“Tonight you’re working for me, and I order you to drink champagne.”
With a faint smile she raised her glass. “What are we drinking to?”
To the ability of alcohol to numb the senses.
“To your exciting future. Soon you’ll be too busy to drink.”
“I hope so. Do you want me to show you around and talk you through my vision for the event?”
“Yes.” He steered her into the center of the room. The more public, the better as far as he was concerned. The wall of glass separating the dance floor and bar area from the roof terrace had been opened up and the crowd spilled out onto the rooftop garden, drinking in the breathtaking views of starlit Manhattan. The city dazzled and charmed, seduced the eye and bewitched the brain.
“You need to see this view.” She walked to a section of the terrace with no crowds, leaving him no choice but to follow.
“I’ve lived in New York my whole life. I’m familiar with the view.”
“But each time you look, it’s different. This place is so New York. It’s vibrant, exciting, the views are spectacular—” She lifted her face to the sky and closed her eyes.
“I thought Eva was the dreamer, not you.”
“Everyone is capable of dreaming.” She opened her eyes and smiled at him. “Aren’t you?”
Right now his dreams were all X-rated.
He glanced over his shoulder.
The center of the terrace was dominated by an elaborate water feature, the bubbling water muffling the sounds of traffic from the streets below.
He wondered whether he was the first to contemplate stripping off and dipping in the temptingly cool water.
“It’s a great place.” He kept his eyes away from Paige and scanned the crowd. “Do you know why so many women wear black to an event like this?”
“Because black is classic. Timeless.”
“No.” Jake lifted the glass to his lips and drank. “They wear black because it’s safe. They know they won’t stand out. They’re afraid to take a risk.”
“Maybe. But Jake—” she sounded amused “—I’m wearing black.”
He knew what she was wearing. If someone had handed him a pencil he could have drawn every detail of the dress. And the woman.
“That’s different. You’re working. You’re not allowed to upstage the guests.” He leaned on the railing, staring out across the city.
Paige looked out at the view, too. “My dream was to be here, in New York City, living this life, looking at this view, being part of it.” Memories misted her eyes. “When I was at home, I was addicted to any TV series that had New York as a backdrop. I imagined how it would feel to stand at the top of the Empire State Building, to row across the lake in Central Park or walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. There are days when I still can’t believe I’m actually here. I step out of the door, run past the magnolia trees and the street vendors, catch a glimpse of the Manhattan skyline and think, ‘Wow, I live here.’ I am a small-town girl living in this amazing city and I feel like the luckiest person in the world.” She broke off and gave an embarrassed laugh. “That probably sounds crazy, but there were so many times I never thought this could ever happen. That it would only ever be a dream.”
There had been times when none of them had thought it could happen.
She’d been at death’s door at least twice in her teens, when there had been complications following heart surgery.
He didn’t mention it. A shared past provided a foundation for intimacy. He didn’t want to tighten the loose threads that bound them together, didn’t want to do anything that would draw them closer.
He’d tried to forget it, just as he was trying to forget that she was standing next to him in her little black dress. One small movement and he could have buried his face in her hair, and from there he could reach her mouth in seconds.
“You don’t miss home?” He kept his eyes forward and his hands on the rail. “Puffin Island?”
“No. Not that I don’t love Puffin Island, I do, but it’s so small. Not only the place, but the pace. Everything is so slow there, which is what some people love about it, of course, but not me. Growing up, I felt as if life was going on somewhere else, across a stretch of water. I felt as if I was on the outside of a big party, looking in, excluded. I always felt as if I was missing something. That probably sounds stupid.”
“Not to me.” He knew all about being on the outside, looking in.
Same feeling. Different stretch of water.