style="font-size:15px;"> ‘What?’
‘You! The haircut, the shave, the wearing of a suit!’
He tilted his head at me momentarily. ‘Wow.’
‘What?’
Michael breathed in heavily. ‘Despite your assurances that you didn’t care what I wore, I apparently looked even worse than I thought I did.’
‘Oh, don’t be daft,’ I said, swatting him gently with my clutch. ‘If you looked that bad, you wouldn’t have scored every night you felt like it at the pub.’
He gave a head tilt.
‘That’s the bit where you’re supposed to show some humility,’ I prompted.
‘Ohhh! Right. Got you.’ And then he grinned, which made my point completely invalid because when that smile hit you, it didn’t matter what he was wearing.
‘You’re hopeless.’
‘But at least tonight I look smart whilst being hopeless, right?’
‘You look…very nice.’ That wasn’t exactly the description crashing around my head right now, but it was the only one that was acceptable for anyone other than me to hear.
We pulled up at the entrance to the hotel and a doorman stepped forward to open the taxi door. Michael handed over cash for the trip as I exited, then he followed.
I looked up at Michael. ‘You also look like just the right person for this job.’
He gave me a slow smile that set off tingles in my stomach. Reaching across, he took my hand, pulling me ever so gently towards him and then tucked my hand over his arm.
‘Now I do.’
‘Good luck,’ I whispered.
Michael’s other hand lifted and momentarily twirled a loose tendril of my hair. Leaning down, he placed the softest of kisses on my cheek, just to the left of my mouth.
‘Thank you. And thank you for coming. Even if I don’t get the contract, I still got to spend an evening with the most beautiful woman in the room.’
Smiling, I looked up at him as we walked in, another doorman heaving the heavy glass door open for us. Michael’s hand dropped to the small of my back as we stepped inside.
‘Please don’t think I don’t appreciate the compliment, but I do feel I have to point out you haven’t even set foot in the room yet to be able to make that judgement accurately.’
The green gaze settled on mine. ‘I don’t need to. I know what I know. I thought you were gorgeous when you were standing on my driveway freezing that cute little arse of yours off, and right now, Katie Stone, my statement still stands.’
My brain was processing as fast as it could. ‘You thought I was…’
‘Gorgeous. Yes.’
‘But you were…’
‘Unforgivably rude? Yes. Arrogant? Yes. Blind? No.’
‘Well, you hid it well.’
He tipped his head towards me as we approached the door to where the main function was being held. ‘There are lots of things I do well.’
‘Such a shame being modest isn’t one of them.’
‘There’s a time and a place for modesty.’ His eyes flashed at me with mischief.
‘Just get in there and win that contract.’
***
From the looks of things, Michael was doing exactly that. All evening, he’d been charming and funny: the Michael I now knew him to be. And they appeared to be loving him. Judging by the look on the face of the man I’d been informed was his main competition for the contract, David Heath, he obviously thought Michael was doing pretty well too. I’d actually be feeling bad for him if he’d been a little more polite during our own interaction. When he’d asked what I did for a living, he’d tossed a superior look around, making some comment about how he wish he’d known tidying his room as a child could have turned into something that people would actually pay good money for. Michael’s arm had been resting on my waist, just lightly, his body close to me. At the jibe, I’d felt him tense, but he’d remained silent, taking on board our conversation of earlier.
As it was, Ed Solway, the man whom both men were trying to impress gave me a smile. ‘People will always pay good money for a service that they find useful, David.’ Mr Solway then turned to me. ‘Mrs Solway is so looking forward to her first appointment with you in the New Year.’
As Heath paled and made an attempt to laugh off his faux pas, Mr Solway gave me a conspiratorial wink and Michael gave me an almost imperceptible squeeze, his face betraying nothing.
It was true. I had indeed picked up the Solways as clients this evening, although I’d had no idea who the lady I’d been talking to was initially. She’d just introduced herself as Erin. I was already looking forward to having her as a client – straight talking, funny, with that down to earth outlook Australians often seem to possess. We’d hit it off immediately. It wasn’t until she’d called over her husband to fill him in and let him know that I was the woman who was, and I quote, ‘going to organise the shit out of us’, that I’d realised who she actually was.
‘You know, I was dreading this.’ Michael leant close to me, his fingers walking across the tablecloth on a mission to pinch my after dinner mint.
‘And now?’ I asked, swiping the mint from his reach, before unwrapping it and popping it in my mouth.
He grinned as I did so. ‘It’s been good. Apart from Heath being a dick to you.’
I laughed. ‘Oh, don’t worry. I don’t think I’m the exclusive recipient of his rapier wit. And I think he rather skewered himself in that instant, anyway.’
‘His face was quite the picture, that’s for sure.’ Michael moved his hand from where it was lying on the tablecloth and covered mine. ‘I hated that he said that to you though. I can’t lie.’
‘I know. But believe me, growing up like I did was good training. I’ve heard a lot worse.’ His face was serious and without thinking, I laid my hand on his cheek. ‘Really. I’m tougher than I look.’
‘I don’t think you’re that tough.’
I frowned and let my hand drop. He caught it quickly.
‘Shit. Why is it I can chat up a random girl in the pub no problem, but every time I try to give you a compliment it comes out all wrong?’
‘Probably because you’ve had a lot of practice at the former.’
He heard the tease in my voice and that heart-stopping smile slowly spread onto his face.
‘Maybe I just need a bit more practice at the latter then?’
‘Oh, you definitely
