He shrugged, and his mouth curled in the tiniest hint of a dickish smile. “Guess they didn’t mind.”
“I guess not. They didn’t seem to mind leaving their bras behind, either.”
“Maybe they thought they were coming back.”
“Would you like them to? Come back?
At that, the smirk faded. “Friends,” he kinda growled. “I said I want to have friends over. Friends and fucks are two different things.”
Wow.
Starting to see why Daniella wasn’t so keen on this guy…
“Do you have any idea how difficult it was to find six pennies on short notice?”
He held my gaze, and his expression didn’t change. I would’ve sworn it didn’t. But this time I read the amusement in his eyes.
Well, I really didn’t have this kind of time to waste, if all he was gonna do was mess with me, be rude to me, take my free consultation and blow me off.
You deserve it. Dani blew him off.
Jesus Christ. Where was this guilt coming from?
I was not my fucking sister. I’d never done anything to him.
Yet… I still felt bad for whatshe’ddone to him.
Damn it.
I reached into the little pocket in my blouse, which was inconveniently located directly in front of my nipple, and dug out the pennies—while he watched. Then I laid them out on the crate between us, in a neat row. One by one…
Six fucking pennies.
“You are aware that the penny is a discontinued coin in Canada?” I said. “The Royal Canadian Mint ceased production of them in 2013.”
“I’m aware.”
Yeah. I was getting the picture here.
Maybe ten-percent crazy? Ninety-percent asshole.
Which meant the real issue,ifI was even going to consider working for him, would be figuring out if he was an asshole through-and-through, like the kind who spat on old people and kicked puppies, or just a surface asshole who could be managed, like a spoiled child.
“My goal as a decorator,” I informed him, “is to create a space that reflects your desires and serves your needs. If you’re here to sleep, eat, write music and… entertain… then I can make this the ideal space for you to do that. I’d be happy to pull together some ideas and show you what I have in mind for a full makeover of the space, next week. I can price it all out and give you some options, depending on how extensive you want to go. If you’re happy with what I present and you hire me, I could probably get the painters in the next week after that, and then—”
“But you’d be working on the project, right?” he interrupted. “You’d be here?”
That threw me a bit.
Did he want me here?
Did he not want me here?
“Yes. Unless you prefer someone else.”
“Someone else didn’t bring me six pennies,” he said, his blue eyes locked on mine.
And my stomach did that sparkly-twisty thing again. Complete with accompanying heart flutters.
