Two Can Play (Celeste and Dominic) novel Chapter 268

Chapter 268

“Imelda,” she called, her voice suddenly clear and commanding. “Come out here, dear. Come and meet my grandson, Alexander Ford.”

A door opened down the hall, and the girl stepped into the living room.

I admitted to myself, quietly, that she was beautiful Young, fresh, with clear skin and wide, innocent eyes that had probably never known the darkness of the world. She was dressed simply, modestly, and she smiled at me with the kind of naive warmth that made my stomach turn.

She was exactly the type of girl I had no business dealing with.

I was what an older generation would call a rake. I had spent my life in the dark places of the world, and I had the scars to prove it. Innocent girls irked me. They were a turnoff, because I could never be myself around them without frightening them to death. I was a monster, and that was almost an understatement. I had done things in rpy life that would make this girl weep if she ever learned of them.

And more than anything, I had no desire to ever marry. I loved the variety of women who warmed my bed, a different one every single night, and I had no intention of giving that up for anyone.

Imelda smiled at me and sat close to the old woman, folding her hands in her lap like a schoolgirl. The old woman beamed at the both of us.

“Exchange numbers,” she said. “Go on. You two should get to know each other.”

I saw the dumbfounded look on Imelda’s face, and I knew instantly that she had no idea what the old hag was up to. But I certainly did.

If Granny thought she was going to pass Imelda off to me, now that her plan with Dominic had failed, she was delusional. Still, I could not disrespect her to her face. Not after she had called me here in tears, not after the years she had once been kind to me.

So I smiled, pulled out my phone, and exchanged numbers with Imelda.

“Lovely to meet you,” I said, keeping my voice warm.

“Likewise,” she murmured, her cheeks flushing.

I turned back to the old woman. “Granny, when would be a convenient time for you? I would like to bring my fiancée and introduce her to you.”

The shock on her face was immediate and unmistakable. Her mouth opened, then closed, then opened again. Her eyes went wide, and for a moment, she looked like a fish gasping for air.

Good call, Sparrow.

But the shock did not last. She recovered quickly, a smile spreading across her face, and she clasped her hands together like I had just given her wonderful news.

“How wonderful, Xander! I am so eager to meet this girl. I hope she is not a divorced woman, or a gold digger. I want only good girls for my grandsons.”

Now I had to find someone to pose as her. Tomorrow night.

I pulled out my phone and called Dominic. He answered on the second ring, but before I could speak, he was already talking, his voice bright with an excitement I rarely heard from him.

“Sparrow, I was just about to call you.”

I could hear it in his voice, that lightness, that warmth. He was with Celeste. Of course he was.

“I have news,” he said. “I will not be able to make it to dinner tonight. I need you to fill in for me. Catch Scarlett. You know the plan.”

I ran a hand through my hair. “I will handle it.”

“I trust you.”

The line went dead, and I sat there in my car, staring at the phone.