Page 5 of The Billionaire Submissive
“Honestly, yes, as much as it pains me to admit.” His eyes flickered with surprise. “Mr. Morgan, it would take a twenty-man crew months to complete such a massive job. Maybe years. I really don’t know. Single handedly, I don’t know if I could complete it in my lifetime, even if I had the design in my hands today.” By the way his brow furrowed, she could see he had no idea of the magnitude of the work involved. “One pane is easily a thousand individual pieces of glass which must be perfectly cut and smoothed. Not to mention the scope of the project overall. What kind of design are you looking for in this space?”
He shrugged. “You tell me. As long as it matches the building’s decor, I don’t care.”
“That’s not good enough for me, Mr. Morgan. I’m an artist, not Walmart. I don’t do cookie-cutter designs that anyone could find in a yard sale.”
“I know. That’s why I picked you.”
Is it?She bit her lip but didn’t say it aloud. Somehow she had the feeling he’d found her first by her secret profession. The stained glass commission was merely the bait to get her here. It wounded the artist in her, even though the challenge of such a massive project made her nerves tingle with excitement and dread. This kind of project was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. But the risk…
“I have an idea.” She looked back into his face and didn’t like what she saw. The shuttered look in his eyes told her he was up to something. “Why don’t you show me what kind of work we’re talking about here?”
“What do you mean?”
“I want to see your shop. Watch you work. Show me exactly what’s involved.”
Alarm bells started going off in her head. Her shop was in her garage. Basically, he wanted her to take him home. And by the smug curve of his lips, he knew it.
Bad idea, Lilly. Hugely bad. Remember the elevator? Do you really want to be alone with him, let alone in your house?
She never took clients home, her sacred space. Even if he had absolutely no idea his stained glass artist was also Mistress L, she’d have to be an idiot to allow a stranger into her home. “I don’t think that’s a very good idea, Mr. Morgan.”
Ignoring her concern, he pulled out his cell phone and made a call. “Miss Wruthers, I’m going to be out the rest of the afternoon. Miss Harrison is going to give me a tutorial in stained glass so I know exactly the amount of work involved.”
Lilly kept her expression neutral, even though his heavy-handed assumption that she’d so easily capitulate pissed her off. At least his secretary was a witness to his whereabouts, although as much as he probably paid her, she’d lie on a stack of Bibles if hard pressed. As soon as he hung up, Lilly smiled sweetly at him, even while she jabbed him in the chest with her finger. “Do you think I’m an utter moron?”
“What? Of course not.”
“I don’t ever take clients home with me, let alone complete strangers.”
His eyes narrowed and he gave her an ugly sneer. “I’m not yourclient.”
Lilly knew that tone of voice. She read his disdain and disgust in the twist of his lips, the flare of his nostrils.How does he know?“I don’t take orders from any man, let alone from assholes.”
Stiffly, she stepped into the flow of pedestrians headed to the next building.
“Miss Harrison!” Startled cries broke out and she glanced back to see him pushing people out of his way to barrel toward her. “Lilly, wait!”
“Go to hell, Mr. Morgan.”
Chapter Three
“What a douchebag.”
No wonder Marie was her best friend. Lilly gave her a hug and then flopped into her recliner, while her friend sat on the adjacent loveseat. “Thanks for coming over.”
“Anytime, hon. You’re not going to pick up his project, are you?”
“I told him to go to hell, so I doubt I’ll hear from him again.” She laughed wryly. “It would have been a magnificent, terrifyingly wonderful project too. The scope, the scale of it… I really don’t know if I could have pulled it off singlehandedly.”
“You could have. I don’t doubt that for a moment.” Marie took a sip from her wine glass. “So you think he knows about Mistress L?”
“He sure acted like it.” Lilly frowned, nibbling on her lip. “I just can’t believe one of my clients would have talked to him, though.”
Marie studied the red wine for several long moments before finally saying, “You trust them that much?”
“I do, but evidently that makes me a fool.” Lilly didn’t have any secrets from her best friend. Marie certainly didn’t judge her lifestyle, but she didn’t understand it, either. “It definitely makes me doubt, which is bad. I can’t pull off what they need if there’s any doubt in my mind.”
“I know we’ve talked about this before, but I still don’t get it.” Marie smiled at her apologetically. “I understand what they get from you, but what do you get from them?”
