Page 51 of Love Among the Ruins
Then, to her surprise, she saw Dominic coming towards her.
That had been quick. Not even twenty minutes. Was this really what Linus did? She felt sorry for him and this sorry excuse of a job he had. She couldn’t imagine traipsing around after Dominic again.
“Your face is red,” he remarked and got into the car.
She climbed in. “That was fast.” Inside the cool air-conditioned car, her body temperature started to regulate again. Dominic’s blue-green eyes pierced through her. He’d tanned a little even in that short of a time span, and he was now a pinky-golden shade. Something in her heart somersaulted. Maybe a beat missed, an army of goosebumps stood to attention under the sleeves of her shirt.
“Galatis was hot. He asked to reschedule.”
“Why not have the meeting in an office?” she asked.
“Why not indeed?”
“You must be annoyed.” She noted the tightness around his lips.
“What do you think?” His eyes seemed to linger at her hair. “You put your hair up.”
“It was hot.”
He whipped out his cell phone and began tapping away, ignoring her abruptly. She looked out of the window, glad to have cool air of the air conditioning on her skin.
“So,that’sHector Galatis?” she asked. “He doesn’t look anything like how I thought he would.”
“That’s the one.” Dominic slowly dragged his gaze away from his cell phone. “How did you expect him to look.”
“Powerful.”
“And how does he look?”
“Old and in bad health.”
“He’s not in the best shape,” Dominic agreed.
“He’sthe one you called the big, fat crazy Greek?” No respect even for someone as successful as Hector.
“Are you going to hold it against me forever? I wasn’t being offensive to your people.”
She searched his eyes, so intense in their blues and greens mixing with starburst of gold. “He irritates you.”
“I need the deal. I wish we could conduct business around a table, in an air-conditioned office.”
“Why doesn’t he?”
“Because he doesn’t want to make it easy for me. He wants me to run around like a dog every time he throws a bone.”
“He’s testing you.”
“He’s making things difficult. I need to make this deal and I don’t have much time.”
“You sound desperate.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed. “I have to prove to my father that I can do this.”
“He doesn’t think you can?”
“He’s waiting to send my brother out, to clean up, and finish the deal, but I keep assuring him I’m taking care of it.”
“He doesn’t believe in you?”
