Grievous (Wanted Men #5) - Nancy Haviland Page 0,69
a while. It was awful being studied while humiliation and disappointment ravaged her. Didn’t help that she was standing there in a bra and leggings.
Lucian’s sigh drifted across her cheek. “No, Yasmeen. You did that. After weeding out those who were not what the gallery needed, your boss was left with three applicants. When I asked him what the deciding factor was after he chose you, he told me your genuine passion was apparent the moment you entered his showroom and expressed your appreciation with silence.” He shook his head as one side of his mouth came up. “I am beginning to think he must have been talking about a different person because quiet you are not.”
Just like an old wooden yo-yo, she hit the end of the string and went spinning back up. She returned his half-smile, thrilled she was seeing it. “I’m silent as a mouse at work. I’m only chatty with you because I like you, and I’m curious about you and the crazy things you do, and why you do them.” She took his head between her palms and made him look at her. “You really didn’t stand over him with that intimidating look on your face and order him to hire me? Be honest.”
“I did not order him to hire you. Arms up.”
But Sheldon had most likely picked her out of the three applicants because he’d been afraid not to. “Would you consider giving me my phone back now?” She could call and know for sure instead of wondering.
“Up, Yasmeen.”
That’s what she thought. She shoved her arms in the air, and he pulled the soft cotton over her head. She looked down at the logo across her chest. “You went to Princeton?”
“I went to Princeton. I also spent some time at Oxford.”
“In England?”
“Is there another?”
“Not that could handle that attitude, no.” He gave her a warning look that she took head on. “Don’t look at me like that. Your arrogance is astounding. The girls must have followed you around with their panties in the air.”
“As I am sure the boys at NYU followed behind you holding their dicks in their hands.”
She grimaced. “No, they didn’t.”
“Yes, my pet. They did. Believe me. If you did not witness it, they were being discreet. I would guarantee hundreds of men have come on their shower walls to thoughts of you on your knees before them.”
“Lucian. Don’t be disgusting.”
He gave her an exasperated look. “That is not disgusting. If I were to see you masturbate, I would be enthralled.”
“Yes, but that’s someone you’re attracted to. I’d be all eyes if I watched you, too. But to think of other men doing it makes me a little vomity.”
“For masturbating to a mental image of you.”
She tipped her head and nodded as if it was dense of him to confirm.
“You are a strikingly beautiful woman. You must know men wonder what it must be like to fuck you the minute they see you. When I saw you for the first time, I was staggered by your beauty. I have never experienced the sensation of having my breath taken. You accomplished that without batting an eye.”
She couldn’t deny hearing she hadn’t been the only one affected like that made her feel great. But looks were looks, and they’d eventually go. “So your first thought was to have sex with me?”
A shadow passed over his features. “No. My first thought was to do what I have now done.”
“Have sex with me.”
“Steal you.”
Her eyes flared. “You thought to steal me? That night?”
“I fought myself throughout our meal. By the time you got up to use the restroom, I’d considered a variety of ways I could imprison you, right down to purchasing a small island and allowing you to roam freely but with no actual way of escape.”
He bent and kissed her throat before nudging her toward the sitting area. “Sit.”
She slowly walked over, trying to get her head around the fact that he’d wanted to do this to her two years ago. That meant Markus’s murder hadn’t created her crazy man, it had just prodded him out into the open. When she reached the loveseat and turned to sit, he was gone.
For fifteen minutes, she waited, tapping her nails on her thigh. She jumped a mile when Sorin’s huge frame appeared in the doorway. She popped to her feet and rushed to him.
“Our owner is the rudest man I’ve ever known.”
“He does have his moments. Come with me, Ms. Michaels.” A spark of interest