Men like that don't feel what you want them to feel. They just feel confirmed. Viven's expression shifted. Something moved across her face. Not offense.
Something softer. Something almost like being seen. I know, she said, and her voice for the first time had lost its edge. I know that. I just, she stopped, looked down.
I panicked. And you were? She looked back up at him. You were right here. I was right here, he agreed.
They looked at each other. Neither moved. And then from down the beach, a voice carried through the salt air, confident, pleasantly surprised, the voice of a man who assumed all situations were his to control. Viven. Vivien Sinclair.
Malcolm watched her close her eyes for exactly one second. Then she opened them, straightened her back, became Viven Sinclair, CEO again, right in front of him, but she didn't get up from his lap. And Malcolm, against every reasonable instinct he possessed, didn't ask her to. Ethan Blake was the kind of man who filled the space with his presence and then checked to make sure everyone had noticed. He walked up to them with his hand already extended for a shake.
His companion, a woman who looked vaguely uncomfortable, slightly behind him. "I thought that was you," Ethan said warmly, like they were old friends, like he hadn't left her by letter 3 weeks before their wedding. "You look fantastic. Don't let me interrupt." And here his eyes moved deliberately to Malcolm, taking in the full picture with the practiced ease of a man who'd learned how to dismiss people without appearing to.
I just wanted to say hello. Hello, Ethan," Vivien said. Her voice was completely even. "You here with work? I figured you'd be on some island in the Mediterranean by now."
"I'm here with friends," Vivian said. Ethan's gaze settled on Malcolm extended his hand. "Ethan Blake." Malcolm shook it firm. Malcolm Carter.
Malcolm. Ethan smiled. The smile of a man who was sizing him up and trying not to look like he was. Good man. Good.
He looked back at Viven. "Well, glad you're doing well. You seem happy." The word seem landed with a very specific weight. "We should catch up before the weekend's over."
"We should," Vivien said pleasantly, which everyone present understood to mean, "We absolutely will not." Ethan gave one more wide smile, nodded at Malcolm, turned, and walked away, his companion glancing back once over her shoulder. The moment they were out of earshot, Malcolm felt some of the rigidity go out of Viven's posture. She let out a long, slow breath. "You can move now," Malcolm said.