James
I’m at the gallery surveying our storage. The shipment of Karim’s artifacts has just arrived, and the storage specialist is giving us the rundown. His voice is nasally, and his glasses are round. He’s just the type of nerdy guy I’d trust when it comes to keeping these priceless pieces well preserved.
“And you have to make sure the humidity is bone dry. If your techs that spent a lot of time in here start getting bloody noses, that’s how you know you’re at a good level.”
“Everything will be perfect. Don’t worry about it,” I say.
The specialist starts going into detail on what kind of cleaner to use on the jewels and gold when my head goes elsewhere.
I’ve been having dreams ever since Egypt. Dreams of Sophia. They’re not inappropriate. In fact, they’re disturbingly wholesome. I rarely remember the exact circumstances when I wake. I remember her eyes. Her face. A feeling in my chest that I felt in my sleep that doesn’t fade right away.
I’m glad Sophia isn’t in today. I planned it this way. It’s been a week since we got back to America, and I haven’t seen her since we got off the plane.
If self-control was an Olympic sport, I’ve won gold. I know myself. My way with women. Usually, I don’t warn them who I am beforehand. I show, don’t tell. They know I’m not going to put a ring on their finger or even date them officially, but it doesn’t stop most from ending up crazy, tortured, and in love.
But I couldn’t play that game with Sophia. After I brought her back from the beach in Morocco, she looked up at me with her big soft eyes. Wanting me. Begging me without a word. She looked so vulnerable, naked. Dropping the towels to the floor.
My brain was buzzing like a chainsaw. I could’ve fucked her for hours, until sunrise, but she doesn’t deserve to be used like that. I knew from the way she looked up at me like some sort of god that all I’d be doing was breaking her heart.
She wanted more than a night in bed. She thought of me as more than just her hard-ass boss.
It’s easy to say sex is just sex, but Sophia and I aren’t ships in the night. We’re neighbors. Associates. We’ve already had intimate moments in the past. If I had sex with her, there would be no going back. She would be mine until I was done with her. And I can’t do that to her.
It’s not just the promise I made to Alex.
It’s Sophia herself who I don’t want to hurt. I have a hard time being open. Displaying emotion of the softer variety. And she deserves a tenderness that matches her own. A tenderness I don’t believe I could ever give her.
She’s brought me trouble anyway. I will admit I’ve been distracted when I need to be on my A-game. My company lost its contract with Johannes’s father’s marketing firm. No surprises there.
I don’t put money over everything. First comes respect. I wasn’t about to let Sophia be treated that way. Not when she works for me. Not when she is under my care.
But the loss still stings. It makes it even more important that this plan with the Egyptian artifacts works. If I lose the contract with the Department of Defense, Aquarius may be able to stay afloat, but we’d be dead in the water. It would take a total rebuild to get back to where we are today.
I run my hands through my hair and excuse myself from the storage vault for a fake phone call.
I need some air.
I’m not stressed about the business. I’m stressed that I don’t care about it. Usually, I think of Aquarius as an extension of myself. Another limb as sensitive to wins and losses as a living, breathing part of me. And now…
I just can’t bring myself to panic over it. Walking into the auction house has turned my thoughts to what I’ve kept them from all week—Sophia.
Am I such a coward that I looked at her schedule to make sure she wouldn’t be here before booking this meeting?
I can’t face her after that night on the beach. After I let her stand there with the towels pooled at her feet. Her skin prickled with goose bumps. Her eyes wide. It’s because I saw in those big brown orbs something maybe she hasn’t even admitted to herself.
It was lust she felt on the beach. At least I could tell myself that in the dark, but under the bright lights, they revealed what I knew she was beginning to feel for me.
I could see it in her eyes.
Love.
And I don’t play with girls who love me. I don’t break hearts if I don’t have to. But my thumb is now hovering over Sophia’s contact name in my phone. It was stupid of me to not have her at the auction house. Receiving the shipment was a celebratory event, and she should be here for it.
I tap her number and put my phone to my ear. It rings for so long that I realize how ridiculous I’m being. I’m not thinking rationally. I’m about to put the phone away, when she answers, and I grimace.
“Hello?” Sophia asks.
“Hey… It’s me.”
“I did save your number.”
“Ah. You never know.”
“What’s up?”
I cringe. I don’t think I’ve ever been so vulnerable on a phone call. “The artifacts arrived today. I guess I wanted to say good job.”
“Wait, they’re there already?”
I’m hit with a pang of something only this girl makes me feel—guilt. “Yeah.”
“They’re not going on display right away, are they?”
“No. No, they’re still boxed up in storage. It’s all about keeping the right temperature for the moment.”
“Well, that’s great. I wish I could’ve been there. They just had to arrive on my day off, didn’t they?”
I can tell from her tone she’s not accusing me. She thinks it’s a coincidence. My mouth is moving before I can even think to shut it. “How about I make it up to you?”
“Hmm?”
“Get dinner with me tonight.” I’m frowning at my own words. What the fuck am I doing?
“Oh. I was going to…” Sophia begins but stops. “I guess I can do that.”
“Meet me in the lobby at seven.”
“Sounds good.” I can hear a bit of nervousness in her tone. I can almost sense her heart fluttering over the phone. I’m playing with fire right now.
“Perfect. See you then,” I say and hang up. My eyes are a little bit widened. I’m shocked at what came over me. What the hell was I thinking?
But I know why I called. I know why I have to see Sophia. My infatuation with a woman like her cannot be iced by a cold shower. It can’t be simply forgotten. I must know her body. I must take her.
Even if it means shattering her heart in the process.
I finish up at the auction house and go back to my apartment. I head straight to the walk-in and choose a dark navy suit and crisp white shirt.
I look in my long mirror with its gilded frame. Even I can see how devilishly handsome I am now. The contrast of the white shirt and my dark tanned skin from my time in Africa is perfect.
I choose an emerald tie the color of my eyes and click in my gold cufflinks. I want to get Sophia something to match. I look at my watch and realize there’s plenty of time to get her a little something.
I adjust the knot in my tie and look myself over once more. I was always going to take Sophia. There was no other course.
I don’t believe in fate. I don’t believe the cold-surging tide was a warning—stay away from this girl.
Stop.
Like Poseidon himself intervened to keep me from fucking her.
But maybe it was a sign I should’ve taken. Maybe this feeling of fire boiling in my guts is a warning—this will destroy you.
This will destroy you both.
I see a small black box in my closet. I walk to it and open it. Inside is a tan wool hat. It has an ugly blue ring going around it. It’s not stylish. But that’s not the point. I never thought I’d have a use for this thing, but now I have an idea.
An idea that contradicts my every thought.