Page 41 of The Suit

“Black hair, red lips, wearing a dangerous pair of heels and an expression that looks like she might murder you with them?”

Cliff cleared his throat. “Er, yes, sir. Something along those lines.”

Well, well, well. Tonight just gotveryinteresting.

“It’s okay, send her up.”

I heard another shuffle. “Are you sure, sir?”

“Yep, it’s all good.”

“Okay, I’ll be here if you need me,” he said, like Beulah was genuinely some kind of threat, and could very likely cause me real harm.

Not that it wasn’t a possibility.

“Thanks, man, I appreciate it.”

I gave my head one last swipe of the towel, before wrapping it around my waist and made my way downstairs to wait for Beulah. I hadn’t expected to see her again so soon. I hadn’t expected her to give in quite so easily, although it was anyone’s guess why she was here; with Beulah, nothing was a certainty until you were right in the thick of it. You just had to go along for the ride, and hang on tight.

I leaned against the table positioned in the entrance hall where the elevator opened directly into my apartment, crossing my arms over my chest just as it pinged.

And there she was.

A steely determination flickered across her face, until it was replaced by another one altogether as she took me in. It wasn’t an accident I hadn’t bothered getting dressed, I wanted her to see me; all of me.

And her reaction was exactly what I’d been hoping for.

It wasn’t my face she looked at first.

If I wasn’t already almost naked, she could have incinerated my towel with the fire blazing from her eyes; the warm gold burning like torches across an inky sky. I succeeded in holding back my grin while she failed to stop her mouth dropping slightly as her eyes moved with unblinking consideration across every inch of my chest, taking in as much as she could.

Her gaze edged slowly up my body as she stepped out of the elevator, widening with every second she soaked me in; across my torso, my chest, my still crossed arms and biceps… across all the muscles I worked so diligently to maintain. They’d never be as big as Diego’s, but there’s no way anyone could call me lean.

I also wasn’t sure what exactly her reaction was for, because I wasn’t sure how much she’d noticed on Friday night, but even if she’d only taken in a small glimpse of my forearms, she wouldn’t have been prepared for the artwork covering my body. I saw it every day and I could still appreciate that it was a lot.

I tried to remember another occasion where I’d seen her as speechless, yet couldn’t; but there’d be time for more of that later. I coughed quietly and her eyes shot up to finally meet mine.

“To what do I owe this pleasure? I’d ask how you found me but you probably looked in your cauldron, right? Or was it a crystal ball? What do you use these days?” I peered round her, “Where’s your broomstick?”

Her jaw clenched, and I waited.

The heat in her eyes didn’t disappear, even when she narrowed them until I could barely see the amber burning.

“Never mind, this was a mistake.”

She spun on her heel to find the elevator doors had closed, but I grabbed her wrist and pulled her back before she hit the button.

“Not so fast. You’re here now, and I want to know why.”

I wondered how many poor associates she’d made cry with her glare, or if she saved the worst for me. Unfortunately for her, the only thing she succeeded in there was making me laugh harder, especially as it now appeared she was refusing to speak.

Fuck me, she was stubborn. Good job I was used to that too.

“Tell you what, I have three guesses, and if I don’t give you the correct answer, then you can leave. Deal?”

She stayed silent, but I took the twitch under her eye as an affirmative.

“Did you come to tell me I was right, and our sex was the best you’d ever had? Most of all I want to hear I was right though. You know I’ll never tire of hearing it, especially when it’s coming from your lips.”

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