“Fine. Carry on.” She reached for her Pringles.
“Where was I?”
“A bodyguard called Brain. I assume he was as thick as two short planks,” she said sarcastically.
I grinned. “He did give the imp**ssion intellectual pursuits were not his thing.”
She smiled, relaxing a little. “Before you carry on, did you meet the child?”
I nodded and frowned, remembering Michele’s silent, but desperate plea.
“Did you find out why she won’t speak?”
I shook my head. “No. Apparently, no one knows, not even her psychiatrist. She seems to communicate by writing on her notepad.”
For a second, my train of thought returned to the ivory marble room with its intricate Persian carpets, golden side tables, and gigantic vases of exotic flowers. In all my life, I’d never felt my heart beat so frantically as I strode through it. And then that moment when I went from shock, sexual arousal, horror, and confusion to looking into the deeply troubled eyes of a sad, little Princess. She didn’t smile. She didn’t speak. She didn’t need to. Her eyes said it all.
Charlotte took an agonized breath and nudged, “Earth to Davina…”
I lifted my gaze to hers. “Sorry. Her name is Michele. It was the weirdest thing but she ran up to me after I left Mr. Angelini’s study and put her hand in mine. Then she wrote on her pad, Don’t go and gave it to me.”
Charlotte’s eyes were as wide as I’d ever seen them. “Good heavens, that’s like something from a Disney movie. What did you freaking do?”
I took a sip of beer as I thought about the strange, surreal moment. “Nothing at first. I was too stunned. I didn’t think I could work for her uncle. Not after I slapped him.”
Charlotte clapped her hand on her mouth. “You slapped him. Okay, back up, back up. Let’s go back to the uncle and the k**s.”
Davina
Charlotte gulped down her beer and watched me with unblinking attention while I told her about the shortest, strangest interview I’ve had with the most mysterious man I’d ever met.
“He sounds creepy,” she decided.
“Trust me, creepy is the last word anyone would use to describe him.”
“What word would you use?”
“I don’t know if I can describe him with one word. To start with, he was extremely difficult to read. Like trying to suss out the Mona Lisa or the Sphinx.” I shook my head. “No, that’s not quite right either. The whole episode was almost like a scene from The Interview With A Vampire. The whole time there was an underlying dark sexual tension.”
Charlotte leaned forward. “Really?”
“Well, for all the five minutes I was there anyway. Then he informed me the interview was over and his PA would contact me with me the result.” I crinkled my face. “Basically, don’t call us, we’ll call you.”
“Why? He didn’t even give you a chance.”
“That’s exactly what I thought and it made me so angry at the arrogance with which he was dismissing me that I forced him to confirm I didn’t have the job.”
Charlotte’s eyes widened as she sl*pped a Pringle into her mouth. “Go you! Then what happened?”
“The next thing I knew he’d left his seat, come around to my side, and grabbed me. He has very strong arms, like steel bands.”
“I’m sure he has,” she murmured staring at me.
“Before I even knew what was happening I heard him say, ‘because of this.’ Then his mouth swooped down on mine. I was too shocked to do anything about it.”
As I spoke, I remembered the burn of his cold eyes, and the fiery sizzle of arousal in the air. I felt his sensuous mouth on mine, the hardness of body p**ssed against mine, and the vortex of desire that I fell into. Clearly, I recalled the glint of triumph in his eyes as my hand connected with his cheek. As if he’d wanted me to slap him. Which of course, was madness.
“You’re kidding?” Charlotte breathed.
“I’m not.”
“That’s so…out there, but hold that thought for a moment,” she said, jumping up. “I need another beer. I’ll be back.” Charlotte scooted into the kitchen and returned with two beers, one of which she slapped into my hand. She dropped into her chair and pulled her feet under her. “Proceed,” she invited. “You were telling me how Gabriel k**sed you. This is the good part, so don’t hold back. I want all the details. As many as you can spare.”
I stared at her eager face and realized I couldn’t share that moment with her. She already thought he was a creep and my reaction as deserving a place in a psychiatric ward. How could I make her understand I had absolutely no control over my own actions? That a complete stranger could have had me right there on the floor of his study. I didn’t even have the excuse of being drunk. I felt myself blush with shame. “There is not much to tell. It was just wrong.”
Charlotte’s eyes turned penetrating. I never could hide anything from her. “Just wrong? That’s it. You didn’t feel anything? Every k**s does something. You can k**s a frog and still get something.”
“Well, he got slapped.”
“Hmmm…yes. You said. So that’s it then. You didn’t get the job.”
“No, I got the job.”
She looked incredulous. “He gave you the job after you slapped him?”
“Well, after I slapped him I left his office, but that was when I met his niece. She ran up to me and gave me the notes. Of course, he saw our exchange and called me back into his office. He said he had reconsidered and was going to give me the job because he wanted to put Michele’s needs above his.”
“How magnanimous of him,” Charlotte replied sarcastically. “And you’re okay with this?” She seemed to be waiting with bated breath.
I sighed. “Yes.”
“Why? He sounds extremely misogynistic and manipulative.”
“I don’t know how to put this, but I’m actually quite concerned about a little girl who won’t talk. A little girl who thinks I, a complete stranger, might be the answer to her prayers. I’m also very curious to know why she chose me. Maybe I was simply a face she preferred to the other applicants, or there’s a mystery I can help to solve. In any case, she moved me.”
Charlotte bit her l*p. “I still don’t know how I feel about the lecherous uncle, but I think the child made a brilliant decision picking you. You will be good for her.”
“You really think so?”
“Absolutely. They don’t call you the child whisperer at the agency for nothing. You’ll help her. I’m sure of it.”
We were silent for a few seconds.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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