After Betrayal - I Married a Handsome Tycoon-Chapter 51: Improper Thoughts on a Full Stomach

Chapter 51: Chapter 51: Improper Thoughts on a Full Stomach

Curiosity?

A little taste?

At first glance, it sounded like he was offering a lesson, an invitation to learn more. But digging deeper, the words were rife with suggestive ambiguity.

A series of emotions flashed across Moira Sloan’s face, finally settling into one of deep mockery.

"Connor Quinn."

Connor Quinn’s voice was low. "Mm."

Moira Sloan gave a light laugh and leaned forward. Her slender waist, barely a handful, swayed before his eyes, as did her full, shapely breasts, which were impossible to ignore.

A sight like that was undeniably alluring.

Just as Connor Quinn’s gaze darkened, Moira Sloan abruptly pulled away. She hopped off the couch, landing barefoot on the floor. Once she was a couple of feet away, she scoffed, "You think I’m interested in your little secrets?"

’The rich are full of drama.’

’Biological, non-biological, from inside the marriage, from outside of it.’

Frankly, she wasn’t the least bit interested.

It was just the natural progression of things that had led them here. If he wanted to talk, she would listen. If he didn’t, it wasn’t as if she absolutely had to know.

With that, Moira Sloan turned and started for the bedroom.

Watching her walk away, Connor Quinn spoke, his voice low and heavy. "My dad was Shane Jennings’s uncle. He cut ties with the Jennings Family years ago to be with my mom."

At his words, Moira Sloan stopped in her tracks and turned back to face him.

Their eyes met. Connor Quinn reached for the pack of cigarettes on the coffee table, tapped one out, and lit it before putting it to his lips. "I only returned to the Jennings Family two years ago," he said, his expression impassive. "So whether it’s Shane Jennings or anyone else in the family, I don’t know them. In fact, I’ve never even met most of them."

Moira Sloan had imagined a thousand possible connections between Connor Quinn and the Jennings Family, but this was not one of them.

For a split second, Moira felt a pang in her heart, as if it had been pricked by something sharp.

Connor finished speaking and removed the cigarette from his lips to ash it. "What else do you want to know?"

Moira said, "Nothing else."

’Knowing any more would be crossing a line.’

Moira Sloan had always kept an internal scale for her relationships, weighing what could be said and what secrets could be shared based on the nature of the connection.

Clearly, her relationship with Connor Quinn was not one suited for such intimate topics.

This exchange seemed to extinguish much of Moira Sloan’s earlier imperious attitude.

’Perhaps it was because they were both ’cast-offs’ that she felt a flicker of kinship.’

That evening, Moira Sloan and Connor Quinn had Chinese food in the hotel restaurant.

Moira Sloan paid the bill after dinner. As they rode the elevator upstairs, she asked Connor Quinn casually, "The Jennings Family is so huge and wealthy. Didn’t they give you any money?"

Connor Quinn looked down at her, his tone perfectly level. "No."

Moira’s throat constricted. "Stingy."

Connor Quinn said, "They don’t like me."

Moira Sloan pressed her lips together, not responding.

’Of course they don’t like him. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have waited so many years to finally acknowledge him.’

But she couldn’t engage with that statement. She had already decided to cut ties with him after Shane Jennings’s wedding and didn’t want any new complications to arise now.

’She felt sympathy, of course, but sympathy between a man and a woman was a dangerous thing.’

’How many relationships started with sympathy, only to blossom into love? In the end, they’d grow tired and annoyed, see things clearly, and be left with nothing but regret, unable to make sense of their foolishness.’

After they got out of the elevator, they walked down the hall, one behind the other.

Moira Sloan kept her head down, texting Lillian Kidd to ask if she would be home tomorrow.

Lillian Kidd replied instantly: You’re back?

Moira: Yep, I’m back. If you’re home tomorrow, I’ll come over for a meal.

Lillian Kidd was a university professor. Although she was semi-retired, she still gave occasional lectures at major universities, so her schedule was often just as packed as a younger person’s.

Lillian Kidd: I’ll be here. What do you want to eat? Just tell me, and I’ll make it for you.

Moira: I’m craving your sweet pancakes.

Lillian Kidd: Okay, I’ll make them for you tomorrow. And I’ll make some of your favorite braised dishes, too.

After texting with Lillian Kidd, Moira Sloan smiled and put her phone away.

A few steps later, she reached their room and swiped the key card. Just before going in, she turned to look at Connor Quinn and said, "You’re sleeping on the couch tonight."

The implication was clear: no sex tonight.

Connor Quinn’s eyes were pitch-black, his voice cool and clipped. "Okay."

Moira was surprised he agreed so readily and raised an eyebrow.

After entering the room, Moira sat on the sofa playing a game on her phone while Connor went into the bathroom.

Half an hour later, Moira finished a round of her game. Just as she stood to head to the bedroom, she came face to face with Connor Quinn, who had just finished his shower.

Connor Quinn wasn’t wearing the hotel bathrobe. He was shirtless, his lower half clad only in his suit trousers.

He radiated raw masculinity.

They were the same trousers Moira Sloan had bought for him yesterday.

’And damn, they fit him perfectly.’

Looking at the scene before her, Moira Sloan unconsciously narrowed her eyes.

Just as the atmosphere began to sizzle with tension, Connor Quinn’s cool voice shattered the spell. "Aren’t you going to bed?"

Moira’s brow twitched. "!!"