He gave them a polite nod.
Their hellos were a croaky effort at best, for which she couldn’t blame them. With that face, Reynner would probably leave many breathless.
“I won’t be long. Five minutes and we can leave, okay?”
Eve took her purse from a still gaping Brenna, then slipped past the guests and walked out into the busy foyer. She turned to Reynner and tried to ignore the attention he drew from the women there. They didn’t bother with her after the first dismissive look. With her hands on display, she wasn’t even a contender in their eyes.
Eve tightened her fingers on her purse, yearning to dig out her spare pair of gloves, but she refused to let them win.
A leggy blonde in a figure-hugging black cocktail dress glided up to them. The front V of her bodice dipped low, revealing her gym-sculpted body. Her gray eyes bright with carnal interest.
“Hello,” she murmured to Reynner in a throaty voice that annoyed Eve.
His gaze flickered to her.
“I’m Selene. Did you enjoy the exhibit?”
“I’m not here for the art. I came for Eve.” Cool. Dismissive.
A tingle of delight burst through Eve at his statement.
“Well, then…” Selene gave Eve a disdainful glance. “I’m sure you’ll feel differently tomorrow. Give me a call.” She slipped a small card in his pocket and sashayed away.
Yes, better to get this over with, or her self-worth would never stand the onslaught. But the insult stung.
“What do you want to talk about?” Eve kept her tone level, aware of the small card residing in his coat pocket like a poisonous asp.
“Not here. It’s too crowded. Let’s walk.” He summoned the elevator.
Walk. Her feet rebelled at the word. “My stilettos are going to kill me.”
He glanced at her killer heels. “We won’t go far.”
“Matters little when you’re wearing torture devices,” she muttered.
He didn’t say anything. Discreetly, she studied him while they waited for the elevator. He stood with his feet slightly apart, arms crossed over his chest. His hands-off vibe all but smacked her in the face. Maybe it was just with her…but no, he’d brushed off the other woman, too.
The door to the elevator clanged open. Moments later, they were descending to the ground floor at a snail’s pace.
Eve leaned against the metal wall. Enclosed in this small cage, she fought to keep her breathing shallow. God, but the man smelled really, really good. It was almost as if she stood in the middle of a forest after the rain.
However, now that he’d gotten her agreement to talk, he didn’t seem ready to do so. He stared at the receding numbers of each floor as if it were a far more interesting sight.
Just her luck.
Eve flexed an aching foot and sighed. It kept her from obsessing about why a man who looked like him would suck her finger. He turned then and eyed her foot, only to ask a different question.
“The ear’s healed?”
“What?”
He nodded to her ear.
“Oh. Yes, it’s fine.” She touched her unadorned lobe. The fast healing had surprised her, but the hole had closed, which meant getting it re-pierced. Not a visit she cared to think about. She’d suffered through enough pain in her lifetime. Her scars hurt more when she worked long hours, like today. She curled and uncurled her fingers to ease the stiffness.
“What happened to your hands?”
Eve struggled to breathe at his question. Flames of the past leaped up and consumed her. “An accident, ten years ago...”
