Chapter 16
sixteen
confirm my hypothesis
R yan was proud of himself. He’d been polite and hadn’t even allowed his eyes to roam her body.
Instead, he counted the freckles on her nose and traced the outline of her delicate mouth with his eyes.
He was becoming a professional after two weeks.
Then he realized what he’d just thought about himself and mentally slapped his forehead. Dumbass, this isn’t what you want .
Carefully balancing the tray of beverages, Ryan opened the door to the conference room and stopped dead in the doorway.
All eyes turned to him, but it was all he could do to avoid dropping the damned tray and rushing over to where his brother hovered over Elissa.
What the hell he was going to do once he got there was a mystery.
Fight his brother over a woman who wanted, rightly, nothing to do with him?
Ryan placed the tray at the far end of the table and took the water to her first. At least he could put some distance between them.
“Excuse me, Alex.” He would not allow the strange brew of emotions seething inside him to show.
Alex took two steps back, and those emotions went from almost boiling over to a slow simmer.
He placed the water to her right and gave her a quick grin.
When her eyes met his, he could’ve sworn a hint of relief flashed as Elissa began to return the smile before she recognized who it was, exactly, she was smiling at. Ryan stepped away.
God, she smelled fan-fucking-tastic. A soft, powdery scent had lingered in the air around her and activated some part of his unconscious mind.
Heat headed straight to his groin, and he turned to prepare the coffee before anyone noticed.
Focusing on the minutiae of his job, he carried the tray over to his aunt and Karina Jansen.
Ryan set the cups in front of the two women and left the sugar and cream on the tray, which he placed between them.
He took his seat next to Val and grabbed a pen and a pad of paper from the middle of the table, ready to begin.
Alex had stayed those two steps away from Elissa, and Ryan forced himself to pay attention to the conversation. He wouldn’t compete with his brother for a woman. He couldn’t, anyway. Whenever given a choice, they always went for the sophisticated heir apparent.
“Don’t hesitate to call if I can help in any way,” his dad said. “I know we’ll be meeting once you have a draft, but I’m available whenever you need.”
“Thank you, Alessandro. Alex, it was good to see you.” Karina shook his dad’s hand again.
“It was nice to meet you both,” Elissa said in her pleasant, professional voice. It was not the same voice she’d used with him. She’d been passionate, though irate. He missed that Elissa.
His dad murmured something polite, but Alex took a step toward Elissa.
Ryan’s arms tensed and his legs inched him away from the table before he could stop them.
His brain flooded with all kinds of neurochemicals that made him itch to hit his brother.
He forced himself to sip the water he’d brought instead. This was getting ridiculous.
“Karina, Elissa, a true pleasure.” Alex shook Karina’s hand with professional ease. But when he shook Elissa’s hand, he enclosed it in both of his. The primitive part of Ryan’s brain didn’t like it one bit. He glared at Alex as his brother crossed the room.
Alex clapped him on the shoulder. “Good luck, Ryan.” He exited with a wink.
Good fucking riddance, but why in the hell did his brother wink at him.
“Let’s get down to business,” his aunt said once the door had closed behind Alex.
As they discussed the upcoming tax season, Ryan relaxed into his role.
He took detailed notes of all the forms and files he’d need to hand over, looking to Val for clarification when necessary.
His eyes roamed over to Elissa from time to time, but she was furiously taking notes, too.
In different colored pens with a variety of highlighters arrayed in front of her.
She switched between them efficiently, hardly breaking pace with the conversation. Fuck, he was attracted to a nerd.
Ryan’s handwriting worsened as he futilely tried to keep pace, but paying attention to the conversation was difficult enough with his ADHD. He’d figure out what he wrote later.
An hour passed, and he suppressed a sigh of relief when Karina called for a break.
He finished writing and looked up to see Elissa’s gaze slide away from him.
He looked down at his notepad and quashed the smile trying to force its way onto his lips.
Ryan cleared his throat, put down his pen, and stretched his arms, lacing his fingers together.
Annetta smiled at him as she rose and excused herself.
“Coffee in the same place as usual?” Karina stood and stretched.
Val nodded, and Karina left, carrying the coffee mug with her.
“Do either of you need anything?” Val rose, too. They both shook their heads in the negative. “I’ll go check at reception, make sure nothing’s come up. You’re doing great, Ryan, so you can start without me when Annetta and Karina return.”
Val exited the room, leaving the door open.
Ryan felt Elissa not looking at him. Her gaze seemed to float everywhere in the room, but when it came around to him, it would suddenly dart to anywhere else.
He plastered a polite smile on his face, hiding the wide grin he wished he could give her, and leaned back in his chair.
“I never got to tell you how much I liked your shoes at the Sandpiper,” he said, trying to break the awkward silence. Those eyes finally locked onto his face, widening in surprise, and pink tinged her cheeks at his compliment. “Where did you find them?”
The pink in her cheeks turned to red.
“I made them,” she mumbled.
It was his turn to be surprised. But he shouldn’t have been. He’d noticed her appearance was at odds with the passion he detected under her calm exterior, much like a strong current in a wide river. A current that would drag him under if he let it, and fuck, he was tempted to let it.
“Are you wearing them today?”
She shook her head and tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear. A tiny pearl earring caught the overhead light, its pale pink hue matching the color of her cheeks. The corners of her lips twitched before she could force them into a serious line.
He pushed all the way back from the table and tried to look under it to see for himself. The angle was all wrong.
“What are you doing?”
“I want to see what your shoes look like today.”
“Why?” Elissa narrowed her eyes at him, brows drawn down in an adorable frown. Could this woman do anything that wasn’t adorable?
“To confirm my hypothesis.”
“And what is your hypothesis?” Her tone was suspicious.
“That you’re wearing a full-body mask. That under the cool, calm accountant persona is a passionate artist just dying for someone to ask her about her shoes.
” He graced her with the full DeMarco smile no woman had ever been able to turn down.
He’d seen his grandfather, his father, and his brother use it countless times.
So had he, but rarely for such a simple request. Usually, his goal was much more carnal.
“I am an accountant. It’s not a persona.”
“But are you also an artist?” His words were gentle. He genuinely wanted to know.
“It’s a craft, not an art.”
“Bullsh—baloney. There’s not much difference, but if you’re going to get all technical, let’s call it creative.”
She stared at him for a moment, evaluating him.
Coming to a conclusion, she pushed away from the table, crossed one leg over the other, and pulled off a shoe.
Elissa tossed it to him over the table, and he caught it, still surprised his challenge had worked.
Dragging his gaze from her, he examined the shoe in hand.
It was a simple ballet flat, but instead of the Van Gogh-style sunflowers, the background colors bled into each other yet still gave the impression of green leaves.
Painted on top, in clear lines, was a white butterfly with golden stripes.
The effect was nearly photorealistic with the subject in crystal-clear detail and the background out of focus. Beautiful .
“Thank you,” she said.
Shit, he must’ve said it out loud. He looked up and his heart stopped. She was biting her lip, and the simple gesture sent a shock straight to his cock. Damn, she was going to be the death of him.
The silence stretched, and she held out a hand.
“Can I have my shoe?”
The little imp on his shoulder got the better of him. “I don’t know. What will happen if I don’t give it back?”
She couldn’t stop the smile from curving her pink lips. “I’m a good shot. I’ll throw the other one.”
“And then I’ll have both.”
“Oh, you think so?”
Elissa rose out of the chair and limped around the table, only one shoe on.
The look on her face, half exasperation, half playful, all flirtation, left him sitting in his own chair still as a statue.
By the time he’d thought to move, she was standing in front of him, hands on her hips.
He couldn’t help himself. His eyes traveled down her body, tracing the curves of her breasts, the flare of her hips, her shapely legs, and her cute little foot, toes painted a pink to match her earrings.
He returned his eyes to her face. Her cheeks were flushed, her blue eyes sparkled like the summer lake they reminded him of, and her full lips curled into an authentic smile. All he wanted to do was look at her, possibly forever.
Elissa licked her lips, and his gaze traced the movement of her tongue.
“Mr. DeMarco, may I please have my shoe?” Elissa asked breathlessly, and for a solid second, Ryan was tempted to kiss her until she could only ask questions breathlessly. Or no questions at all.
Voices in the hall brought him to his senses.
“Of course,” he said, a tad breathless himself.
Their fingers brushed as he handed back her shoe, sending an electric charge up his arm.
He tried not to examine them for scorch marks as she dropped the shoe to the floor and slipped her foot into it.
As the voices moved closer, she walked around the table and settled herself onto the chair.
Ryan cleared his throat and scooted his chair back to the table.
They studiously avoided looking at each other for the rest of the afternoon.