With Every Breath (Slow Burn #4) - Maya Banks Page 0,10

have anything against Gracie! I love her dearly. Where on earth would you get the idea that I have a problem with her? Just because I can’t make it to her opening doesn’t mean I don’t like her. I’m not going because I can’t. I have something important to do tonight. Something I can’t postpone.”

Sterling shrugged. “I suggest you find a way to do just that. You can’t hide from me, Eliza. And if you think I was making an idle threat, one I have no intention of following through on, you should know me better than that by now. I will find you and I will bring you to the exhibit no matter how you’re dressed. My advice? Dress appropriately and be there promptly when it begins and paste a smile on that pretty face of yours and at least act like you’re enjoying yourself and that you’re supporting the woman who calls you her friend.”

“What gives you the right to rearrange my life to suit your wants?” she snapped. “I’m not one of your little bimbos who flutters her eyelashes and gives in to your every whim and allows you all the control.”

He barked out a laugh. “As if. A man would be a fool to ever think you’d be a simpering, timid, submissive woman without a mind and will of her own. But, Eliza, do not test me on this,” he said, his voice growing somber and gravely serious. His eyes bore intently into hers and the unsettled feeling in her stomach grew until all her insides were knotted with panic.

“Good God, you mean it,” she whispered, horrified.

“Bet your pretty little ass I do,” he said, his eyes narrowing. “Have I ever bluffed, Eliza? Have I ever stood down from any promise I’ve made? Veered from the course I’ve sworn to follow? Not followed through on any action I’ve decided on?”

“No,” she said faintly, a sinking feeling of doom clenching her stomach.

She just wanted to run and hide in her apartment, and she was not someone who ever hid from anything. She confronted her problems, her fears, and she never backed down. But Wade Sterling was a problem unlike any she’d ever encountered and if she knew one thing at all about this infuriating, pain-in-the-ass man, was that he wouldn’t simply go away. No wasn’t an answer he was accustomed to nor was it a word in his vocabulary unless he was the one using it.

Which meant that if she didn’t want a very ugly, very embarrassing, humiliating scene tonight, she was going to have to find a dress and appropriate shoes, neither of which she owned. Fast.

Further proof that the man was a mind reader in his own right, either that or extremely intuitive, he suddenly did that half smirk, half grin thing she was far more accustomed to than the full on, teeth-baring smile she’d witnessed earlier.

“I took the liberty of having an appropriate dress, shoes and all of the accessories delivered to your apartment. Expect them within the hour. And may I say, Eliza, you are going to look stunning in what I picked out.”

FOUR

ONLY because she didn’t want more speculation among her coworkers that something was definitely up with her, something she wasn’t sharing—and planned to keep it that way—did Eliza grudgingly put on the dress, shoes and accessories Sterling had delivered to her apartment as she got ready for what she already considered a night in hell. Or so she told herself, knowing that her feminine ego had been just a little stroked by the fact Sterling had told her with none of his typical, arrogant smugness that she would look fantastic in what he’d picked out for her. No, his gaze had smoldered, and he’d been completely serious and worse, he’d also looked as though he was interested in and couldn’t wait to see the results of his handiwork. And so, like a damn girl, even though she despised the man, she’d seen definite male appreciation in his sexy gaze, and it appealed to her feminine ego to further tempt the beast with what he’d never have a shot at, so she’d not only worn the gorgeous, ridiculously expensive dress—sans bra because she was in a particularly wicked mood—but she’d also taken extra effort with her hair and makeup, which disgusted her because she didn’t want it to be blatantly obvious she wanted to look good. For him. Because she did not give one fuck when it came to her looks