Page 29 of Ruthless Commander
I read the text once more and straightened my dress. “Sure,” I murmured, looking at myself in the bathroom mirror. “Why the hell not.”
The beige free-flowing dress draped from my body, coming in tighter below my knees. Gaping armholes left the sides of my sheer black bra unavoidably visible. I skimmed my hands down my body, taking in the black, strappy lace-up stilettos that mirrored the shock of my messy hair. Not bad…not bad at all.
A noise came from the room next to mine, drawing my focus to my roommate. I sighed, stared at the wall, and debated just sneaking out and leaving her behind. But that was a shitty thing to do, and right now it looked like Evan Valachi could do with a friend.
I walked out of my bedroom and made my way to her closed door, knocking gently. “Hey, Evan, it’s me. I’m heading out to a party at Zakharov’s, you want to come?”
Silence came from behind the door. Maybe she had her iPods in and didn’t hear me? I lifted my hand and knocked once more, louder. “Evan, can you hear me?”
Something shifted behind the door and goosebumps raced along my arms, making me shiver. I scowled at the door and took a step backwards. A shadow moved across the gap on the floor. She was there, standing right in front of me.That’s fucking weird.
I stepped backwards, all of a sudden wanting to put distance between us.“Okay.”I made my way out of the apartment and headed to the elevator, pressed the button, and stepped inside.
Valachi was starting to weird me the fuck out.
But then again, we were all a little weird.
Me included.
I’d gone off the rails when Mateo had broken my fucking heart. I'd tried to attend college, tried women too, anything to get the taste of Mateo Ristani out of my goddamn mouth. That turned out disastrous.
“Ms. Davies.” Rhys lifted his gaze from his laptop as I stepped off the elevator into the foyer.
“You don’t need to come,” I muttered. “I’ll literally be in an apartment surrounded by security.”
“How about I walk you to the building then?” He rose from the seat, leaving his laptop behind.
“That’s not a request, is it?”
He smiled and gave me a wink.
“Fine,” I sighed, and turned for the door.
The moment the doors opened, a brutal gust of wind smacked into me, knocking me backwards. Rhys was there, grabbing my arm and steadying me. “Easy,” he murmured.
I righted my stance, leaned forward, and stepped back out into the wind. There was a change coming. Don’t ask me how I knew, I just felt it in my bones. My mother called me ‘intuitive’. Dad just called me foolish. But I knew…I knew a change was coming in the gusts that tore through the gaps in my dress to slide across my body.
I brushed my hair to the side, draping it over my shoulder, strode past the thick green foliage that filled the garden outside the entrance to the building, and stepped out of its protection.
Lights drew my gaze to a building nearby.“See!”I yelled over my shoulder, fighting the wind.“Right over there!”
But Rhys never moved from my side, his hand hovering discreetly an inch from my arm, never once giving me an impression he thought of me as anything other than his job. Which was just fine with me. I sure as hell didn’t need any more complications. Not after the last one…that was enough to turn me off love forever.
I lowered my head, squinting as my hair lashed my eyes. Tears came quickly as I slammed my card against the reader to Zakharov’s building and the foyer doors opened instantly.
I focused on watching Rhys, making sure he stayed true to his word, hanging back outside the building, before I turned away. The last thing I needed was the buzzkill of him watching over my shoulder, knowing that every little fucking thing would be relayed back to good ‘ol dad.
I didn’t swipe away the blur in my eyes, just lifted my gaze as the elevator doors started to close.“Hey! Hold the door!”I hurried, heels clattering, fighting the deafening roar still lingering in my ears from the wind.
I made it just in time, shoving out my hand and stumbling inside…then I lifted my head, meeting Mateo’s sullen glare as the doors closed with athud.
“Oh.” The word slipped free before I slammed up the walls around my heart.
He just stared as I dragged my wind-blown hair over my shoulder, his eyes captured by the movement, taking in the gaping armholes of my dress as I moved. I knew my bra was showing, the edge of my breast spilling free. But I didn’t care. I liked him watching, liked that tortured wince in his eyes.
“You sure you should be wearing that?” he said carefully.
“Wearing what? Oh, you mean this?” I murmured, skimming my hands down my body, sliding the fabric over the swell, revealing the sheer bra.
