“Lift your other leg up.”
As she did, her dress slid down and revealed more than she would’ve been happy to. Her silk stockings extended over most of her leg and stopped at the center of her thighs, where a white garter belt held them up. My hands itched to touch it, but the gentleman in me grabbed the end of her dress and slipped it back down.
She opened her eyes and blushed. “Oh my god! Thanks.”
“No problem. Now back to our agreement. I stump you in as many tries as I can, and you give me a date.”
“Fine. Additionally, I want to let you know ahead of time, that you are still a smart person. Don’t let your failure in this competition make you feel defeated.”
I smirked. “You’re a naughty one.”
“I try.”
For two minutes, I scanned my mind of all the movies I’d ever watched, figuring the older ones were more likely to stump her than the new ones. “Okay. I’ve got it. ‘You’ve ate all of the M&M’s out of the cookies! Now what will we do?’”
“I’m going to pretend like you didn’t just say a line from a famous Christmas movie that is played over thirty times throughout the day every holiday season.” She flexed her toes. “That was Dear Santa, by the way.”
“Okay. Don’t rub it in.” I pinched the side of her foot.
She shrieked. “I would stay away from all holiday movies.”
“Fine.” I was glad she couldn’t see my frown. Holiday movies were the ones I actually remembered. I considered the few that my mom used to watch. “Okay. I got it. ‘There’s a chariot on the mountain top—’”
“‘With Angels sprinkled all about and my lover’s name on the tip of my tongue. Oh baby, I’m gonna find me one.’ That’s The Villager’s Daughters. I’m really good with musicals so I would stray from those, too.” She had the audacity to wink at me.
“Damn you. You are good,” I muttered.
“That’s pretty much the only thing I am good at it.”
“That can’t be true.”
“Well, I think it is for now, but no worries. That’s exactly what I’m trying to change about myself. After modeling for Hex, I plan on figuring out other things I like. I hope to have a huge magnificent list of all my pleasures.”
And I hope to be on that list, too.
Chapter 15
Elle
I stumbled toward the stairs. The soft carpet pressed against my feet. Alvarez held my hand, probably so I wouldn’t fall face forward. In his other hand, he gripped my shoes. “You don’t have to walk me all the way to my room.” I pointed behind me. “I do have all of my security. I’m probably one of the most protected people on the property tonight besides Hex. As crazy as it seems, I’m starting to feel pretty safe.”
“That’s probably the second W.H.L. you begged me to make working wonders on your brain. It makes you feel courageous.”
“So are you saying I’m not safe?”
We climbed the stairs. He’d attempted to carry me to my bedroom, but I refused. His massaging of my feet already stirred my senses.
“No. I just want to know the answer when you’ve had time to really think about it in the morning.”
“I promise. I’ll tell you.” My words came out in a slur. Everything seemed slower than normal around me, but besides that I felt somewhat able to not make of a fool of myself in front of Alvarez.
“I don’t want you here if you’re scared.”
“Okay.” I’d thought about leaving much earlier, when he talked on the phone with his assistant. So many different emotions had flashed over his face, and when he put his back to me and whispered to her, a little jealousy pinged in my gut. It seemed so intimate. I didn’t like it. When he turned around and appeared more stressed than aroused, relief rushed through me. Whatever they’d whispered about on the phone was not loving or intimate in the least. It had stressed him out. That fact triggered a protective instinct in me. I wanted to take care of him and wash all of that anxiety away.
The time we spent in his office didn’t help anything, either. It confused me. I was starting to like him more than I thought I would. He attracted me of course, that couldn’t be denied, but many men did. It could’ve been the power and the commanding control exuding from him. One of my books put in my head that I had daddy issues and picked men who oozed authority. If that was true, then Alvarez would’ve been high on my list. He reminded me of my dad, before my mom left and the drinking started. Dad had to control everything—always dipping his interests to everyone else’s, never truly having time for himself, too busy with solving Mom’s, mine, the store’s, and everybody elses problems. When Mom left and the video store lost too much business, he ended up being the one who lost all control. He was a mental tornado, spinning round and round and damaging everything in his path with his hatred for life.