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I turn to glance at him. "It is?"
"Weareat The Shard, the tallest building in the city, and this penthouse—more specifically the rooms on the second floor of the duplex"—he nods in the direction of the L-shaped hallway upstairs that looks down on the living room space—"are on the topmost floor."
"Right, I knew that. I mean, I knew this is the tallest building, and I did notice we came right to the top, I just didn’t connect the dots fast enough in my head." Which is typical of me. I never seem to see things which are right in front of me. Like the fact that the sexy, gorgeous, complicated man sitting in front of me is definitely out of bounds. I’m helping him to find a wife, which reminds me. "I guess we should get down to work." I reach for my phone which is on the table next to me, but he beats me to it.
"Let’s eat first." He picks it up and slides it into his pocket. "No phones at the dining table."
I laugh. "Is that a rule your parents imposed?"
He frowns as he walks around to take his seat. "My father was never home enough for us to eat dinner together."
"He was too busy working?"
"He was… busy." Knight reaches for the bottle of champagne and pops the cork, then pours the bubbles into my flute, before topping himself up.
"So, not a date, huh?" I allow myself a small smile.
He rewards me with a slight upturn of his own lips on one side. "It’s a working dinner… And good food and drink help the creative workflow."
He raises his glass, and I clink mine with his. "To getting to know each other better." I take a sip of the sparkling wine and the flavors of citrus and peach, combined with something nutty, almost toasty, and woven through with unmistakable scent of roses teases my palate. "Oh, my god." I close my eyes and groan. "This is incredible." I make a humming sound, and when I open my eyes, I find him staring at me.
"Sorry, that was a rather un-sophisticated demonstration of how much I like it."
"You can be unsophisticated anytime," he says in low voice. My nipples bead, moisture laces the space between my legs, and I squeeze my thighs together. His eyes flare. The air between us grows heavy with unsaid words. I feel like I’m swimming through a thick syrup to get to a place I’ve never been before. The silence stretches. The hair on my forearms rises. My scalp prickles, and every cell in my body seems to light up under his single-minded attention.
I’m the first to glance away. I reach for my flute and take another sip of the bubbles. When I look up, he’s busy cutting into his steak.
"Don’t you want to marry for love?"
He pauses with his fork halfway to his mouth, then slowly completes the action. He chews, swallows, then reaches for the next forkful. "I’m not keen on marrying, per se, or having children. The only reason I’m doing it is because—"
"You need to protect your ownership of the company. I’m aware of that. But haven’t you wanted to find the right woman and find love?"
"No." He continues eating, then takes in my features. He must see some of my shock and surprise for he shrugs. "I was focused on protecting my country and now, on growing my company. I’ve never had time for anything else."
"And women?"
He takes another forkful of food, then places his utensil down. "What’s with all these questions?"
"Just getting to know you better, so I can draw up a more appropriate profile. That’s what this meal is about, right?"
"What does my profile have to do with my views on marriage and love."
"Because it’s supposed to attract the right woman, duh!"
"One has nothing to do with the other. What you need to put down is, I make a billion dollars a year, their monthly allowance is a million dollars, with another two million for each child they push out, and another five million for every year they stay married to me."
I purse my lips. "I’m surprised you didn’t specify two million for a male child and a million for a female child."
"I don’t differentiate between genders."
I scoff. "You only have a traditional view when it comes to the women who work for you."
"One woman in particular, yes."
I gape at him. "You’re not even denying the fact that you’ve treated me worse than anyone else in your employment."
"No one else has as much access to me. It makes sense that you see the unvarnished truth."
