Chapter 6
”You really think I should colour my hair blue and wear a bright yellow tie?” I looked at Lexie over my coffee cup.
She gave me a dazzling smile that almost made my heart stop dead in my chest.
”Definitely yes to the yellow tie.” She tilted her head this way and that, looking at me intently. ”Maybe blue hair is how I see you already. Apparently you think mine is bright orange with pink polkadots.”
”My painting was a step up from a stick figure,” I said. ”A very small step. I needed to give it some pizazz. You have to admit, the resemblance was striking.”
”In that there were two eyes, a nose and a mouth, sure,” she agreed with a laugh. ”My hands aren”t that big.” She held up one to demonstrate.
”Your hands also don”t have four fingers. I took a bit of artistic license with that.” Honestly, I was lucky they were remotely recognisable as hands at all.
”If I didn”t know better, I”d think you actually had fun,” she said.
”Maybe I did.” I couldn”t help being cagey. I had enjoyed myself, but if I didn”t answer right away, it gave me more time to spend with her.
”You had as much fun as I did,” she said. ”The yellow paint on your sleeve says so.”
I glanced down at my sleeve. ”That”s orange.”
”No, there.” She leaned forward and pointed. ”You have yellow there. And pink over there.”
”If anyone sees me like this, my reputation will be toast,” I said. ”I can see the headline now.”
”Me too. Overworked billionaire takes an hour off.” She held up a hand in front of her like a banner. ”Full story at 7 o”clock. Including a thorough breakdown of all his paint splatters, and an interview with an art expert to dissect the meaning behind his masterpiece.”
”I wouldn”t mind any of that.” I sipped my coffee. ”If that was the most important thing the news had to talk about, then nothing really bad happened in the world.”
She lowered her hand back to the table. ”That would be nice. Although, knowing the news, they”d prioritise that over any disasters or things like that.”
”I wish I couldn”t agree, but that”s exactly what would happen.” I sighed. ”I don”t know what the fascination is with the lifestyles of the rich and famous. It”s nowhere near as exciting as they”d have people believe. Obviously, because the most exciting thing that”s happened to me in a long time is paint on my sleeves. And spending time with a beautiful woman. But I prefer they don”t talk about you.”
”Of course.” She sat back in her chair and took a sip of her tea, looking slightly hurt. ”I”m no one anyway.”
I leaned forward. ”You are not no one. You”re smart, sweet and gorgeous, and you deserve better than to be scrutinised by tabloid journalists and paparazzi. Trust me when I say it”s no picnic.”
”Why did you ask me to be your date then?” she asked.
That was a good question. At the time, I hadn”t been thinking beyond spending time with her. Now, after a few short hours, I both wanted to get to know her better and wanted to protect her from all the shit the world might throw at her. Could I do both? Would she even let me try?
”Because I like you,” I confessed. ”I”m not used to spending time with people who really see me. Most people are only interested in what I can do for them. They don”t bother to look past my last name, my job description, or my bank account balance. No one would have brought me here to paint a really bad portrait.” I hesitated for a moment. ”You”re not about to ask me to invest in the paint studio, are you? So you can buy it.” I didn”t remember seeing a ”for sale” sign outside.
She laughed. ”I have enough on my plate with the business I have. A paint studio would be fun, but I”ll stick to cars. Although, if you decided to buy the place, I”d be happy to drive limousines full of people down to have a painting session.”
I snort-laughed. ”That may be an interesting way to encourage people like me to live a little. I wonder if I could entice my mother to take part.”
I hadn”t checked the weather forecast recently, but I didn”t think hell had frozen over yet. The day my mother got paint on or anywhere near her…
That would only happen if she was having an official portrait painted. Which wouldn”t surprise me one bit. She”d have it hung on the wall beside the dining room table so she could look down on all of us and judge us for our life choices.
”I might propose that to the current owner,” Lexie mused. ”We could make a killing between us. Imagine it— Limousine, champagne and painting. It could be the next big thing in bachelor parties.”
”You might want to consider covering the seats in plastic if you do that,” I said. ”Copious amounts of alcohol and wet paint would be very messy.”
She nodded as though seriously considering it. ”Good point. Maybe I should stick to what I know.” She sipped her tea and looked thoughtful.
”I really have had a nice afternoon,” I said. I was going to have to work late to catch up on everything, but it was worth it to unwind and be with her.
”So have I,” she said. ”We still haven”t fit in that spanking yet, though.”
She said that just as I took a sip of coffee, which I promptly almost choked on. She smiled sweetly like she hadn”t done that on purpose.
I coughed a few times before I caught my breath. ”Don”t tempt me.” Fuck knew I was already tempted enough. I wanted to climb into the back of the limo with her and bury myself balls deep in her pussy.
”You might need some tempting,” she said. ”I”m very much wondering if I should seduce you. I mean, nothing loosens a person up quite like a bunch of orgasms.”
If she kept talking like that, my balls were going to separate themselves from my body and insist on going home with her. My cock too.
”I”m not saying I don”t want to sleep with you,” I started slowly. ”But I don”t want to do it while you”re on the clock. You deserve better than that.”
”You seem to have given a lot of thought to what I do and do not deserve,” she observed.
I had. I really had. But only for the last decade. I wasn”t some weird, obsessed nutcase.
”Like I said, you”re smart and beautiful. You”re real. In my world, people like you are rare. Like any rare thing, you should be treated with care. Not like some five-minute fling.”
She raised her eyebrows. ”Five minutes?”
I chuckled softly. ”It rhymed. Perhaps I should have said five-hour fling.”
”You should definitely have led with that,” she agreed. ”Five hours, hmmm?”
”I don”t want to brag.” I finished the last of my coffee.
”That would make you rare too,” she said. ”A man who doesn”t want to brag. I didn”t know people like that existed. But you do, don”t you? I mean, you”re not some arrogant asshole who thinks the world revolves around them. If I didn”t know who you were, I”d think you were just a regular guy. One who wears really expensive shoes.”
I leaned to the side to glance down at my shoes. ”I find they last longer than cheaper ones.” No one had ever suggested I was regular before. I was surprised by how much I liked it.
”Sometimes, I wish I could run off and live in a cottage in the middle of the forest somewhere. Or a small town where no one knows me. Somewhere I could just be me.”
”Why don”t you?” she asked.
”Because I can”t change the world if I”m living in a forest,” I said. ”Unless said forest has really good internet. Since that”s unlikely, then I guess I”m stuck living in the city.”
”It sounds like you need a vacation,” she said. ”When was the last time you got away? Apart from today.”
”We have a yearly vacation every winter,” I said. ”My mother organises a trip somewhere warm.” After a moment I added, ”Somewhere she wants to expand our business interests.”
”So cocktails on the beach while talking business?” Lexie guessed.
”More like cocktails by the pool while my mother flirts with the cabana boys and my father pretends not to look.” While I sat in the shade with my laptop, mostly working.
”No offence, but that doesn”t sound like much of a vacation,” she said. ”Do you ever go anywhere by yourself? A deserted island? A cruise? A weekend of skiing?”
I opened my mouth to speak, but the words were elusive for a few moments. ”Work is?—”
”Something you can delegate to someone else, or it”ll be waiting for you when you get back,” she said. ”Everyone deserves a break. You know when a computer stops working and you have to unplug it to get it to start working again? People are the same. Sometimes you just have to unplug yourself and step away.”
”You”re right,” I admitted. I wondered if I could tempt her to run away with me for a week or two. We could fuel up the jet and go anywhere she wanted to. After my brother”s party. I”d never hear the end of it if I missed that.
”Of course I am, people with pink polkadots in their hair are always wise.” She grinned.
Her smiles weren”t good for my heart rate, or my balls, but I couldn”t look away.
Yeah, I had it bad.