Page 35 of Acquiring Ainsley
“What I mean is—” I broke off and looked out the front windshield. “You say that, but it’s really up to you, isn’t it? You can do whatever you want with it.” I braced my elbow on the armrest and rubbed my forehead with my right hand. “No matter what you think now… we won’t be able to stop you from selling off the pieces, if that’s what you want. You can literally do anything—”
He caught my shoulder. “Ainsley, where is this coming from?”
Our gazes locked once more. “I’ve just been worried,” I said. “We’re giving up a lot.I’mgiving up a lot. You have the power here, not us.”
“What did I tell you and Ashton the first time that I made this offer?” He held my arm tighter. “I want to fix the company, not sell it off into smaller pieces. Making a quick buck off your family’s downfall isn’t my main goal.”
“It isn’t? Whatisyour main goal, then? I thought this was about becoming ‘someone’ in society.”
“It is, but—”
“But what?”
He shook his head. “To be honest, this is really about something else.” He faltered, paused. “I haven’t wanted to admit this, but it’s probably time to tell you the truth. I screwed up all those years ago. Royally. I burned a bridge with your father right after my own father died. We had a chance to mend fences, a chance to repair the relationship between our two families, and I didn’t let it happen. I’ve regretted that ever since.”
Trevor leaned a little closer to me, and the musky, rich smell of his cologne filled my nostrils. Once again, the familiar spark of attraction ignited in my stomach, and I wanted more of it—the delicious feeling of being on the edge of something, on the perimeter of a reality that I’d never expected to consider with a man I’d never thought I’d see again.
“So, I’m the one who needs this, Ainsley,” he murmured. “More than you realize.”
I didn’t reply; the moment didn’t call for it. Instead, we stared at each other for a long time. Implication wrapped around us; it sank into every nook and cranny of the car interior.
Was he going to kiss me? Did I want him to?
Oh, god, I can’t believe I’m thinking this, but yes, I do…
“You’re a fun date,” he finally said. “I had a great time.”
“Me too.” I glanced down at the envelope on the console between us, which held all the details about the Romanov crystal bowl Trevor had also recklessly bought during the middle of the live auction. He’d been in a bidding war, and as I watched, he’d driven the price higher and higher, determined to win and to make an impression on the rest of the moneyed crowd at the tables. “You’ll have to figure out where to display this bowl, too.”
“Yes.” He smiled. “We will.”
I sucked in a breath.We. We will.There it was again. Something had changed—I was almost sure of it. I waited for a moment, wondering if he’d take this second opportunity to kiss me.
But he didn’t.
Instead, he said, “I’ll pick you up tomorrow at noon so that we can look at what we want to put on the registry. Goodnight, Ainsley.”
The following afternoon found us in front of a long array of glass bowls, vases, candlesticks, and serving trays at the Chez Julian boutique in the middle of Worth Avenue. When we walked in, I wondered if the sales associate could smell my money; she got a look on her face that told me she expected to make her next sale off us, and she expected to make a big one. As fast as she could, she whipped out trays of heavy serving ware, then proceeded to tell us why each larger one was better than the last.
“Whichever one you want,” I told Ainsley, who held a pink crystal candlestick in one hand, and a turquoise one rimmed with gold in the other. “They are both wonderful. Register for each of them, if you like.”
She cocked her head. “You’ve said that same thing about every piece we’ve looked at this morning.”
I shrugged. “I want you to have whatever you desire.”
The sales associate tittered. “How wonderful.” She had a clipped accent that sounded Eastern European. “Don’t we all wish we could have a man like you in our lives?”
Ainsley knitted her eyebrows together and I wondered if she was getting annoyed with this woman, too. “Be careful. Don’t stroke his ego too hard.”
A pulse traveled through my core when she said those two seductive words, stroke and hard. I wanted her. I did. I’d wanted her for quite some time, and I knew it. Why else would I be going to all this trouble? Why else would I have gone out of my way to impress her? Ainsley intrigued me in ways no woman had in years.
She turned back to the sales associate. “These are all beautiful, but I have something else in mind, to be honest. I’d like something simpler.”
The sales associate lifted her thick, exaggerated eyebrow. “Somethingsimpler? Surely you don’t think—”
Ainsley placed the candlesticks on the velvet tray. “No, I’m quite sure. These are too large, and ultimately, that’s not my style.” She pointed at the first tray on the counter, the one she’d asked to see just after we’d arrived at the store. “I prefer these for the registry”
She meant an artistic red vase with a matching serving tray and four candlesticks.
