Silas smirks and places his hand on the small of my back. “You should come,” he tells me. “It was nice to have you over last time.”
I look up at him, puzzled. He wants me to attend? I’d have thought he’d want to keep me away from Ryan.
“Yes,” Ryan agrees. “Please, come tonight.”
“I’ll think about it,” I murmur as we reach our floor.
Ryan sends me a pleading look as he steps back into the elevator, presumably to go back to his own floor now that he’s accomplished what he set out to do, and I follow Silas to his office.
He looks relaxed, not even remotely annoyed, and that just confuses me even more. “Why did you tell me to attend dinner tonight?” I ask the second his office door closes behind us.
“I rarely get to have dinner with you as it is, and tonight will be much more bearable if you’re there. I don’t mind you attending family dinner, so long as you aren’t his date.”
I shake my head nervously. “I’d much rather stay home and catch up on work.”
Silas shakes his head. “Come with me,” he tells me again. “I want you to set the record straight tonight. Make it clear to both of them you and Ryan are over, or I’ll do it for you.”
I look into his eyes, finding a hint of insecurity in them. “Okay,” I promise him. If this puts him at ease, I’ll do it, no matter how uncomfortable it might be for me.
Silas smiles at me, a tinge of incredulity in his eyes, almost as though he expected me to deny him. I rise to my tiptoes and wrap my arms around his neck, my lips finding his. I’m falling for Silas Sinclair, and there’s nothing I can do about it.
He groans in dismay when I pull away, and a giggle escapes my lips. “I have to get to work,” I tell him. “My boss is a total meanie.” Silas narrows his eyes at me as I walk away from him, my heart racing.
For the rest of the day, all I can think about is tonight’s dinner. Just a few months ago, I attended this very same dinner as Ryan’s girlfriend. Today I’ll be going there knowing I’m sleeping with his brother, and I no longer even feel bad about it.
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Alanna
“You’ve been quiet,” Silas says as he parks in front of his family home. “Maybe I’m asking too much of you after all. Do you want me to take you home?”
Home. When did I start thinking of Silas’s penthouse as home? I’m not sure, but it undoubtedly is. “No,” I tell him. “I want to be wherever you are, Si.”
He turns toward me and smiles, something indescribable in his gaze. “I won’t ask you to tell him about us, Alanna. I know as well as you do that it’ll strain my relationship with him. If we give it a bit of time, he’ll be forced to move on, and eventually, everyone will forget you two ever even dated. I don’t want our relationship to be stained by your past with him.”
I grab his hand and nod. “Me neither,” I whisper. I don’t want to be the subject of countless rumors. I don’t want Silas to endure it, either. I look down and smile, my heart skipping a beat when his words finally sink in. “Wait,” I murmur. “What relationship?”
Silas chuckles and grabs my chin, pressing a swift, chaste kiss to my lips. “I fucking dare you to deny that you’re mine, baby. Go on. Try it.”
I bite down on my lip, tempted to tease him. “What will you do if I won’t admit that I’m yours?”
Silas chuckles and shakes his head. “Alanna, my love… don’t you provoke me. You won’t like the consequences.”
I smirk at him and step out of the car, my heart racing. The sound of Silas’s laughter follows me as I rush up to the front door. I’ll never tire of hearing him laugh. There’s just something about it that makes my heart do funny things.
“Alanna!” a woman calls.
My smile melts away when I see Mona and Ryan standing by the front door, and I can’t help but wonder if they just saw Silas kiss me in the car. Ryan smiles at me, and my worries melt away. He wouldn’t be smiling like that if he’d seen us together. “Hey,” he murmurs. “You made it.”
Mona walks up to me and wraps her arm around me. “It’s so good to see you. Ryan kept telling me you were busy with work and might not be able to make it, but I knew you’d be here. How have you been, sweetie?”
Silas walks up to us, and Mona tenses. She takes a step away from me, her eyes traveling up and down his body. “Silas,” she says curtly.