Page 45 of Out of Office Nights
He waited, a tower of infinite control.
Her heart still banging against her ribs, she pulled it up and showed it to him. He examined it for several beats, then handed her phone back.
‘Forget about that. They’ll lose interest in it soon enough.’
‘And if they don’t?’
His eyes narrowed, his tension growing. ‘It bothers you that much?’
‘That everyone will assume I’m sleeping with my boss to get ahead? Within the same time frame that you fired Cristobal? Of course it does!’
She was too het up to cringe at her screechy voice. She stopped and took a breath. ‘Surely you can see how the timing of this looks?’
Conceit built in the slow arch of his brow and the pitiless look he flung her way. ‘I don’t live my life according to the timings of tabloids spewing nonsense.’
‘Well, lucky you. The rest of us don’t have the same freedom to be so laissez-faire about things!’
He prowled closer until he was at arm’s length. ‘Cristobal hasn’t produced a single sketch since I last saw him. He’s been on a friend’s boat on the Riviera, indulging in drink and drugs. It’s clear he didn’t intend to meet any deadlines or even try to complete this assignment, so I wished him well on his next venture. The official press release announcing my newpermanentcreative director will be in a couple of weeks. Is that a problem?’ he queried silkily.
‘Yes. No. I don’t know.’ Grimacing at that, she whirled away, distancing herself before she did something stupid. Like demanding to know what all that meant.For her.
Stepping outside into the small courtyard, she walked along the wall to the almost hidden stone stairway that led to her second favourite place in her grandmother’s house then climbed up.
The rooftop terrace spanned the entire square footage of the house, with loungers, a clay wood-burner, a mosaic-inlaid table with matching chairs and a raffia-woven awning to alleviate the worst of the day’s heat.
She tried to blank her mind, lose herself in the smells of mint tea, spice-tinged air, wood fires and the sea.
The tall walls on either side ensured the utmost privacy, and she basked in it now, not surprised at all when, lifting her head to the soft ocean breeze, she felt his overwhelming presence behind her. ‘I’m guessing we’re not done with the deep excavation?’
He didn’t respond immediately. He came close. Closer. Braced his hands on either side of her on the stone wall. Sabeen barely managed to resist the wild urge to lean back against his hard front. Savour his heat and let it fill all her cold places.
For a full minute, they remained caught in their charged silence, their eyes fixed on the horizon.
‘What was Nathan Gray to you?’ he asked with a hard edge, chopping her off at the knees with this question out of left field.
Spikes dug into her skin. Shoving one arm away, she freed herself from his force field, going over to the small iron table and cushioned chair set where she’d spent many hours and meals with her grandmother. It didn’t hold the nostalgic, poignant gravity of the armchair downstairs, but she still clung to it as she boldly met Teo’s narrowed eyes.
‘None of your business,’ she replied sharply, self-protection vital.
His expression returned to mockery, deepening with each passing second. ‘I thought we were delving deep?’ he challenged.
Sabeen swallowed, wondering why she wasn’t ordering him to leave. ‘I’ll answer anything else besides that.’ Heavens, could she sound any more desperate? Bare her soul any wider?
For reasons she couldn’t fathom, his gaze morphed from sardonic to chilled and censorious while it probed deeper than she would ever be comfortable with. ‘You’re either hoping to stoke my curiosity or you’re disappointingly not as brave as I thought you were.’
She needed a few breaths to get through the sting of that one. ‘I won’t be goaded into satisfying your curiosity, Teodor.’
He stiffened. Then his mouth twitched. ‘Very few people call me that. And never in that prim little voice that makes me want to see you in a starched uniform and sky-high heels with a whip in your hand.’
She gasped then cursed every single nerve-ending that melted into carnal subjugation at the image he evoked.
He laughed, low, husky and so sexy she clenched her thighs to prevent the urgent throbbing that started between them. Dear God, he was shameless. And so rampantly virile that she couldn’t think straight.
‘Does that turn you on?’ he drawled as she was scrambling to regain her fracturing composure.
‘No. It does not. So if that’s what you’re into—?’
‘Oh, no, no, no,tesoro,’ he interrupted, his tone amused. ‘You’ve got me on guard now. You won’t be using that sexy voice to taunt me into divulging even more snippets while you keep your torrid little secrets tucked close to your chest.’
