“You’re not,” I admit.
“But when you came into the gallery—”
“It wasn’t to set you up.”
“I don’t know whether to believe you,” she says, moving onto her back again.
My gaze sweeps over, my will melting like ice cream dropped to a hot sidewalk.
“Then believe this.” I take off my sunglasses, setting them down and swiping up a champagne flute.Fuck, I want to swipe her up,drag her back to my lair, set her on her back, and fuck this craving out of my system. “Only an idiot gambles when he doesn’t have the means to pay,” I say, filling her glass. “Shallow men believe in luck. I believe in cause and effect.” I allow the weight of my words to sink in as I pass the flute her way.
“Thank—oh!” She gasps as I spill a little of the cold liquid on her stomach.
“Oops,” I mutter insincerely.
“You did that on purpose.” Her eyes narrow like vengeance as her hand moves to rub at the spill. I catch it, and her breath holds as I move to my knee before hitting the air once again as I swipe the flat of my tongue across the spill.
“There.” The word is all husk and want as I lick her again. “All fixed.”
I glance up. Her mouth is open, and the hand not holding her glass still hovers in the air.
“Remind me,” I begin, not moving. “Was it three full-priced artworks for a flash of your panties?”
My delivery of her earlier words makes her smile. Kind of.
“The point is moot, don’t you think…” Her eyes dip, indicating her bikini bottoms. “You’re already looking at them. I suspect you’ve been staring at them all that time you were supposed to be working.”
“That’s what you think, is it?”
“I know it. I could feel your eyes on me.” With a tiny sigh, her body softly undulates. It makes me wonder just how wet I’d find her right now.
“What will it cost for you to take them off?”
“I don’t know… what would it take for you to seduce me?” Her tone is all tease as I hook my fingers into the thin sides of the white fabric.
“Six? Ten?”
“Raif.” This time, my name is a soft warning. But she doesn’t stop me. “We can’t keep doing this.”
“We can do whatever we like. That’s the pleasure of being us right now. Ten,” I add. “Twenty.” I begin to tug, and she lifts a little, aiding the fabric’s slide. “Thirty.”
“Thirty pieces,” she whispers.
I frown, my mind going to silver and biblical connotations.
“There are thirty pieces in the gallery’s next exhibition.” Her eyes are like dark sapphires as she watches me drop the tiny garment to the lounger behind me.
“Done.”
“You don’t know how much each piece is worth.”
“Doesn’t matter. Double them. Triple.” I’m having this moment. “When is this show?” My voice is soft as my fingers make manacles around her ankles.
“Soon.”
“Better put sold stickers on every piece.” I slowly slide her legs apart.
“Raif, here?”
