Page 18 of Here Comes Trouble
He snorted and leant against the doorjamb, watching in amusement as she took a theatrical, stumbling step back into the room.
‘It’s real. Consider me humbled.’
She dipped her head and gave him a genuine smile. ‘Apology accepted. Thank you for coming all the way over here, that’s very decent of you.’
He batted her praise away, but acknowledged the feeling of satisfaction it brought, relieved she seemed to have forgiven him for his insensitivity. ‘You were right, I was being an arrogant bastard.’
‘Yeah, well, I wasn’t exactly sweetness and light last night either,’ she said, folding her arms tightly across her chest, which only drew his attention to the swell of her breasts. ‘I’m sorry for being so narky.’
‘Okay. So we’re both sorry. That’s great. Let’s put it behind us.’
‘Good idea.’
They stood looking at each other and an awkward silence descended, making the air between them hum with tension.
‘Nice place you have here,’ Xander said, in an attempt to break it, shooting her a playful grin.
Her shoulders tensed. ‘Yeah, it was the only room I could find at short notice.’
There was a loud scratching noise that seemed to be coming from inside the wall next to him.
He frowned hard. ‘What the hell is that?’
She shrugged, her expression giving away her own disgust. ‘Cockroaches I think.’
The thought of her staying here in such awful conditions made him shudder. No wonder she looked as though she hadn’t slept all night. A sudden overwhelming urge to protect her hit him like a hammer to the chest.
‘You can’t stay here. There must be somewhere else available?’
‘There isn’t. I looked. Everywhere else is fully booked or totally out of my price range.’
‘Isn’t the magazine stumping for your accommodation?’ he asked.
She shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot. ‘There isn’t the budget to put me up somewhere expensive. I’m just a junior staffer,’ she said sheepishly, clearly worried he’d be offended that they hadn’t sent their top reporter to interview him.
The flash of vulnerability did something to his insides, making them squirm in sympathy for her.
‘Pack up your stuff, you’re staying with me.’
She blinked at him in surprise. ‘What?’
‘I have four spare bedrooms at the villa. It’s ridiculous for you to stay in this dump when there’s so much room at my place.’ He held up his hands, palms forward when she frowned and started to shake her head.
‘Rosa’s there most of the time and the bedrooms have locks on the doors so you don’t need to worry about me taking advantage of you.’ He flipped her a grin in the hope she’d believe him. He couldn’t in all conscience let her stay here any longer. The place was disgusting and he hated the thought of her having to put up with it when it was no skin off his nose for her to stay with him.
‘But don’t you want your privacy?’ she hedged, rocking back on her heels.
He shrugged. ‘There’s enough room at the villa for us not to feel like we’re in each other’s pockets and you’re going to be spending most of your time there anyway, right?’
She took a moment to think it over, staring down at the floor.
‘I’ll wait for you in reception,’ he said, moving back towards the door. ‘Rosa’s making breakfast, so we’d better get back there soon.’ He hoped his authoritative tone would tip her into action. He suspected she’d need quite a push to get past her stubbornness.
After five minutes of pacing up and down in the reception area, he finally saw her appear from her room, now fully dressed. She walked down the corridor towards him wheeling a small suitcase, her shoulders drawn forwards and her head dipped with tiredness.
The dull grey, shapeless linen trouser suit she’d put on today did nothing to reflect the feistiness he’d seen in her the previous night – it swamped her frame, diminishing her lifeforce with its banality. Why on earth did she choose to dress like that when she had such passion inside her?
He wondered idly what her body looked like underneath those baggy layers. Soft and inviting, he imagined. He’d love the opportunity to find out for sure.
