She faces the control panel in the private elevator, but I see her checking me out in our hazy reflection. I’ve glanced at her resume. College student, unremarkable background, decent references from previous employers in the hospitality industry. She was recommended by another student who also checked out.
I don’t like that this is how my brain works, but it’s the world we live in.
Expect the worst, and anything else is a bonus.
But my gut is telling me that Remy Jones isn’t worst-case scenario. Unless she’s a fucking brilliant actress. In which case, Hollywood, where are your talent scouts now?
The doors swish open. I’m no expert in body language, but the way her lips part when she stands in front of me in my apartment foyer, her slanted eyes dark with something that could never be mistaken for menace, reaches straight through to my core and manifests inside my pants.
I almost do it. I almost raise my hand to touch her hair but stop myself in time.
What if I’m reading this all wrong? I’m a man. I don’t want to think with my dick, but it’s inevitable when I’m within touching distance of a beautiful woman who seems to have zapped me with some kind of irresistible pheromone essence.
“Which guest room?” My voice is still battling with the blood pumping around my loins and cracks mid-question.
“There’s more than one?” She looks away, and the sexual tension I imagined between us evaporates like misty breath. “I’m sorry. I’ve not had a chance to wash the clothes I borrowed, but I will.” No eye contact.
“Keep them.” It’s not enough, but I’m struggling to find the right thing to say because I don’t understand what just happened.
My brothers would be pissing themselves with laughter if they could see me now. I’m the cool one. The brother most likely to never get married because I refuse to let anyone in.
Right now, I wish I’d paid more attention when they fell in love, but I was too focused on the shit going down on the sidelines. The psychopathic Sicilian heiress with a vendetta against Caleb, the Russians who wanted a slice of the action, and the longstanding feud with another Irish family. Someone needed to keep their head in the game.
“What did you lose?”
Her eyes react to the question by meeting mine, and I see my control and resolve slipping out of my grasp. “A pendant. It’s a silver teardrop. It belonged to my sister.”
Her voice catches, and I’m powerless to stop myself. I take her hand. She’s trembling, and I pull her into my arms before I even realize what I’m doing.
“We’ll find it.” I breathe in the fruity scent of her shampoo and close my eyes like I suddenly discovered paradise. “It’s obviously important to you.”
“I’ve never taken it off since… since she died,” she murmurs against my chest.
I feel her heartbeat like a tiny, frightened sparrow, and I don’t want to be responsible for this fear.
Releasing her from my arms is like baring my naked chest to winter. I never thought about two people molding together before they even meet, but that’s how it feels, like I ripped myself open and gave one half to her. One moment. That was all it took.
I catch a tear as it spills from the corner of her eye. “The guest room?”
She nods, and her sadness falters somewhere between her heart and her tentative smile.
I hold her hand, and she doesn’t pull away.
The bed in the purple guest room is neat, the comforter as smooth as glass, the pillows and cushions photo-shoot ready. The door to the walk-in closet is closed. The curtains are open, the skyline winking at us through the windows.
“The room has been cleaned.” I hear the disappointment in her voice before her hand slips from mine.
“The housekeeper comes in every day.”
“Of course, she does.” Remy swallows hard. “Can I check the closet?”
“Be my guest.” Fuck.Would it be too much to drop the boss hat and simply be a friend for a moment or two?
By the time I reach the walk-in closet behind her, Remy is on her hands and knees and groping around the bottom of the racks of clothes and shoes.
It tugs at my heart even more than the tears in her eyes because I’m obviously a hard bastard who has forgotten how to feel.
“Let me help.” I kneel beside her and start pulling out accessories, sifting through them for a glint of silver.
