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Minty treated her exactly as if she was hers. Strangely, I felt no jealousy. It struck me as odd, but I’d take it.
“Hello, beautiful,” Minty interrupted my musings. “What’s with the frown?”
I searched my thoughts for one I could share. “Oh! I was just thinking I can’t just be barging in here anymore.” I jerked my head towards the door. “Sorry about that.”
Minty’s head cocked to the side as she thought. “You know, if the door is open as it is now, just come in as usual. If we need privacy, it’s beholden upon us to lock the door. This is Brayleigh’s home; she shouldn’t have to knock.” She reached out a hand and softly touched my arm with the tip of her forefinger. “And I don’t want you standing outside in the cold.”
It wasn’t cold out, yet. Not at all. I didn’t miss the double meaning of her words.
I looked away as I cleared my throat.
Minty turned and walked into the living room, speaking over her shoulder. “How is work?”
My thoughts fled immediately to Ares. “There’s this new photographer. I can’t stand him.”
Minty’s eyebrows rose. “Really? He must be awful if you can’t get along with him.”
I huffed out a breath, thinking about our first encounter. One I had hoped would be our last.
It happened right after my drink with the handsome, waistcoated, not bell boy.
Now, he’d been a perfect gentleman. I sat for a few moments after he left. Smiling while I amused myself with the idea that younger men might be better, I got up and crossed the bar to leave.
“Younger brother?” A sardonic voice broke through my musings, the sharp tone arresting my progress.
I spun to face the owner of the voice, and my jaw hit the floor. The phrase ‘stupidly handsome’ flitted across my brain. My eyes ran over his form, taking in a hundred little details at once, just as I did when assessing my models. Midnight eyes, jet black hair, a tinge too long in the front which only added to his appeal. Wide stance. Long legs.
His strong, capable hands, the kind that made me shiver in my dreams, held a glass of glittering amber as he regarded me darkly. His beautiful mouth lifted on one side as his eyes traveled down my length and back up to boldly meet mine.
I closed my mouth.
“I can see why he’d be interested,” he continued. “But I don’t know what an older woman like yourself would get out of the transaction.” He set his glass down on the bar, tucked his hands into his pockets, and cocked his head to the side. “Unless you just need your clock cleaned and anyone will do.”
My brain tripped over his words. Older woman? Transaction? Clock cleaned?
“I beg your pardon?” I whispered.
He picked up his glass and tipped some of the amber liquid down his throat, giving my brain time to properly process his insults. Though his bobbing Adam’s apple threatened to trip me up, my brain caught up and shot out of my mouth.
“You arrogant prick!”
His brows rose, and he whistled softly. “All this,” his eyes dropped once more to my toes before quickly sweeping back up to my eyes, “and a temper, too. I bet you’re just what he’s looking for.”
A temper? I hadn’t begun to show him my temper. My right hand itched to meet his handsome face.
I took a deep breath while reminding myself of the importance of maintaining decorum while working, and smiled at him.
Stepping forward, I slipped the glass from his hand, satisfied when his black gaze sharpened with awareness. Oh, how I yearned to toss it in his wickedly handsome face.
Instead, I took a healthy sip and kept my eyes on his as I swirled the amber liquid in the glass. Dipping my head, I licked a drop off the rim, satisfied to hear the sharply indrawn breath that parted his sensuous lips.
I held his eyes as I handed it back to him.
“Seeing as that is as close as you’ll ever get to me, I guess you’ll just have to wonder.”
His eyes lit with fire.
Leaning closer, I whispered, “You seem tense. Perhaps you should try to find someone to,” I paused before continuing, ‘clean your clock’.” Stepping back, I looked at him with pity and mock frowned. “Try to skip the conversation. You’ll have better luck.”
