Chapter 5
Five
M r Tell fixed me with a glare that turned my insides cold. "Do you always answer your phone during a meeting?"
I bit my lip. I hated to admit it, especially in front of him, but I had messed up.
"Well, I've never been in a meeting like this before, so technically no.
That was my first time screwing one up. I apologise.
" I held my breath, waiting for another telling-off but he just gave a sharp nod, dismissing the issue.
I released a breath. "Well, I think we've covered everything.
" I gave him a polite smile as I started packing the plans away.
"Stay." It wasn’t a request. He leaned against the wall, a move so casual it surprised me.
"We don't have anything left to discuss, Mr Tell," I said evenly. I was trying to be tactful which wasn't one of my strong suits.
"I disagree."
Of course he disagreed. I took a deep breath and tried again. "Mr Tell, I really ought to be getting back to work."
"You'll stay," he said, as if the matter was already decided.
The man was infuriating and I had to fight the urge to flip him off.
I swallowed my annoyance and clicked my folder shut, resolving to humour him for five minutes.
He gave me another smug look and I gritted my teeth for the hundredth time.
"You were squeaking your chair on purpose." His sudden statement surprised me—was he always this blunt?
"Affirmative," I said, matching his monotone tone. He raised his brows at me. "Sorry, you're just kind of robotic." He didn't laugh and I sighed—this man was hard work. "Yes, I was squeaking my chair on purpose."
"Why?" he asked and I shrugged.
"I thought you could stand to be made fun of a little." Also, it was payback for you staring at me through the whole meeting and trying to throw me off.
The meeting was over and that fact was making me bolder than I probably should be. He tilted his head. Apparently, someone being playful with him was a foreign concept. That made me feel a little sorry for him.
I wandered back to the wall, standing next to him but keeping a very safe distance.
I rested on my forearms, admiring the view.
If he was insistent on me staying then I could at least try to control the conversation.
"I was relieved to see there were no plans for you to destroy any of this beauty with a golf course or tennis court. "
"No," he said after a pause, still not shifting his gaze from me. "I wanted to keep up its natural aesthetic as much as possible. Besides, I don't think anything should be spoiled for the sake of a golf course ."
I wondered what he had against golf. Maybe he was terrible at it.
"I've never played."
"Good. I don't recommend it."
"What do you recommend?" I bit my lip, I hadn’t meant for that to sound suggestive. Hopefully he hadn’t noticed.
"I prefer more of a challenge than the average sport has to offer."
Yep. He’d noticed.
"Unfortunately," he continued, and I straightened as he took a step towards me, "a challenge is a rare beast."
I looked up at him and tried to take him in without my brain melting.
"Yeah, I suppose for someone like you it must be.
Does it bother you that you're able to get whatever you want so easily?
I think I'd hate it." I knew I was being presumptuous, probably stepping way over the line, but the way his steel-greys were flashing at me, I didn't think he minded.
"You think so? You don't think you'd enjoy being able to go anywhere? Buy anything? Never having to wait in line, never having to fly coach…"
"Well, I've never flown anywhere so I'd just be grateful to be flying at all."
"You're lying." He looked at me like I was an alien but I just shrugged. I knew it was strange but I'd never been able to afford a holiday even though there were a million places I wanted to go.
"No, and to answer your other questions, I'm sure the novelty would wear off if there wasn't any actual substance in my life.
How could I ever be proud of myself if I could get everything so easily?
How could I ever be satisfied? The world would lose its mystique, its magical elusiveness, it's… why are you looking at me like that?"
He was suddenly so close I could smell him. He looked at me like I was a puzzle and all the while he was in front of me I noticed just…him. The broadness of his shoulders, his strong brow, and his eyes that were killing me. He looked like everything a man should be.
"I like looking at you," he whispered as if it was the most natural thing to say in the world.
"It's creepy," I lied. It was hot as hell.
"But you like it."
"Who said I like it?"
"Your flushed skin and the way you press your thighs together tells me you like it." His gaze dropped to my chest where I swore he would be able to see my heartbeat. "What's this?" My mind was spinning so fast it took a moment to realize he was holding my necklace.
He toyed with it, turning it over in his long fingers, brushing the skin of my breastbone with light, fluttering touches that sent the hairs up on the back of my neck.
"It's a flower?" he asked as he turned it again.
"Yes, it's a bleeding heart pressed between glass.
My mum made it for me when I was little.
She cut the flower, pressed it herself, and had it set into the gold edging.
" My mum's necklace, my most precious possession.
Usually, I was fiercely protective over it, but for some reason I didn't mind him touching it.
"A bleeding heart?" He looked closer at the heart-shaped flower, at the droplet-shaped bottom that made it look as though it were bleeding.
"Yes, it's a wildflower. They're usually pink but my mum grew them in all colours; red, blue, black, yellow. White was her favourite." Why was I telling him about my mum? She was a sacred part of me that I kept hidden safely away from prying eyes. I didn't talk about her to complete strangers.
"What does it mean?"
"The white one? Innocence, purity, goodness, but the bleeding heart represents passion, a powerful love between people.
You gift white ones to people who mean the most to you.
They're my favourite kind of flower." I clamped my mouth shut to stop me from giving away any more of my secrets to this man.
"It suits you." He released the necklace and traced the line of my collarbone with a teasing finger. “How did you learn about all of this?”
“My mother, she started my love for it.” I took a breath, pushing down painful memories, pushing down the butterflies he'd put in my stomach.
“I got my obsession with gardens from her, now I dream about designing them but rarely get the opportunity.” He looked surprised when I took a step away, regaining some much needed distance.
Wasn't I supposed to be trying to leave?
"So, why did you buy this place? Why here and not somewhere else?" I asked, trying to move our conversation onto safer seas.
"Why not?" He shrugged as if it was just all in a day which I suppose for him it was. Still, it annoyed me and I shook my head at his blasé attitude. "Why are you shaking your head?"
"Nothing. I'm just having a strange day." I didn't want to say what I was really thinking—that he was a spoiled, silver-spooned…
"Strange how?"
"You mean, apart from crashing into your car and then falling flat on my backside?
" I raised my brows and a hint of a smile played on his lips before he pulled it back, as if the very act of smiling had pained him.
"I just don't have days like this, that’s all.
" It was almost painful to be near him and I had no idea why.
Something about him just had me feeling so precarious.
"Days like what?"
"Days where I get to wander around places like this and look at views like that." I gestured towards the landscape. The landscape that he owned. How could he not be overawed by that? "I could look at it all day."
"You can if you like."
"Pardon?"
"You heard what I said." He took a step, closing the gap between us again.
He turned and I turned too, unable to look away from his eyes, pulling me in like a pair of steel- grey whirlpools.
"Spend the day with me." He leaned into me, pressing me against the wall so tightly that if he pressed any further I might just fall backwards and plunge to my death.
"I have to get back to work." My breath hitched as I spoke and I cursed myself for it. It gave me away. He paused at my words as if he didn't quite understand them.
"You're refusing me?" He was so close that if I pushed up on my toes I'd be able to kiss him.
"Does that surprise you?"
He was too close. My head swam. I placed my hands on the wall behind me, needing as much distance as I could get. My hair caught in the spring breeze as I gazed up at him, waiting to see what this mercurial man would do next.
"Yes. Why are you refusing me?" He was confused. In fact, I think he was dumbfounded. I laughed out loud, I couldn't help it.
"Why don't you ask instead why I should spend the day with you? Excluding reasons like your wealth and good looks." I eyed him, wondering how he would respond. I was painfully aware of his body so close to mine and I did my best to ignore it.
"Do you think that's all I am?" His eyes searched mine.
"Do you ?"
"Do you always answer a question with a question?"
"Do you ?" I shot back.
He let out an exasperated sigh. I was working him up. That was good. I was glad I wasn't the only one feeling affected.
His brows knitted as he thought. Looking at everything he was, at everything he had, I wondered if this was the first time he’d had to work for a woman’s attention.
"You should spend the day with me because I'm curious about you.
" Curious. He, Mr Tell, Mr Billionaire Business Suit, was curious about me?
I was tempted to cave but no. He'd probably pulled this with a thousand girls and I didn't want to be the latest. This man had playboy written all over him and just because he had me weak at the knees didn't mean I was going to fall.
"That's a good answer, Mr Tell, but I really do need to get back to work." I sounded more confident than I felt.
He leaned in, placing his mouth a breath from mine. "How about I take you to Paris?"
My knees almost buckled. Almost. "How about you take me to my car?"
He paused again, straightened, and was silent for one very long moment. "You are very unusual."
"Thank you. Now, I really do need to go." He'd trapped me so close to the wall that I couldn't leave unless he let me, so I just stood there, waiting in limbo while he decided what to do with me. After several long moments, he relented and stepped back.
Without a word, I slipped past him and walked on unsteady legs to retrieve my bag and folder from the table.
He followed me into the stairwell and we descended into darkness where I was immediately aware of his close proximity.
I made it down the stairs but when I reached for the door, his hand got there first and held it shut. I turned and found myself boxed in, the darkness closed in around us.
He trailed his thumb along my lower lip and I struggled to maintain my equilibrium.
"Do you have any idea what I could do with this smart mouth?" He leaned in, an inch away from my lips. My palms were sweating, my skin was flushed, and my lips felt swollen from his light touch.
"Stay with me, O'Connell." He was so close. My body cried out for him with a passion that frightened me. I didn't even like this man, but I wanted him.
“Mr Tell,” I breathed. The scent of him was intoxicating and my head swam at his proximity.
But there was an urge to run too. I lifted my chin and found his gaze in the dark.
"What the hell kind of girl do you take me for?
" I saw shock in his eyes and used the opportunity to shove him away from me.
I wrenched open the door and made a run for it.
The man was insane.
My heart beat an anvil in my chest and part of me was desperate to turn around and sate myself with him, but a much bigger part was furious that he'd had the nerve to treat me like that.
Who did he think he was?
"Miss O'Connell," he called after me, but I was way ahead of him, my sister’s ill-fitting shoes not holding me back for a moment.
If Mr Tell wasn't careful he was about to find out just how vicious my temper could be.
Within minutes, I was out of the front door and making my way down the steps. He was still hot on my heels. His hand encircled my arm and he spun me around to face him. I glared up at him. If he wanted to cause a scene in front of Elliot, Riley, and a whole team of workmen then so be it.
"Get off me," I growled, keeping my voice low.
He eyed me, scrutinising my face. I could practically see the cogs turning in his mind as he tried to figure out a way of winning this game.
His gaze caught something over my shoulder before flicking back to me.
He leaned in and pressed his lips to my ear.
"You're a rare beast, Lola O'Connell, and I love a challenge." His whispered words sent a shiver up my spine. Then he released me and I fell away from him.
I didn't dare another glance at those eyes that saw everything. I didn't know what he'd seen over my shoulder that had made him change tactics and I didn't wait to find out.
I walked with as much dignity as I could manage across the gravel and threw myself into my van. I saw him in my wing mirror as I made my escape, his hands in his pockets and a smug look on his face.
What was he so smug about?
He hadn't gotten me to stay and there was no way I was ever going to see him again. Then, my heart sank, as I caught sight of Riley in my wing mirror still holding my phone as I drove away.