The Affair: Week 4 Read Online Free Page A

another outfit. Emma wouldn’t have ever thought to put the two together but it worked fantastically. She took the two items from him, dubious at first, and went into the bathroom to finish getting ready.
    The dress, which she had long ago forgotten about, looked brand new with the belt to freshen it. The braided collar encircled her neck and left most of her shoulders and arms bare. She hadn’t spent a lot of time in the sun so far this year, but her skin still gleamed next to the teal of the dress. Then she added a gold, long necklace with a medallion at the end of it. It served to not only accessorize her outfit, but to accentuate the shape of her breasts in the draping fabric. Her hair was behaving tonight and waved softly around her face. She applied a little more eye makeup than was usual and a natural shade of lipstick.
    The male heat in Vanni’s eyes when she exited the bathroom, along with a slightly smug smile, told her she was beautiful to him. She
felt
like she was pretty.
    “I missed my calling,” he said, his mouth tilting as he opened the door for her.
    “Something tells me you’re much more of an expert at undressing women than dressing them,” she told him under her breath as she passed.
    “I’ll happily do both for you.” It was shameless flirtation, but Emma couldn’t resist. She’d like to meet the straight woman who professed she could resist Vanni when his blue-green eyes went heavy-lidded and hot. She paused and brushed her fingers across his angular, whiskered jaw and went on her tiptoes.
    “Thank you,” she whispered before she kissed his mouth. He placed his hands on her shoulder and drew her closer, leaning his head down. Then he was kissing her deeply. Emma gave a muted moan, her body going soft and heated. He was like a Montand car, taking her from zero to a hundred in record-fast time.
    “Emma?”
    Emma started and broke the kiss, flustered. She turned, self-consciously wiping her lipstick-smeared mouth with the back of her hand.
    “We’re just stepping out for a bit,” Amanda said uncertainly from the other end of the dim hallway. “We’ll talk when you get back from dinner?”
    Emma opened her mouth to answer but Vanni took her hand led her down the hallway. “Don’t wait up for Emma. She’s staying with me in the city tonight,” he said as they approached Amanda.
    “I’ll call you tomorrow,” Emma told Amanda as they passed her.
    Instead of taking the route that Emma would have—through the kitchen—Vanni led her through the living room. Colin stood there in his jeans and old college T-shirt, looking sideswiped. She had no doubt he’d heard what Vanni had said.
    Which Vanni had intended, of course.
    “See you,” Emma called to Colin as she hurried to keep up with Vanni’s long-legged stride.
    Did she take any satisfaction from Amanda and Colin’s stunned expressions as they witnessed her in all her finery walking hand in hand with a gorgeous, powerful man who was light years out of her league?
    Maybe a little.
    She was only human, after all.
    * * *
    She thought they’d go straight to dinner, but Vanni had something else in store. He parked in a newly built high-rise just across from the Art Institute.
    “Where are we going?” she asked, staring around at the surrounding city once they’d taken an elevator down to the ground level and stepped out onto Michigan Avenue. It was a warm summer night. The glass-sided skyscrapers gleamed in the light of the setting sun. It was thrilling for her, not just to be in the midst of the city—which was uncommon enough for her, despite the fact that she was a native Chicagoan—but there with Vanni. There was a thread of unreality to the whole thing.
    “I thought we’d catch the last half of
My Fair Lady
, if you’re up for it. I have season theater tickets, but rarely get to use them myself,” Vanni said as they walked across Monroe at the light, her hand in his.
    “I’d
love
that,” she said, grinning. “I’ve