Page 44 of Remain (one-of-a-kind)

She toyed with one of her earrings, as if hesitating over the right way to frame her request. “I know that you’re not only rich, but superrich,” she said.

“The stories about your upbringing made that plain as day, so I was wondering if I could call you if I ever need financial advice. Or talk to you about the best way to manage the money from the sale of this property. I don’t want to make mistakes, but I don’t even know what I don’t know about all this. ”

“I’ll gladly talk to you forever about anything you’d like.”

She smiled. “Do you want to play a game?”

“Charades? Boggle?”

“I was thinking about a drinking game instead,” she said, a mischievous gleam in her eyes.

“I played some of those in college. Which one?”

“Two Truths and a Lie,” she said. “It’ll help us get to know each other even better.”

“Do you really think that’s possible?”

“Trust me,” she said with a provocative wink. “There’s still a lot you don’t know.”

I felt my heart skip a beat. “Can you remind me how to play?”

“It’s easy. You make three statements about yourself, but one of them has to be untrue. I try to guess which one is a lie. If I’m wrong, I drink, but if I’m right, you drink. Then it’s my turn. You can go first.”

I thought about it and said the first things that came to mind. “I’m an architect, I live in Manhattan, and I competed in 4-H as a child.”

“Too easy,” she chided. “Try again. And make each statement believable but interesting. It’s more fun that way.”

“Why don’t you go first? So I have time to think about it.”

“Sure,” she said. I watched as she moistened her lips before starting. “I once climbed so high in a tree that a fireman had to help me down. I French-kissed a girl named Susan in tenth grade. I had so much pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving when I was nine that I threw up at the table.”

I squinted, trying to read her as she lifted an eyebrow. “I’m going to say the first one. Firemen don’t do that.”

“Drink,” she said. “That one is true. I was seven years old and we were at the park. When I froze in the top branches of the tree, Bill Henderson, the fire chief, helped me down. He happened to be at the park with his family.”

I dutifully swallowed a mouthful of wine. “Which one was the lie?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” she said with a smirk. “Your turn.”

It took me a minute to come up with credible scenarios. “I’ve been to Greece. I’ve met Meryl Streep. I saw Hamilton before it premiered on Broadway.”

The speed of her answer stunned me. “You’ve never been to Greece.”

“How did you know?”

“Because you would have mentioned it when we talked about my dream of traveling abroad, or when you were telling me about your sister’s trips. Drink.”

I took another gulp of wine. When she spoke again, her voice was solemn. “I lost my virginity at eighteen. When I was nine, I got on the riding mower and drove myself to town. I am allergic to penicillin.”

I considered the choices. “I’m going to say that you’re lying about being allergic to penicillin.”

“Drink,” she said. “Aside from hay fever, it’s my only known allergy.”

I drained my glass, wondering again which of her other statements was true.

“A drawing I made of the Eiffel Tower hangs on the wall in my bedroom. I was thirteen when I kissed a girl for the first time. I went fishing one summer in Long Island and caught a shark.”

She stared at me with an appraising eye. “This one’s tougher. But I’m going to say there’s no framed Eiffel Tower drawing.” She nodded at my empty glass. “Better pour yourself a refill.”

I opened my mouth in shock. “Do I have a tell? You can’t possibly be right all the time.”

“What can I say? I’m good at this game.”

I opened my hands. “Of course you are.”

· · ·

We played for another twenty minutes, until it was time to add the mushrooms to the coq au vin.

Wren followed me into the kitchen and leaned against the counter, watching as I tasted it, added a little more salt and pepper, and removed it from the burner.

“Good?”

“Delicious,” I answered. “But I forgot to put the bread in the oven.”

“It happens when you’ve been drinking.”

I laughed, wishing we could eat together, but refraining from suggesting it in case it caused her to withdraw. “I think I’ll put it in later. I’m not hungry yet, so I’ll reheat this for dinner.”

“You sure?”

“I’d rather keep playing. And you were right. I did learn some new things about you, even if I still don’t know which statements were true and which were false.”

“It’s a good game to play early in a relationship.”

“Is that what we have?” I asked softly.

She met my eyes and held them. “I’d like to think so.”

I desperately wanted to kiss her, and it took everything I had to hold back. The afternoon sun had already peaked, and I knew that our time together would soon be coming to an end.

This time, maybe forever.

“Then you’re late to the party,” I said. “I’ve known it for a while now.”

She looked away and absently fiddled with her locket. “This isn’t a good idea,” she said quietly. “For either of us.”

“I know,” I said.

“We should stop.”

“I know that, too. But I don’t want to.”

Our eyes met again, and in that moment, I was certain Wren had come into my life for a reason.

If nothing else, she’d made me feel alive, as if for all the long years before, I’d been sleepwalking through my existence.

I could hardly remember the man I’d been before I arrived here, and it struck me that she’d turned me into the kind of person I’d always wanted to be.

“I love you,” I whispered. I’d never said the words to a lover before, but now they seemed as natural and undeniable as the rising sun.

“Come with me,” she murmured in response, the sound more seductive than anything I’d ever heard. “I want you to do something for me.”

She pushed off the counter and slowly walked to the bottom of the stairs. Then, turning to face me, she slipped off one sandal, then the other. I thought she would stop there, but instead, she nodded toward my shoes.

I removed my loafers and socks, and for a moment, we simply stared at each other. Holding my gaze, she unsnapped the top button of her jeans, making it difficult for me to breathe. She peeked at me over her shoulder as she unhurriedly climbed the steps.

I trailed behind her as if under a spell, noticing the sensual sway and shape of her hips. When she reached the top, she turned to make sure I was following her before moving deliberately toward the open door of my bedroom.

My senses were on fire as I tracked the dark waterfall of her hair when she released it from its confining hairpins; I heard the gentle padding of her footsteps and inhaled the scent of her perfume.

After entering my bedroom, she turned and faced me while I closed the door behind me.

Sunlight streamed through the windows, and when she glanced toward them, I knew instinctively what she wanted me to do.

I crossed the room and pulled the curtains.

Then I slowly approached her, stopping when I was close.

She looked up at me. “Do you remember the rules?” she whispered.

I nodded, watching as she took a small step backward.

With casual grace she reached for the bottom of her blouse and pulled it over her head before dropping it onto the floor.

I saw the outline of her breasts through her bra as I unbuttoned my shirt and allowed that to fall free as well.

I could feel my rapid breath as she slowly ran her finger over the waistline of her jeans, stopping when she reached the zipper.

I could almost hear my own heartbeat as she pulled the zipper down, loosening the jeans before shimmying out of them and kicking them aside.

I took her in, knowing I’d never seen anyone so beautiful.

Desire flooded every nerve in my body. More than anything, I wanted to take her in my arms. Instead, I forced myself to steady my breathing and took off my pants, leaving me standing before her in my boxers.

I thought she would stop there, but she didn’t.

Instead, she reached behind her back and with a quick twist, loosened her lacy bra before she let it drop.

Her panties came next, and I knew then it was my turn.

I stood naked, taking in all of her, suddenly feeling the overwhelming heat of our connection. She stepped closer then, and closer still, until I could feel the heat of her body mingling with my own.

She reached up, nearly caressing my face, and though I couldn’t feel it, the sensation was nonetheless exquisite, as though she was really touching me.

When it was my turn, I used a finger, starting at her chin and jaw before tracing down to the area between her breasts and then lower, to her navel, before stopping.

Her eyes were heavy-lidded with desire as she moved her hands over my chest and waist, and I did the same to her in return.

She was breathing rapidly, and when I had to lick my lips because my mouth had gone dry, she stood on her toes and moved her lips so close to mine that I imagined I could taste her.

My eyes closed in pleasure as I felt her breath on mine.

“I love you, too,” she whispered, the words flowing with her breath, and I suddenly understood everything that Sylvia had ever wanted for me, just as I knew I’d been waiting for Wren all along.

· · ·

We ended up lying in the bed, sometimes exchanging heated whispers and gasps of pleasure, but other times saying nothing at all. I marveled at the depth of my feelings for her, wishing fervently for the afternoon to stretch on forever.

But inevitably, as the sun dipped toward the horizon, her presence began to stutter and blink out, losing its density and sensual detail. In the last minutes we were together, she was virtually translucent, and I felt my stomach begin to contract, making it hard to speak.

“Tell me what I need to do,” I begged. “Tell me what I need to know.”

She stared at me, bemused. “What are you talking about?”

“I need to know how to help you.”

She smiled, her green-gold eyes liquid as she stared over at me. “All you need to do is come back to me.”

I had just opened my mouth to press for more when she vanished completely.

· · ·

I lay there for a long time afterward, replaying those hours together.

But as the fading light leaked through the curtains, I forced myself from the bed and pulled open the drapes, staring out at the bruise-colored sky of dusk.

I dressed and went downstairs, finding Paulie pacing from the parlor to the kitchen and back again.

I checked her water, thinking she might be thirsty, but she ignored the bowl.

Deciding to try feeding her, I opened a can and scooped the food into her bowl, but when I put it down, she sniffed at it and walked away, only to continue her pacing.

I turned on my phone and realized Oscar had called.

Thinking I could call him back after dinner, I hit the switch on the stove light, pausing when it didn’t turn on.

I tried the lights in the kitchen, only to see they were out as well.

It didn’t take long to realize that while I’d been upstairs with Wren, the power had blown again.

Annoyed, I thought about traipsing over to the cottage to seek Reece’s help, but I wasn’t sure whether he and Louise had returned.

More than that, I wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone, so I pulled up YouTube on my phone, quickly finding a video on how to reset a breaker.

If restoring power required anything beyond that, I knew I’d have to solicit Reece’s help.

But as Wren had pointed out, there was something worthy in learning to be self-sufficient.

Paulie made a funny sound behind me, not quite her normal meow.

“Oh, hush, Paulie. I can do this,” I mumbled over my shoulder.

I looked for the flashlight in the pantry, but oddly it was missing. I turned on my phone flashlight instead and pulled open the cellar door. The stairs descended into cave-like darkness. Spooky, but I reminded myself of the layout of the cellar and braced myself for the descent.

I heard Paulie snarl in the same instant I heard footsteps behind me.

I didn’t have time to turn before I felt a hard shove at my back, and all at once I was falling.

I hit the stairs below hard and felt momentum flip me over.

I came to a stop on the cellar floor, reeling in darkness.

As if from a distance, I heard someone groaning, only to realize that the sound was my own before I lost consciousness.