The Spanish Tycoon's Temptress Page 0,45
would be a wonderful color – or many wonderful colors – by the end of the day and she’d have her fabulous space perfected.
“Okay, where are we eating lunch?”
He drove her to a small, cozy restaurant by the center of the older section of the city, where the streets were still made of cobblestone and the stores were all brick fronts with an old feel to the interiors despite their updated décor. She ordered a sandwich that sounded good, but she was more interested in the fries that came with it. For some reason, she really wanted greasy carbohydrates right about now.
“What else are you planning for the day?” he asked while they waited for their meal, sipping mohitos which were filled with fresh mint sprigs and a special sugar cane wedge to crush the mint.
She let the sugar and alcohol relax some of the tension that naturally occurred whenever Gaston was near. Sitting back in her chair, she let the sunshine hit her full in the face. “I want pillows!” she replied with excitement.
“Don’t you just throw the pillows off when you sit down on the sofa?” he asked, wary of piles of pillows but he enjoyed her excitement.
She grinned, but didn’t bother to open her eyes or lower her face. “No way. I curl up with them while I read or work, I shift them around my body to make myself more comfortable….pillows are fabulous and multi-functional.”
He raised one eyebrow, thinking about the perfectly functional sofa at his place without any pillows necessary. “If you say so,” was all he would agree.
The skepticism she heard in his voice challenged her and she leaned forward, arguing about all of the creature comforts a house would need to really feel like a home. His counter arguments, while perfectly logical, made her laugh because they were just practicality. The whole time they ate their lunch, they argued back and forth about the various ‘necessities’ for a home.
That afternoon, they moved from one home goods store to another picking out pillows and curtains, curtain rods and various little things that Gaston said she would ‘need’ in order to spruce up her home. The man had a memory like an elephant, she thought as he drove her around the city. Every piece she’d argued for during lunch, he was intent on shopping for.
No matter how hard she argued, Gaston wouldn’t allow her to pay for any of the items. She swore to him that she was going to bring everything back to the store but when she threatened that, he simply looked down into her eyes with one sardonically raised eyebrow, not saying a word. He knew that she wouldn’t bring anything back. He was confident that, as soon as she had her new, colorful items scattered about her apartment, they weren’t leaving.
When they finally drove back to her apartment, she entered through the doorway with trepidation. But as soon as she saw the walls in different colors, she was amazed! Not only were all the walls perfectly painted, but her furniture had been moved back into place, but still kept about an inch from the walls until the paint was dry. To help with that, huge fans had been set up to circulate the air throughout the apartment so most of the walls were already dry!
“This looks fabulous!” she gasped, walking through the rooms with increasing excitement. “I can’t believe it took me so long to really think of doing this because it’s very exciting!”
Gaston leaned against the doorway to her apartment, noting with approval that the painters had done a good job and were already cleared out just as he’d instructed. He didn’t like the fans being in place though. Those weren’t in his plans, but the smell of paint was strong enough that he could still get her exactly where he wanted her. In his bed.
“You can’t stay here tonight Elana. You’ll be loopy from the paint fumes by tomorrow. It isn’t healthy.”
Elana bit her lip, knowing that he was right. “I’ll stay in a hotel tonight,” she said, deciding that she could blow a bit of money on a hotel since he hadn’t let her pay for any of this.
“You will do no such thing,” he snapped, irritated that she’d thought of a good solution so quickly. But he wasn’t having any of that. “You’ll stay with me,” he commanded. It occurred to him that she hadn’t thought to stay with her father. That was an interesting point that