important. Tradition, history, kindness and generosity. Those were the qualities she admired in Dave and which Angelo Donati didn’t even know the meaning of.
As she listened to him on the phone, throwing out numbers and legal issues to overcome, giving whoever was on the other end of the line instructions on how to move forward in what sounded like an extremely complicated negotiation and she couldn’t help but be impressed. She might not agree with the man’s morals, but she couldn’t deny that he was a brilliant businessman.
Why was he attracted to someone like her? She was a nobody. Oh, she could look at a room and create whatever sort of environment a client wanted, but that was pointless compared to what he could do. Angelo could potentially save lives! She wasn’t even near his league in intelligence and business knowledge. All she understood were colors, history and how to gently talk to people to understand what they were looking for in a house.
She sat down with a thud, her legs giving out on her. She wasn’t even aware that she was sitting on a stack of tiles.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, slipping his cell phone back into his pocket.
“What do you see in me?” she asked, forgetting for the moment that she was going to reject his suggestion that they become lovers.
“What do you mean?” Angelo asked, moving closer to her. Something in her eyes worried him. When he’d first walked into the room, there had been a sparkle in her eyes, a glow to her whole being that had lured him closer to her warmth.
Now she looked like someone who had just lost something significant. And he didn’t like it.
Jade considered her words carefully. “What is it about me that is in any way enticing?” she asked. “Why aren’t you interested in someone like a doctor or a woman of your intellectual equal?”
He finally understood and he felt horrible for whatever he’d said to make her belittle her accomplishments and intelligence. Taking a seat next to her, he ignored her desire to put some space between their two bodies and shifted closer when she tried to move away. Their hips and thighs were now touching and he smiled inwardly when she sighed with acceptance.
“I firmly believe that every person has a mission in this world. There isn’t one thing that is more important than another. You create beautiful spaces for people to live in. I buy up and concentrate drug companies so that people get medicine. That doesn’t mean that what I do is more or less important. It just means that our talents are different.”
She smiled at his attempt to make her lifelong contributions more significant. “You’re a very sweet man,” she said as she looked up at him.
Angelo watched that light come back into her eyes but he shook his head. He couldn’t let her think that about him. He wanted their relationship to be completely honest and she couldn’t believe a lie. “I’m not sweet or kind or any of those other nice adjectives that you might want in a lover, Jade. You need to know that before we go any further with this. I’m not nice. I will treat you well and I’m very generous, but please don’t delude yourself into thinking that I’m nice.”
She laughed softly but knew that he was serious. “Okay, so you’re a mean, horrible ogre. Consider me forewarned. But we’re not going to be lovers. I have a boyfriend,” she said and stood up, moving away from him. Nervously, she tried to shift her brain. She’d had a moment of weakness and he’d been kind enough to help her overcome that. But he was still the enemy and if she wasn’t careful, she might find herself…Stop it! She wasn’t going to be so unfaithful to Dave! Goodness, she really needed to get a grip!
“Can I give you a tour of the house? We’ve been able to accomplish a great deal while you were out buying up the world.”
Angelo stood up as well, towering over her and looking down into her blue eyes. “We will be lovers, Jade. I can see that you need more time to get used to the idea. Perhaps giving you the past two weeks alone was a mistake. I guess you just need more time with me.” He ignored her comment about the boyfriend. The man, whoever he was, definitely wasn’t a factor if her reaction to their kiss was any indication. Not that he would