She was in shock at his offer, even if it was completely innocent. “I haven’t got anything to wear.” The words escaped her lips before she could think them through.
“That’s easily remedied. If that’s your only objection.” He took their plates and put them back on the room service tray. “But don’t feel like you have to stay if you don’t want to.”
Oh she wanted to. In a stupidly bad way. “I’d need a toothbrush,” she said faintly. “And pajamas, too.”
“Is that a strange way of saying yes?” He looked amused.
Becca took a deep breath in. “Yes.” It felt more significant than it should. It was only dinner and staying in a bedroom that would otherwise be empty, nothing more. And yet there was a pulse in her throat that told her it wasn’t just that.
It was the possibility of something. She just didn’t know what.
“I’ll leave first thing, so I can get to work on time.” Her voice was soft.
“That would be sensible.” He nodded. “Us arriving at the same time would cause unnecessary gossip. Something I think we’d both be keen to avoid.”
She looked him straight in the eye. “We would.”
He stood and wiped his hands on a cloth napkin. “I’ll ask the concierge to bring you some things. What size are you?”
“Four.” She felt amused that he was going to arrange clothes for her. Like she was in a regency romance and the duke was buying the beautiful-yet-destitute heroine a ball gown. “Eight in shoes.”
He picked up the phone, pressing the zero. “We have a while before we need to leave. Why don’t you go take a shower, relax a little? There’s a robe in the guest bathroom, and toiletries, too.”
Becca nodded. Right now a shower would be good. Maybe even a cold one. Because she needed something to shock her out of this mood. This weird, dreamy yearning she felt toward the man who she’d first thought was an asshole.
But now he was getting under her skin.
Yeah, a cold shower and a long hard look at herself. That should do it.
Twisting the corkscrew into the bottle of Sauvignon he’d ordered, Daniel pulled it out and poured two small glasses. They probably both needed the liquid courage before heading out for dinner. Daniel because he was going to see family he hadn’t set eyes on in years, and Becca because she didn’t know what she was getting herself into.
He blamed himself for that. And yet the thought of having her beside him at the restaurant table calmed him.
Replacing the bottle in the refrigerator, he wondered what the hell he’d been thinking when he’d asked her to stay. Sure, he was worried about her driving home in the dark, especially when she’d spent almost three hours driving here without a break. But there had been other options.
He could have offered to pay for a separate room. Maybe even arrange a driver for her.
Or treated her like any other employee and not worried about how she was going to get home.
That way he wouldn’t be staring at the guest bedroom door, knowing she was behind it and wondering how he was going to deal with that fact when they got back from the restaurant this evening.
As though she could feel the heat of his gaze through the hard wood door, Becca opened it, standing in the doorway, her green eyes wide as she looked at him.
The dress the concierge had ordered fit perfectly. The black silk bodice moulded to her every curve, the skirt flaring out at the waist until it stopped at her enticing thighs. Her hair was twisted into an intricate bun at the nape of her neck, exposing the smooth skin of her throat.
“Do I look okay?”
He looked down, surprised to see his fingers gripping the kitchen counter like he was about to fall back, his knuckles bleached white.
“You look beautiful.” His voice was thick as he returned his gaze to hers. “We have five minutes until the car picks us up. Would you like a glass of wine?”
A smile pulled at her lips. “That would be lovely, thank you.” When she walked over, he got a better view of her shoes. Black straps criss-crossed her tan skin, tying in a bow at the ankle. As she got closer, he realized she smelled as good as she looked. He’d have to ask the concierge the name of the perfume he’d brought up.
“I had to put my hair up,” she told him as he handed her a glass. “I didn’t have any way to curl it and I hate it when it’s too straight.”
He glanced at her neck again. “It looks perfect like that.”
Sipping at her wine, she gave him an assessing look. “You’re full of compliments tonight.”