“I like when you’re close.” She came up from behind me and rested her hands on my shoulders. “I miss seeing you.”
“Is there something you need from me?” I clasped her wrists and guided her around the chair to stand in front of me. “I apologize for being off-the-grid. Business is tense.”
“I always need something from you.” She moved to the front of my desk.
“I’m going to stop you.” I held up my hand. “I need you to stop the not-so-subtle flirting and the references to us getting together.”
“They weren’t supposed to be subtle.”
“That’s what I mean.” I stood and joined her in front of the desk. “We fucked around and had some fun.”
“We had a lot of fun.” She twirled her hair around her finger. “We still could.”
“We went into business together because you’re good at what you do and you make money. And you don’t seem to mind who I am and what I do.”
“I accept you for who you are.”
“I appreciate that, but I’m not interested in anything else.” Could I be any more direct? “If you want to continue our friendship and business partnership, I’m all in, but that’s all you’re ever going to get from me.”
“Why?” She ran her finger across her full bottom lip. “It’s not like your heart belongs to anyone else, and if we’re being totallyhonest, it isn’t your heart I want.” She glanced between my legs. “Why can’t we just…”
“I said no.” I glared at her. “Do you want me to dissolve our partnership? I’ll give you a reference if you want to work on Fifth Avenue. There are plenty of stores there. I’m sure someone would love your expertise.”
“Are you serious?”
“Very.” My gaze hardened. “Actually, I could send you to Paris or Milan. Maybe a change of scenery would help you see how serious I am.”
“Okay, fine.” She huffed. “You’re in a mood. You don’t want to have sex, so whatever.”
“I don’t want to have sex with you.” I ran my hand along my jaw as visions of the only goddess I wanted to please filled my thoughts. “That part of our lives is over.”
“I’ll leave you alone.”
“Thank you.” Now maybe she would focus on the boutique and find creative ways to make me more money so I could keep the cartel happy.
“I really am here for business reasons,” she said.
“I wish you would have led with that.” I rested my hand on the edge of my desk. “What’s up?”
“This might be a sensitive subject, but a few weeks have passed since we last spoke, and I found a buyer for the dress you told me to put in storage."
Sable’s dress? The one I had purchased for Valentine’s Day.
“You said you wanted to auction it off but someone is interested,” she said.
“If it was in storage, how did someone know you even had it?”
“I was making arrangements to have it put in storage and I was photographing it for insurance purposes when a long-time client of mine came into the shop and asked about it.”
“Did you tell them it wasn’t for sale?”
“That’s why I’m here. I know you want to auction it off for your mom’s charity, but we have so many other options for that. This dress is very expensive. It would be fantastic exposure for the boutique.”
“The dress isn’t going into storage. I need it back.”
“For what?” she asked. “You don’t even know when the auction will be held, and I have Romeo Bello on the hook to buy it.”
“Bello? He was at the boutique?”
