Page 47 of Empowered
“Well, then.”
Sarah wasn’t sure how she felt about being so relaxed in Lucas’s home. While the penthouse wasn’t that well-lived in – let alone matched to the man’s tastes – it had a hominess to it that invited a person to sit for wine and a movie before taking a luxurious bath for an hour. A lot of that had to do with Lucas’s general geniality. He could probably take an impersonal hotel room and elevate it with his natural charms.
“I have no career aspirations,” Sarah continued. “I take things one week, one month at a time. Things change so quickly in our lives. Even if I don’t like my job most days…”
“Why don’t you like your job most days?”
“Because I have to deal with pushy suitors like you, clearly.”
He held up his wineglass for a toast. “Indeed you do. I’m glad to see that my pushiness haspushedthrough for me, though.”
Sarah withheld her glass from the toast. “Say something in Danish.”
“Excuse me?”
She leaned against her hand. “Tell me something you think is true. In Danish.”
“Ah…” He looked up to the right, his profile illuminated in the light shining above him. “Ah!Du er smuk.”
“Dare I ask what that means?” It sounded like“Deers smoke.”
He smiled. “It means that you are beautiful. You told me to say something that I thought was true, so I did.”
Sarah still would not give in to a toast. “Why that?”
“Because you are.”
“Surely I’m not the most beautiful woman you’ve ever seen.”
“Honestly?” Lucas withdrew his offer for a toast. “No. You’re not. You should come to Scandinavia sometime. Bevy of beauties there.”
Sarah sighed with the hopes that the sarcasm dripped from her breath. “Sorry. About my busted Brit genetics, that is. You should see my mother. Real munter.”
“How can you insult your own mother like that… and not use the proper accent?”
“My apologies.” Sarah cleared her throat. When she repeated her insult, she made sure to use the proper, ladylike accent Elizabeth Brown-Clayborn would use and approve of.I almost sound like I belong in some low-class boarding school.Sarah was no natural when it came to British accents. Nigel could do it and get away with it.Helps him score chicks, I’m sure.Sarah saw no advantage to speaking with a British accent – outside of Europe, anyway. If anything, it upped her chances of being made fun of in a country that did not take too kindly to those damn foreigners, Anglo or non.
“Not quite what I expected.”
“What did you expect, Mr. Blackbourne?” Sarah put her wineglass down. “Utter complacency?”
“With you? God forbid.”
Sarah hated it when he got a smile out of her.Why show him this side of me?Girlish, fun,vulnerable.Men saw those things in a woman and instantly attempted to quash them. Why give him the satisfaction? Why put herself in that position again?
Why trust anyone at all?
“Damn. Got you to smile for a whole three seconds.” Lucas leaned across the counter. “But it was a good three seconds.”
He collected the dirty dishes while Sarah remained in her seat.Whatever.She pulled out her phone and found a text from her brother.“You still gonna be out late?”
Sarah glanced in Lucas’s direction. He rinsed off and stuffed flatware in the dishwasher, his muscular body flexing with every mundane movement.“Like I said, don’t wait up.”
Sarah put her phone away the moment Lucas turned around, drying his hands on a clean towel. They shared nothing but a few seconds’ worth of looks before Lucas crossed the kitchen, rounded the island counter, and nearly pulled Sarah off her stool.
