Chapter 145: Bare Legs

Naomi smiled. "I—" She was just about to tell him she had made lunch when the doorbell rang.

"I’ll get it." he turned and hurried downstairs.

She poured coffee into his cup, placing it near his usual spot when she heard footsteps approaching again.

More than one set.

Her hand slowed.

Dorian entered the kitchen first.

Naomi looked past him.

A woman followed.

She had never met her before.

But she knew that face.

She had seen it in pictures.

His sister.

"Hi..."

"Hi..." Lexie answered.

Okay.

Yep.

Naomi could absolutely see how Dorian and Lexie were siblings.

It wasn’t just the eyes or the facial resemblance. It was the entire way Lexie carried herself—straight-backed, composed, like smiling without permission might somehow weaken her position.

She was rigid even standing still.

Which, naturally, made Naomi wonder whether Ginny had been dropped on her head as a child. There was no other explanation for how that woman had come from the same family.

Then again, Ginny was basically Eleanor with fewer brakes.

"Naomi, this is Lexie," Dorian said.

"Yes, I’ve heard a lot about you." Naomi smiled politely.

Lexie did not.

Instead, the woman’s gaze moved over her.

Naomi became suddenly aware that she was still wearing Dorian’s shirt.

Only Dorian’s shirt.

Her legs were completely bare.

Thank God for the kitchen island.

Lexie’s eyes came back to her face.

Naomi held the smile.

Fine.

Assess away.

"So what brings you by?" Dorian asked.

Naomi glanced toward the coffee machine. "Coffee? Would you like some coffee?"

"Leave us, Dorian."

"Excuse me?"

Lexie looked at him. "I came to see her." She gestured toward Naomi.

Dorian folded his arms. "And that worries me." He had somehow gone from husband to personal security detail in less than three seconds.

Lexie’s expression remained perfectly cold. "Now."

Dorian laughed. "You do realize I’m older than you are. You cannot order me around."

Naomi looked between them.

Good Lord.

This family could probably hold an entire argument using nothing but facial expressions.

Dorian, immune to his sister’s glare, rounded the kitchen island. "This is my house, Lexie." He stopped beside Naomi. "You’ve got something to say to my wife? You better believe I’ll be standing right here." he reached toward the plate of bacon she had made and picked up a piece.

So he could eat breakfast when annoyed. Good to know.

Naomi looked up at Lexie again.

The woman clearly had something to say.

Naomi looked back at Dorian. She softened her voice. "Would you give us a minute, please?"

Dorian had absolutely no idea what Lexie was up to.

It put him on edge. His wife was already a flight risk with no pressure.

Lexie had made her opinion about his fourth marriage very clear from the beginning. She didn’t approve, didn’t want to be involved and had decided the safest way to handle another Dorian Heathcliffe marriage was to stay as far away from it as humanly possible.

So for Lexie to show up at his house this early, specifically asking to speak to Naomi alone?

Suspicious.

Very suspicious.

"Please..." Naomi said again.

He clearly hated this. "If she starts breathing fire like a dragon, just yell." Dorian glared at his sister anyway, grabbed his coffee and walked out of the kitchen.

Naomi looked at Lexie. "Hi..." she said again.

Looks like they were starting over.

Lexie remained standing across from her. "Your speech at the forum aired last night."

"Oh?"

"It made quite the buzz."

Naomi’s stomach did a strange little drop. She had completely forgotten about that.

Between their drive home and the activities that followed, worrying about what she had said to reporters had fallen very far down her list of concerns.

"I... I haven’t seen it. It was just spur of the moment," Naomi continued quickly. "I didn’t mean—"

"You didn’t mean it?" Lexie’s eyes narrowed.

Naomi stopped.

That had clearly come out wrong.

"Of course I meant it." Naomi immediately started digging herself out of the hole she had created. "I mean, I didn’t mean to go that far. I wasn’t planning on saying anything at all. They were just asking him all those questions and making it sound like he wakes up every morning thinking of creative ways to destroy marriages and I just..."

She waved one hand vaguely. "I’m sorry if it affects his reputation or whatever." Naomi’s mouth continued operating despite clear evidence that stopping would be wise. "I tend to talk a lot. It’s the first thing my brain starts to do when I get nervous, or annoyed, or excited, or basically experience any emotion at all, and when I saw everyone just..."

She trailed off.

Lexie had that dead look in her eyes once more.

Naomi swallowed. "I... I guess I’m talking a lot again." She smiled awkwardly.

"Are you happy?"

"What? Me? Me? Am I... am I happy?"

Lexie upgraded her dead look to keep up.

"Yes. Yes, of course. I’m happy." Naomi suddenly had the ridiculous feeling that she was sitting an oral examination for a subject nobody had told her to study.

So she smiled brightly. Probably too brightly.

"He seems happy too," Lexie said. "It’s been a while since I’ve seen him that way. When I heard he married you in Vegas..." She stopped, her mouth tightening.

There was obviously a sentence sitting behind her teeth, but whatever it was, she seemed to decide there was no way to say it without sounding insulting.

Lexie exhaled instead. "You make him happy. And I came to see if he does the same for you."

"Why?"

Lexie ignored the question completely. "Give me your number."

Naomi frowned. "My number?"

Lexie unlocked her phone and slid it across the kitchen island.

"Oh... right..." She picked it up and quickly typed in her number.

As she did, she remembered Ginny mentioning that Lexie was a pediatrician.

Naomi still couldn’t see it.

At all.

This woman worked with children?

Lexie looked like she should be standing outside the White House with an earpiece tucked beneath her hair, scanning rooftops for snipers.

Maybe she had a completely different personality at the hospital.

Hopefully.

Because if she stared at sick children the way she was currently staring at Naomi, none of those kids would ever fall sick again.

Naomi finished entering the number. "There."