“This is a bad idea,” I say as I stand in front of my full-length wardrobe mirror.
A jolt of deja vu makes me frown as I stare at the stranger frowning back at me.
Is it always going to feel this way?
More and more lately I’ve been feeling like a stranger in my own skin.
My form fitting dress clings to my curves and shows just enough cleavage to look enticing without being obvious, and drops to just above my knees. The dark sienna compliments my pale skin and makes my eyes glow, but not quite as sharply as the black and red I’d worn to my first meeting with Mr. Blake.
I’m still trying to forget our first official collision when I ended up at his feet, a mess of sweat and lust.
This meeting will have nothing to do with sweat or lust.
It’s a getting acquainted dinner where I’ll accept his offer of being partners in the creation of my new app in exchange for his business experience and million dollar funding.
A dinner that he’s cooking.
At his mansion.
My door opens and Olivia peaks around it. Her smile is at first impish but spreads into a wide grin as she bursts in.
“You look amazing!” she circles around me, smoothing the occasional wrinkle or fold in the skirt and at my back.
She stops behind me and starts fussing with my hair, “It looks beautiful framing your face and flowing over your shoulders.”
She starts gathering my mass of lush brown hair and pulling into various rough styles, “But maybe we should pull it up so he can see your long neck.”
“It’s not a date,” I remind her, “It’s a business dinner.”
“If you say so,” she replies, giving me her cheekiest smile.
“I say so,” I say pointedly, “If we’re going to be business partners, having any kind of romantic or you-know-what relationship, it will totally get in the way. I need this to work.”
“A you-know-what relationship? Is that what you’re calling business partners with benefits?” she moves around to my front and looks me in the eyes, “So you’ve thought about it.”
“Hush,” I reply but I can feel my face flushing.
“Wow,” she’s looking at me oddly, “How hot is this guy?”
“It doesn’t matter how hot or not he is. It doesn’t matter if he could easily grace the cover of any magazine…”
“But he could?” Olivia’s eyes get wider.
“It. Doesn’t. Matter.”
“Oh wow!”
I sigh but I can’t help an indulgent smile.
Olivia is the most unselfish person I’ve ever met and her enthusiasm for me to get some is as endearing as it is annoying.
“This isn’t a game,” I say, “Even if it didn’t go against my professional standards to fall into bed with him, after my experience with Trent, I’m just not ready to get into another relationship right now.”
“Trent was never worthy to kiss your shoes.”
I don’t argue with that and we exchange a smile.
“Speaking of shoes,” she says as though suddenly remembering and runs out of the room.
When she returns she’s carrying a pair of black knee-high leather boots with sharp spike heels.
“What are they?”
She grins so wide she must be hurting her face.
“These are your black leather screw…”
I hold my hand up before she can finish, “I’ll wear them on the one condition that you never finish that sentence.”
She presses her lips together and looks from me to the shoes to me to the shoes again, before letting out a long-suffering sigh.
“Fine,” she says and shoves the boots at me, “I hope you appreciate the sacrifices I make for you.”
“I totally do,” I laugh, pulling the boots on then standing to inspect my reflection again, “Wow.”
She grins at me in the mirror, “Right?”
I grab my purse, “The cab will be here soon.”
“Cab?” Olivia parrots, frowning, “What happened to his driver?”
“I’m perfectly able to get where I need to go on my own,” I say.
“She seemed nice. In a rabid pixie kind of way,” Olivia smiles.
“She drives like she’s in an action movie.”
Still laughing Olivia pulls out her phone, “Smile. This is date one with the Billionaire.”
“Not a date,” I respond but give her camera phone a smoldering smile.
“Fine,” Olivia slips in beside me and we both smile again, “This isn’t the night that you have hot, kinky, sheet clawing…” The double HONK of the cab waiting on the curb interrupts her lurid words.
“I won’t be late,” I call over my shoulder.
“I won’t wait up.”