“I know you don’t know us, but the guy next door is arrogant.” Honesty makes me add, “He has his moments where he’s tolerable. But also he has moments when he never takes anything seriously but everything still goes his way, and also he always looks like he just stepped off of a modeling shoot.”
“I understand.” She nods along.
I lower my voice. “And if you would be willing—feel free to say no, I don’t want you to get in any trouble. But if you could shrink some of his clothes? Nothing major, just enough to make him uncomfortable in his clothes and throw him off his game, that would really help me out.”
She lowers her voice conspiratorially. “We get a lot of unique requests. I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thank you so much.”
“It’s okay, ma’am. I’ve run across a few of those, so I’ll be happy to help.”
Ooh, it sounds like there’s a story behind that tone. If she’s been working for Harrison for any length of time, she’s seen some interesting stuff. Probably a lot more intense than my wild make-Gavin-slightly-uncomfortable plan.
Before I can dig deeper, I hear another knock on the door. The knocker doesn’t wait for me to invite them in, instead barging in a second after the abrupt noise.
“You ready, Riya?” Gavin asks, fresh in a pair of dark slacks, a button-down shirt and a sports coat.
Of course it’s him. Who else would barge into any room like he owns it? “No.”
“Okay, I can always go down without you.” He turns around and heads back out of the door he just entered through.
“I decline.” I grab his belt and drag him back into the room and onto the seat next to my vanity. “Sit yourself down here and I’ll be right out.” I pat him on the shoulder.
Sarah tactfully leaves while we’re debating the issue. I flee into the bathroom to touch up my makeup quickly. It’s the fastest I’ve ever done the task, but I don’t want to leave Gavin alone in my room too long.
My worries are justified, because when I come out of the bathroom, Gavin is standing across the room,notwhere I left him, peeking through my open suitcase.
I storm over and snap the top down, missing his fingers by inches. Unfortunately.
“I knew you wouldn’t be able to help yourself. Which is why I took all my electronics with me into the bathroom.” I indicate through the open door my laptop, iPad and phone resting on the counter.
“Maybe I wasn’t looking for corporate secrets. Maybe I was looking for your underwear.”
I tilt my head at him. “But how would you find something that doesn’t exist?”
Pride fills my chest, making it puff out like a balloon inflating, when I see Gavin Carlyle struck dumb. Even if I had to lie to do it. Because with my luck, if I really went commando, I would accidentally flash people constantly.
I saunter out of the room, listening for the sound of his footsteps behind me. I don’t hear them, so I’m about to turn around and “help” him out of my room when I finally hear the steps behind me.
“Tell me more about this,” he demands, voice rough. He clears his throat.
“How can I tell you about something that doesn’t exist?” I tease him even more.
He groans. “Come on, that’s not even fair.”
“I’m sorry, was there anything in our past interactions that made you think I would ever be fair to you?”
“Professional courtesy?” he asks, voice cracking on the words. And all I had to do was talk about my nether clothes, or lack thereof. If only I had known this earlier.
“Survival of the fittest.” I start going back down the stairs.
“So like right now...” he starts, not letting it go.
I stop on the steps, enjoying this surge of power flowing through me and letting it go to my head. “Right now...” I take a step back up so I’m on the step above him and closer to his height. I look him directly in the eyes, unblinking. “Under this fabric...” I clench the dress at my thighs and inch it up, watching his eyes dip down to follow the upward movement of the fabric “...is something you’ll never have to worry about, because you’ll never get under there.”
I drop the dress and walk around him, not-so-gently nudging him in the shoulder on the way down.
“Underestimating your enemy is dangerous,” Gavin warns from behind me.
