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“Forty-five hundred a month. Very reasonable for what you’d be getting!”
Wayne climbed to his feet. “I’m sure it is, Cindy, but that’s more than twice what we were looking to pay.”
“Maybe...” Darren said, but he trailed off. Even he knew it was out of their price bracket. His green eyes dimmed with disappointment.
Wayne crossed the room to his husband and looped his arm around Darren’s waist. “Sorry, hun. We’ll find something else we’ll love just as much.”
Cindy, as if sensing a day of wasted apartment shopping, seemed to exude even more enthusiasm at them. “Let me just show you the roof. It’s a must-see.”
“I don’t think so, Cindy. But thank you,” Wayne said gravely. Wayne took Darren’s hand and squeezed it, drawing him toward the elevator. “It’s lovely, Cindy. Really. But it’s just not in our price range.”
Sophie, Cindy, and Darren all sighed at the same time. Cindy’s shoulders sagged a little, the first chink in her over-bright armor that Sophie had seen all day.
“Okay then, let’s move on to the next unit on the list we’d already discussed. We’ll have to head back to midtown.”
Darren and Wayne reached the elevator first and pressed the down button. Wayne was quietly murmuring to Darren, no doubt consoling him over the loss of their dream apartment, but Sophie didn’t hear a thing they said because the elevator doors slid open and Henry’s voice poured out and over her like warm honey.
“I’m going to need the building inspector’s report on that,” Henry was saying. He stepped out of the elevator beside a short, balding man who was fervently taking notes on his iPad and nodding.
“Of course, sir,” the bald man said.
She faintly heard Darren’s soft gasp of surprise, but when Henry’s dark eyes met hers, she felt a jolt of electricity run up her spine. Henry stilled, addressing his balding companion without looking away from Sophie. “That’s all for now, Jack. I’ll call you later.”
The man didn’t even question Henry’s sudden change of demeanor. He just ducked back into the elevator and was gone. Cindy’s voice was suddenly shrill in Sophie’s ear.
“Mr. Medina! I’m Cindy Tremaine! I didn’t realize you were going to be here today. It’s such a pleasure to meet you in person.”
Henry’s eyes were still on Sophie, full of some dark, unfathomable expression. It made her want to touch his face. She curled her hand into a fist to resist the urge. Henry cocked one of those thick, black brows. Ignoring Cindy, he turned to Sophie. “What are you doing here?” he asked softly.
“I was just showing—” Cindy began.
Sophie cut her off, inhaling a slow breath through her nose. “I’m here with my friends. They’re looking at apartments.” She nodded to Darren and Wayne, who were watching her and Henry like spectators at a tennis match. Cindy’s mouth had fallen unattractively open.
Henry turned slightly on his polished Ferragamo’s, smiling at Wayne and Darren. “Are you going to be renting in the building?”
Wayne was blinking stupidly at the handsome businessman. Sophie had never seen him look so flummoxed. If she wasn’t so galvanized by Henry’s presence, she would have laughed. Darren, on the other hand, could at least manage a coherent sentence.
“We’d love to, really. The apartment was perfect, but it’s just a scootch out of our price range.” He winced as he said ‘scootch’. Sophie did snicker then, and Henry’s gaze flicked to her. She saw his eyes dip briefly to her cleavage and then graze her legs beneath her skirt. Her heart seized, frozen inside her ribcage, as she wondered what he’d think of her scars.
But the look in his eyes, when he raised them back to hers, was far from disgust. She saw again the heat she’d felt when she was in his arms. Henry’s jaw flexed briefly as she bit her lower lip, but she immediately averted her gaze when she remembered yesterday’s phone call.
“Ms... Tremaine, was it?” Henry asked as he turned to Cindy. “Are you the listing agent for 2647?
”
Cindy’s hand was pressed to her throat, as if she needed to massage the correct words out. “Yes, I am. And there’s been just a ton of interest already—”
“What’s the asking price?” He cut her off, expression pleasant, though his tone brooked no argument.
Cindy swallowed, blinking rapidly. “Ah, that unit is forty-five hundred a month, with a move-in fee of—”
“That won’t do.”
“Pardon me?” Cindy frowned, clearly not following. Sophie wasn’t either. She’d thought, when he first started talking, that he lived in the building. But she was beginning to get the feeling that there was more to it than that.
Henry took Cindy’s elbow in his and drew her closer to his side. “I think if you check again, you’ll see the the listing price for that unit is...” He paused, raising his brows at Darren. “Twenty-two hundred?”
Sophie’s chin hit her chest. Wayne and Darren were gaping too. But none of them so much as Cindy. She had gone red in the face. “But... Mr. Medina!”
