-dollar tip. For thirty-three dollars and ninety cents, which could have been even less if you hadn’t left so much at Ben & Jerry’s, we had a perfectly lovely afternoon. After all, the sun and the Frisbee game were—”
He swooped in and kissed her, his mouth lingering on hers before he pulled back.
“—free,” she finished.#p#分页标题#e#
Sean ran his fingertip down her cheek then took a deep breath, as if he were bracing himself for something. “So you wouldn’t think of me differently, rich or poor?”
“I enjoyed today because of you. The fact that you’re not wealthy never even occurred to me.”
His eyes grew shrewd as if he were assessing her down to her DNA. Then he nodded once, took out his keys and put one in the lock. When he paused, his stare shifted over to hers and the hazel in it burned.
“Do you want to get together tonight?” he asked in a very low voice.
Lizzie swallowed hard, knowing very well what it meant to say yes to the question. She took a deep breath. “Yes.”
“I’ll come down right after I shower.”
He pushed the door wide and held it open for her. As she walked by him, a horrible realization hit her and she wanted to curse.
Oh God…in the space of two days, she’d somehow become attached to this man.
And she feared there was no going back.
***
In the shower upstairs, Sean soaped his body up and rinsed off as if he were an Indy 500 pit crew. He shaved just as fast and managed to nick himself under the chin, which necessitated tearing off a piece of Kleenex and sticking it to where he bled. After brushing his wet hair back, he did the cologne thing and inspected the razor cut.
With relief, he ditched the little white square. Man, there was no looking good with that kind of thing on your puss.
Boxers went on without incident as did a fresh black polo. Pants were an issue because his jeans were grass-stained, so in the end, he pulled on his suit slacks. Thank God they didn’t have any pinstripes, so he didn’t look ridiculous.
On his way out the door, he slipped a couple of condoms in his back pocket out of necessity and picked his BlackBerry up out of habit.
Oh…crap, he thought as he stared at the phone.
He couldn’t believe he’d left the thing behind today. How had that happened?
Then again, the oversight had been a blessing. Part of the reason the afternoon had been so relaxing was that the ringer hadn’t gone off constantly.
He flipped through the screens. He had an in-box full of e-mails and seven voice messages waiting for him. He almost started checking it all, but at the last moment, he stopped. He didn’t want to know what was falling apart. All he wanted was just a little more time with Lizzie. Then he’d get back to real life.