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“Fine,” I gasped at a rare pocket of air. My muscles worked, and I could breathe again.
“Alright, let’s fix that.” The hoard of helpers swarmed me, patting powder under my eyes where tears formed.
“Maybe we should have gone with waterproof mascara,” I croaked, still trying to catch my breath.
“True.”
The mascara was wiped off with oil soaked pads and fresh coats applied.
More powder. More priming.
“Better.”
A mirror popped up in my field of vision.
“That’s not me.”
The team tittered at my not-joke while I tried to reconcile the honey goddess in the mirror with myself who yesterday dressed as Rudolph in green tights.
Finally my hair was curled and I walked up to the register, clutching the cuddly gown they insisted I keep, and clinging to the suit for Ford they delivered to me to take down for him.
“Now, don’t let Mister Millham ruin your nice makeup when you deliver his suit,” one of the girls finishing up tossed out to me.
My cheeks blazed under ten layers of foundation. “Oh, no. I’m just his date. We aren’t– we’re not–” I stumbled over my denial.
“Mhhm.” The girl made anas ifsound low in her throat. “Well, if you aren’t now then you soon will be,” she assured my shocked face, ushering me out the door and holding the lift for me.
I stepped inside the metal box, swiping the spare key Ford gave me and hit his floor. The elevator moved, along with my heart. Did I want to sleep with Ford? Because the way he looked at me, hell the way hekissedme, even though it was the briefest graze of cinnamon and sea salt, clenched my thighs together. Because the man did everything with intent.
Whether it was holding my hand, telling me his story, or touching me...or buying dresses and pampering me like a princess.
I am just a date,I told myself firmly.
My pep talk didn’t do shit.
Strangling the garment hanger, I counted doors on Ford’s floor until I came to his and paused outside for a moment. There were no sounds from within, but then the doors were fairly thick. I raised my hand to knock before my frazzled brain remembered I had a key. Fumbling everything, I dropped the key, caught the garment bag mid air and managed not to end up tits over teakettle in the hallway.
Winning.
“Nisha?” Ford’s voice rolled over my head.
“Here! Uh, it’s me,” I muttered, clutching the key hard enough to flex the card.
“You got my suit! You’re such a freaking gem.” He didn’t sound half as delighted as his words made him seem.
“Uh, you’re welcome? I didn’t really organise much this time around.”
The hanger disappeared from my hand and he propelled me inside. “Why are you wearing a towel?” he asked curiously.
I pulled my elf suit out of one of the oversized pockets along with my phone and set them on a stand. “It’s the spa’s. They put me in it, and you said I could dress in here?”Right? He had said that, and I wasn’t standing naked under a soft robe in his room for no reason?I wanted to sink into the floor. “Are you sure this is a good idea, Ford?” I glanced down at his bed, then took in the view from his broad window. “Oh, my God. You can see everything from here.”
“Everything I want.” His voice lowered.
I spun on my heel to find him already in the shirt, though it hung open giving me the same tantalising view of Fordland with extra ink I glimpsed the day before. “You’re not kidding,” I said without thinking.
“True.”
My gaze raised to his face. If I thought he wanted to devour me before, I was dead wrong. Because not only did helookedible, his eyes told me flat out how much he wanted what he saw right in front of him.
