I don’t take two steps before his hand is around my arm. “Are you wearing makeup?”
“Does it look bad? I was careful, it took forever. I thought it looked okay.”
Leo lifts his hand to the side of my neck, his hold lose as he turns my head to study my face. “It does not look bad. You are gorgeous.”
Even as I blush, I don’t understand why he’s saying it like it’s a bad thing. “What?
“You don’t need makeup. You are beautiful without it.”
Oh. “Thank you for saying that. Even if I’m not taking it off. It feels very much like war paint of old, faking the confidence I don’t really feel.”
“If it makes you happy then that’s all that matters. Go get dressed.”
The dress feels good on, comfortable yet sweet and sexy. I slip into black ballet flats wishing I could do heels. Back in my bathroom, I spritz on some Clinique Happy because I really am feeling happy and excited for the day. I go
with the deep burgundy and exhale in relief at how good it looks. When I walk out of the bathroom, Leo smiles as he looks me up and down.
“Beautiful,” he whispers in my ear as he pulls me close.
“You don’t look too bad yourself.” Which is an understatement because he’s gorgeous in a deceptively simple black suit, cut to perfection with a black silk tie against a snowy white shirt. I swear he belongs on a billboard not in my little condo. I breathe him in, woodsy, moss, spice, and all Leo.
Leo feels me shiver, he pulls back. “We do not have the time. Tonight.” His smile is knowing as I blush. “I have something I want you to wear.”
He reaches into his inner pocket and pulls out a thin black box. When he opens it I gasp.
Holy shit.
“Do you like it?”
Do I like it? It’s a rope of intense round blue sapphires and bright white diamonds. At the back of the necklace they are slightly smaller, but they are still at least a carat before getting bigger until the diamond in the center looks like it’s at least five or six carats. There are also huge blue glittering sapphires as the center with a halo of diamonds around them for earrings. “It’s beautiful, but it’s too much.”
“It’s not that much, turn around so I can put it on you.”
I shake my head. “No, Leo. It’s really too much. I can’t accept something this expensive from you.”
His eyes darken. “Can’t or won’t?”
My breath catches when I see it. He’s not angry, he’s hurt I’m refusing to accept it.
“Leo...” I’m pleading with him to give me a reason to accept it. The smallest thing and I’ll take it.
“I wanted it to be all sapphires like the blue of your eyes. I want you to wear it for me, naked while I watch your eyes in the moment of your climax with my cock inside you making your eyes glitter like jewels.”
That’s a pretty good reason. “Yes.” It’s an exhalation of unsteady air that has been trapped in my lungs. I take my own small diamond stud earrings out and put in the sapphires.
Felix hisses and I look down to see him taking a swipe a Leo. “I’m sorry.”
Leo laughs as he shakes his head. “He’s jealous. I understand completely. Come on, Miguel will be sweating and trying not to raise his voice. He is already upset Santos is holding the hand of another client in New York on short notice.”
That’s disappointing, I really liked Santos. He made the day of the photo shoot bearable with his witty, smart, teasing. It didn’t hurt he reminded me of a younger, even hotter, Alec Baldwin. The bookstore isn’t very far from my condo, I’ve walked there often.
I’m thrown when the car doesn’t turn when it’s supposed to. “Where are we going? The bookstore is on Broadway.”
“Miguel did not tell you? He canceled it at that bookstore. It’s been moved to a bigger bookstore off Illinois and State.”
“How could he do that? I like the other bookstore.”
“Sweetheart, the place was fucking claustrophobic. There was no way to fit more than twenty people in that place at one time. They were not willing to work with Miguel and clear space for even a few hours.