Exposed to You by Beth Kery Read Free Book Online Page B

couch. Did one ever become accustomed to his sexuality? It was like a third person in the room, a guest Joy wasn’t sure if she should ignore or welcome. Her gaze skittered over the opened portion of the robe he wore. The hair on his chest wasn’t a pelt, by any means, but it emphasized his potent masculinity. Hollywood golden boy Everett may be, but he was the polar opposite of an effeminate fop. He seemed about as aware of his looks as he was his own skin.
    She noticed his stare on her. Her gaze bounced off him and landed on her coffee table.
    “Why did you move to Chicago?” he asked.
    She paused before answering. She’d moved to Chicago because she’d been haunted by the idea of seeing all the old places she’d used to visit with her mother following her own bout with cancer. She’d been haunted by the idea of her only family member—her uncle, Seth—being forced to witness another round of chemo or radiation, or another excruciating wait for a doctor to give them results.
    Joy’s physician had declared her completely healthy on her last several visits, but the fear of the cancer returning—of inflicting further misery on Seth—had been what had instigated her move across the country. She didn’t want to put Seth through what her father had been through when her mother had been diagnosed with cancer.
    She didn’t want Seth to suffer like she had when she’d been a child, watching as the cruel disease stole away a loved one bit by bit until there was nothing left but insubstantial memories.
    “I needed a change of pace,” she said quietly. “The Steadman School is one of the finest preparatory schools in the country for art.”
    “Davis is considered the same,” he pointed out, referring to the prestigious high school where she’d taught gifted students in Hollywood. He noticed her expression of surprise. “Oh—Seth told me the name of the school where you taught. That was before I . . . we . . .” He cleared his throat. “Met. Like I told you earlier, Seth pretty much clammed up whenever I asked about you after that.”
    A strained silence ensued. She couldn’t tell him that after their electrical, impulsive tryst, she’d informed her uncle about her cancer diagnosis. Seth had become as anxious and protective as a mother bear after that. She hadn’t told him specifically about her sexual encounter with Everett, because she hadn’t even known it
was
Everett at the time. Apparently, Seth had taken it upon himself to deflect Everett’s interest in his niece because he’d been aware that Joy had more crucial things to focus on for the next several months than an affair with America’s heartthrob.
    “So . . . why the desire to transfer schools?” he persisted after a moment.
    He knew she’d sidestepped the original question, she realized. She sighed. “Sometimes we just need to wipe the slate clean. Start somewhere new.”
    He nodded. “Begin a new chapter. I get that. I’m jealous,” he added after a moment.
    “Why would
you
want to wipe your slate clean?” she asked. He glanced at her calmly. Joy realized she’d just asked him the question she’d hoped he wouldn’t ask her. She reached for her mug of tea. “Never mind. You don’t have to answer that. It’s just that you seem to be at the height of a very successful career. I would have thought . . .”
    “What?” he asked, when she faded off.
    “I would have thought you would be one of the last people in the world to want to make a fresh start. You have a pretty impressive body of work on your slate to consider erasing it all,” she said with a smile.
    His brow creased into a slight frown as he stared at her mouth. Joy dropped her chin and studied the surface of her tea. “Thanks,” she heard him say. “But sometimes, success can lock you into a certain pattern. You can’t help but wonder if things would be different if you just knocked over the whole house of cards and started from scratch.”
    I can tell