notice?”
I lift my glass, the decadence and luxury already giving me a buzz. “There’s a pale tinge. Almost blue.”
“Yes. Now, finally, the most important thing—taste.” His gaze fixes to my mouth and I’m unable to look away. Watching him watch me is a form of intoxication all in itself. “Let a drop slide over the tip of your tongue.”
I sit and do as he commands and the flavor isn’t what I am prepared for, nothing harsh or bitter.
“Hold it on your palate and breathe deep through your nose.”
Great idea in theory. I’ll choke. But I try. He is driving me nuts and yet I bite back my flash of irritation at his innate arrogance because I’m intrigued by what’s going to happen next. Finally, I swallow. “Oh…that’s really smooth.”
“Yes, drinking vodka is the second best thing you can do by yourself.”
I sputter my next sip as his brows lift in restrained amusement. Is he trying to…flirt? “Who else is joining us here?” I dab the corner of my mouth and pray that my face isn’t revealing total bewilderment. It’s taken me over twenty years, but I’m good at keeping up my own mask. He doesn’t have to see how much of an unsettling effect he has on me.
“No one.”
Again comes his strange magnetic stare, the one that feels like a physical caress, conjuring a hot rush of heat up my neck. “So it’s just you, me, and your staff?” Would it be gauche to tell him about my app idea? Maybe. But then again, he’s a businessman; he might appreciate a bold approach, and Besties is sort of a genius idea, a way for woman to—
“No staff. I gave them time off.”
My pulse quickens as a momentary haze clouds my vision. “So it’s just you and me?”
“For the weekend.”
Wait, is that my imagination or does his impersonal tone crack, unveiling the merest trace of uncertainty?
“You are free to leave any time, Bethanny.” He gestures to the phone on the coffee table. “Take it. Katya’s number is programmed. If you desire to leave, he will fly you out. No questions asked.”
My prickles of unease fade but don’t disappear as a vague heat dances over my skin. “But you haven’t answered mine. You promised earlier that you would explain everything.”
His heavy-lidded gaze is bright as topaz and just as hard as he drags a hand through his thick mantle of hair. “Will you stay tonight? No matter what I say?”
“Of course not. You could tell me five thousand things that would make me leave in a heartbeat.”
“Yes, good. Very good.” He laughs shortly, mouth quirking as if I’ve just managed to please him in some mysterious way. “That is why.”
“Why what?” I whisper. Something twitches in my stomach, a radiating ache that spreads lower, loosening my thighs, heating my center. The idea of pleasing him should be the furthest thing from my mind, unless I’m pleasing him with my brain to get start-up funds. I’m not here to serve as entertainment. Still, there is no denying my panties are suddenly wet with an instant, unexpected, and almost painful arousal.
A palpable charge emanates from him, a current of invisible lightning. “You are here because I…I want to see if I can touch you.”
Chapter Four
Beth
A few hundred dollars’ worth of vodka splatters over my kitten heels. Glass shatters. It’s probably Swarovski crystal, a far cry from my Target glassware. Every muscle in my body tenses. This isn’t amateur hour. I wanted to have face time with the big boss, and I can’t impress if I’m acting like I’ve got ten thumbs for fingers. Apologize with a witty joke. Go fetch a dish towel, broom, or—
“Sit, Bethanny.”
It’s not until that moment that I realize I’ve stood. “If you insist on imitating my parents by using that name, I want to know what yours call you?” I snap. “Aleksander?”
“Nothing,” he answers without a second of evasion. “They don’t call me anything.”
“Oh.” I sink back down to the couch, tugging down the hem of my skirt and crossing my heels. “It’s okay. I’m not on speaking terms with mine either.”
He is quiet so long that I have time to make a careful study of the way his suit jacket is vaguely rumpled and how that thick shock of black hair hangs without falling at the edge of his right temple. At last he stirs, his voice far away. “My mother and father are dead.”
Oh God, way to blunder into that one. “I’m so sorry.” I stand again,