Page 10 of Gold Digger
“Right, well, best be getting on,” I said, my voice unnaturally high as I backed away towards the door.
“Weren’t you in the middle of cleaning the kitchen? Isn’t this where you should begetting on.”
“I… well, I-I-I…” I took another step back, and he frowned.
“Don’t avoid me,” he said in that commanding tone, and I had to grit my teeth to hold back a smart-arse response. I didn’t know if it was his blue blood, his upbringing, his private school education, his general sense of entitlement or just his actual personality, but he was so blooming bossy.
“I’m not avoiding you.”
“Yes, you are.”
I narrowed my eyes at him.
“You know what? You can’t order someone not to avoid you.”
“Why not?”
“Holy guacamole. Why? Are you serious? Have you ever been toldno?”
He tilted his head to the side and smiled. Honestly, this kind of sex appeal should be illegal. He wasn’t safe for women with functioning ovaries to be around.
“Rarely,” he conceded.
“Well, I’m not avoiding you. And even if I were, could you blame me? I don’t think I’ve ever been so embarrassed as I was that night in the bar, which you own. Is there anything in London that you don’t own?”
“Don’t be embarrassed.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Again, a little coaching on basic human interaction, which I fear may be a good thirty years too late, but you can’t just order someone not to be embarrassed.”
“I just did.”
“Well, it doesn’t work that way, you numpty.” I froze before my eyes went wide. Was I trying to get fired?
“Numpty?” His smile was wide and glamorous now – it was like looking into the sun. “I don’t think anyone’s ever called me a numpty before. I like it.” Instead of the irritation or annoyance I would have expected to feel filling the room, all I could detect was amusement and… interest.
I blinked. Okay, so not fired. “You’re a bit of a rare one,” I whispered, and then he did something almost magical: he laughed. It was deep and rumbly and glorious. I could have listened to it all day.
“You definitely know how to throw a compliment around,” he finally said through his laughter, his eyes still dancing. I shrugged as a small, involuntary smile tugged at my lips. It was literally impossible not to smile surrounded by that rich laughter. I took a step back towards the kitchen island andaway from the exit, shuffling carefully as if approaching an unpredictable large predator. The duke shifted away slightly like he was giving me space to come further into the room, trying not to spook me. I cleared my throat and squared my shoulders to do something I should have done a month ago.
“Thank you for helping me keep my job at the bar,” I said quietly, putting my kitchen spray down on the marble of the island. His smile dropped as he lowered his mug to the counter and crossed his arms over his broad chest.
“You didn’t do anything wrong.”
One side of my mouth quirked up at that. The world didn’t work that way. Just because I didn’t do anything wrong didn’t mean I wouldn’t have been fired for causing a scene like that. People like me had to toe the line, however unfair that line was, and people like him would never understand that. There was no point explaining it to him.
“Is there better security on the floor now?” he asked, and I cocked my head to the side.
“Er… sure.”
“You don’t sound sure.”
“I am,” I said firmly. “It’s a great place to work.”
Okay, so yes, there were bouncers in the club now, and nobody touched the waitresses, but that didn’t change the overall vibe of the place – rich, powerful men served by young women in four-inch heels. The physical harassment may have stopped, but the verbal…
He frowned. “I own the freehold, but I don’t have much to do with the running of the bar. My brother-in-law, Blake, sorts that side of things.” I held back a cringe. His brother-in-law was a drunk (I was guessing that he wasn’t one of the people who’d received a lifetime ban as I’d seen him since that night), but I was filing that info in thenot my blooming businesscategory.No way would I bad mouth the duke’s family to his face. “Why are you working there anyway?”
I held back an eye roll. Rich dudes, honestly. “Oh, you know, it’s always been my dream to serve overpriced drinks to rich people. I feel like I’m fulfilling my life’s calling. It’s where I’mmeant to be.”
