Page 12 of Out of Office Nights
‘A gown is simply a gown until the right woman breathes life into it. But if you insist, then,sí, I’m much impressed with how it’s turned out.’
The right woman…
She had no business experiencing a tinge of pride. She knew without a doubt that had she not been available, he would’ve found a hundred others to take her place. Just like Nathan Gray did after—
‘I’m ready. Shall we go?’ The query was sharper than she’d intended, but when she peered at him, his gaze remained on the gown, bringing relief that he hadn’t noticed the tiny slip in her composure. Because, curiously, he seemed to have slipped into creative mode.
‘Not just yet,’ he murmured.
She watched him stride across the room to the tablet he’d used before, pick it up and return, the stylus flying over the screen.
‘What are you doing?’
He didn’t answer. The fierce grasp of concentration held her reluctantly rapt, her sudden craving to know what he was doing making her take a half-step towards him, only to freeze when he frowned at her.
‘Stay still, if you please.’
She opened her mouth to snap that she wasn’t a dog to be ordered to heel, but again she held her tongue, that bite of envy returning more sharply when she saw that he was sketching a whole new design along the lines of what she wore.
‘Should I bother asking if that’s for your next collection, or are you going to shut me down again?’
His sketched for ten more seconds before he holstered the stylus. Only then did he meet her gaze. Making her immediately regret the impetuous question when his gaze probed deep. Deeper than she cared for. ‘It wasn’t important to you before. And yet you ask again. Why?’
Because I need a crumb of that inspiration.
She pressed her tongue to the roof of her mouth to stop those words from spilling out. Then forced a shrug. ‘I’m just making conversation.’
The blatant lie garnered cynical arched brows that punched heat into her throat and up into her face.
‘You expect me to believe you’re interested in conversation when every look you fling my way drips with disdain?’ he said, clearly unaffected by the thought.
Cringing, she pivoted towards the door. The quicker she got this night over with, the quicker she could shut herself away from all the glitz, temptation and histrionics of existing in Teodor’s world. Perhaps she could console herself with the factthat her true feelings about the type of man he was hadn’t shone through after all.
‘It’s not personal,’ she threw over her shoulder.
His mocking laugh drilled twin tunnels of fire and ice through her.
Nathan, too, had laughed at her.
More frequently and over more serious matters than she cared to recall. The fire disappeared, leaving behind icy goose bumps that thankfully the long sleeves hid.
‘It seems I’ve struck another nerve,’ he drawled, because apparently, he could see through her façade to read her just as effectively.
‘You don’t seem too concerned about it, so I’m sure offending me means nothing to you.’
A slight flaring of his nostrils amplified his displeasure. ‘Careful there,cariña,’ he murmured as they walked side by side towards the living room. ‘Convince yourself that you know even remotely what makes me tick and I’ll be forced to prove one or two things to you.’
She just about caught herself from stumbling at the words spoken with the harshness of crushed glass. When she examined his fallen-angel features, she was met with the formidable wall of granite that reminded her of his centuries-old roots and his brief stint in the army with his brothers in his early twenties. How the Spartan savagery that had birthed his ancestors flowed through his veins. That simply because he’d chosen a career dedicated to dressing and undressing women didn’t mean he was in any way soft or affable.
Burning awareness flowing from her elbow and demolishing that ice she’d lamented just moments ago dragged her gaze down to discover he’d wrapped his hand around her arm to halt her stumble.
He didn’t hurry to release her. And a part of her wasn’t in a hurry to demand it either.
The shocking realisation triggered a visceral reaction. Before she could act on it, a dramatic gasp diverted both their attention.
Gio was staring at them, mouth agape. Eyebrows raised. A puzzling reaction, because he’d already seen her in the gown.
‘What—?’ Sabeen started to ask.
