Page 12 of Here Comes Trouble
Jess cleared her throat and sat up taller in her seat, anxiety at the thought of having to model for him making her body hum with nerves.
‘So how exactly do these things go? Do I just sit around for a couple of hours and you produce some amazing piece of art?’
He smiled. ‘Not exactly. I prefer to hang out with my subjects for a bit first. It can take a while to come up with the right idea and I like to play around with things for a while before committing paint to canvas. I’ll do some sketches over the next few days and see what works.’
‘The next fewdays? I wasn’t expecting to be here for that long. I thought we could get this all wrapped up in a day. Two max. In fact, I’ve booked a return flight for three days’ time.’
He snorted. ‘A day? If only I could work that fast. No, I usually need at least three or four days of planning. But don’t worry, we can make it fun.’ He gave her a slow grin that made her insides flip.
‘What exactly do you mean by that?’ The question came out sounding curter than she’d intended, so she chased it with an awkward smile.
He snorted, the corner of his mouth twisting up in mirth. ‘Why are you so nervous, Jess?’
‘I’m not nervous,’ she said, the squeak in her voice totally giving her away.
He laughed, the sound rumbling low in his chest. ‘Is my reputation really that bad?’ He leant forwards in a conspiratorial manner, ‘Don’t worry, I’m not going to rip your clothes off and ravish you – unless you ask me really nicely,’ he added with a flirtatious eyebrow raised.
Was he teasing her now? He was. He so was. And she had absolutely no idea how to handle it.
This was exactly why she usually avoided men like him. They rattled her so badly she could barely function.
Mercifully, Rosa returned to call them for dinner then, so she didn’t have to scrabble around for an eloquent response.
‘After you.’ Xander gestured towards the other end of the hall.
‘Great,’ Jess said, already on her feet and making a move towards the doorway he’d motioned to, desperately trying not to skid in her shoes on the smooth marble floor. She could feel him behind her, giving off a vibe of sexual electricity that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand to attention.
Just as they reached the dining room door, her heel caught in a small hole in the marble and she stumbled forwards, her arms flailing as she tried to regain her balance.
Xander stopped her from falling flat on her face by darting forwards and grabbing her arm, pulling her against his body for support.
Taking a hurried step away from the hard wall of his chest, she smoothed down her hair, then her skirt before flashing him a grateful smile. He watched her with an amused eyebrow raised. ‘You okay?’
‘Fine. Thank you.’ She gave him a curt nod. ‘I’m not normally that clumsy, honestly.’
Xander laughed. ‘Don’t worry on my account. It’s not often I get to play the knight in shining armour. It’s usually me falling down, drunk.’
‘I’m not drunk, I only had a couple of sips…’ she began to argue, horrified he’d think she was that much of a lightweight.
He held up a hand. ‘I’m joking, Jess. Jeez, I’ve never met anyone so bad at taking a joke.’
‘I-I can take a joke with the b-best of them,’ she stuttered, picking a rogue hair off the sleeve of her blouse before turning to stare him defiantly in the eye.
Xander shook his head and grinned back at her. ‘Do you think you can make it to the table without taking another tumble? I can give you a piggy back if you like.’
‘I’ll be fine, thank you,’ she said. ‘Wouldn’t want to be responsible for putting your back out.’
He laughed. ‘Never gonna happen. I’m as strong as an ox. See?’ he braced his arms in front of him, mimicking the stance of a bodybuilder.
Jess couldn’t help but laugh at him.
‘Yeah, okayHe-Man, but I’ll walk, thanks.’
He smiled back. ‘Well, okay then, let’s go. I’m starving.’
The dining room was just as impressive as the living room, with an enormous, highly polished dining table sitting pretty in the middle of the room, surrounded by what must have been twenty high-backed chairs.
Another enormous chandelier, this time made from hundreds of pieces of blown glass in the shape of a flock of birds let out a warm, low light over the room.
