Page 9 of Out of Office Nights
Dulce cielo.
He clamped his jaw to keep it from dropping. And yes, for the first time in his life he yearned for the strength to resist staring at a beautiful woman like an uncouth schoolboy. But he couldn’t have stopped himself if the world was ending. Because even dressed in underwear that covered more than most bikinis, Sabeen was simply magnificent.
Serene, composed and so utterly unaffected by him that he wanted to ruffle every last edge of her. To watch her come undone, in a way that would both shake him out of this entrancement he found himself in and teach her that he wasn’t to be trifled with. To eject this despised, curious tongue-tiedness that held him speechless as she finished undressing, clad only in a pair of chocolate French knickers, balconette bra and stylish heels, her garments thrown over her arm, one eyebrow raised as she waited for him to collect himself.
‘Where do you want me?’ she muttered.
Dios.Was he completely out of line to deem some words forbidden between a man and a woman striving to remain professional? Just forhissanity’s sake?
‘Where do you think?’ he threw back at her and then almost laughed beneath his breath. At this rate they would descend into childish taunts and hair-pulling before the hour was out.
Ignoring him, she went to the nearest armchair, dropped her dress over it then, after spotting the tailor’s platform behind the mannequin, calmly stepped onto it and simply…waited.
Teo ignored the faint shaking in his fingers as he plucked the garment off the mannequin. Watched instead as she focused on what he held in his hands. The stretched crepe-and-silk blend had been produced to his exact specification, sifting through dozens of combinations before settling on this. And as he’d envisioned, the fall, feel and texture elevated the garment to incredibly special.
‘Turn around,’ he instructed.
When she did, he assured himself the head-to-toe scrutiny was to judge which adjustments were needed but mocked himself silently when he lingered far too long on the dramatic dip at her waist, the flare of her hips, the glorious texture of her skin and, of course, her flawless, endless legs.
Jaw clenched, he inhaled deeply. His control back where it needed to be, he draped his creation over her head, secured the discreet zip, then stalked around her, scrutinising every inch of the gown. ‘Turn,’ he commanded once more, indicating the walls of mirrors.
Pride stalked through his veins as he watched her eyes widen at her first glimpse in the mirror that bordered the room on three sides.
‘It’s…’ She sucked in a breath, her composure satisfyingly fracturing as she altered her pose, angling for a different look.
‘It’s okay,’ he stated. ‘I’ll wait while you find the perfect words to heap praises on my head.’
Her awed expression didn’t change. Something heated in his belly and rose to his chest. It was far too warming, tooneedyto be tolerated. So he stamped it beneath ruthless feet.
‘It’s incredible,’ she offered simply in the end, her rasp deep. Sincere.
And there he went clenching everything again to stop the relentless battering at his senses. To stop himself wishing for that voice to belong to a different individual.Like his father…
Dios, what the hell was this?
‘Not quite,’ he disagreed. ‘Since this dress was created for someone shorter, the hem will need to be taken down, as will the sleeves.’
Striding to the tablet containing his sketches and ideas, he quickly made the requisite notes and sent it off to his three New York assistants.
Then he returned, stalking around her three more times, gauging further adjustments until he was somewhere near satisfied. He looked up then and caught the peculiar look on her face which she quickly attempted to suppress. ‘Something wrong?’
‘Who did you make it for?’
From the colour staining her cheeks he suspected she hadn’t planned on asking him that. She confirmed it a moment later with a single wave of her elegant hand. ‘Actually, never mind. It’s not important.’
‘Are you sure?’
She blinked, most likely at the bite in his voice, entirely produced by the weight of knowing everything he did from now until his goal was achieved was of crucial importance. That he couldn’t afford a single slip.
‘Is it part of your upcoming collection?’ she said after a stilted silence.
He aimed a narrow-eyed glance at her. ‘You should know better than to ask since I never reveal my creations beforehand.’
Again a dart of something fractured her composure. And heaven help him he wanted to dig at it, to bare it to the light. See what made her tick.
He didn’t need to know what made her or any woman tick. All he needed was sex when the need arose, then distance when feelings risked getting in the way. He’d learned a long time ago that seeking solace elsewhere only brought disappointment and the same grasping demands his mother craved. Keeping his entanglements in emotion-free zones suited him perfectly.
‘Arms up,’ he instructed.
