sound as if she had a fur ball.
Perspiration beaded her top lip. The spattering of light hair on his chest, its crispness still imprinted against her cheek, tapered down to his navel and disappeared beneath the waistband of his jeans. Perspiration trickled between her breasts and down her spine, making her shirt cling to her back.
‘Oops?’ he offered when she remained silent.
He looked disgustingly cool and unfazed. It made her aware of how crumpled and unkempt she was. She scowled. Dealing with Dominic at the office promised to be enough of a challenge let alone outside of it. Her apartment, she’d already decided, was going to be a strictly no-Dominic zone.
She hitched up her chin and tried to keep her eyes above shoulder level. ‘What, may I ask, are you doing in my apartment?’
‘Ah … There’s been a hiccup on that front.’
Great.
‘Apparently only one apartment was booked.’
She let the holdall slide from her shoulder to the floor. She set Minky’s cage down next to it and dusted off her hands. ‘Then I’ll go and talk to the apartment manager and organise another one.’
‘I’ve already tried that.’
She’d started to turn away. She turned back at his words. Her skin prickled with foreboding. ‘And?’
‘And there isn’t another apartment available in this block for another seven weeks. In fact, there isn’t another apartment to be had in the whole of Newcastle for the next eight days. Three affiliated events are taking place here this week—a literary festival, an art festival and a youth-culture festival, along with some associated popular-culture conference. The only accommodation available involves a tent.’
He had to be joking! She gaped at him.
‘Chin up, Bella. This is a penthouse apartment. It’s huge. There’s more than enough room for the both of us.’
It didn’t matter how big it was. It wouldn’t be big enough to …
‘Look, I know it’s not ideal, but this is business, Bella. You either roll with the punches or you get out.’
Get out? No way! She wasn’t leaving. Dominic might not want her on his team but he wasn’t getting rid of her that easily. She pursed her lips and resisted kicking the bag at her feet. ‘The apartment is large, you say?’
‘Huge.’
‘How many bedrooms?’
‘Two.’
She glared at him. Eyes above shoulder level. ‘This means setting some house rules.’
He raised both hands in the air. ‘Whatever.’
She yanked the holdall back to her shoulder and picked up Minky’s cage. House rule number one: no naked men!
He reached out a hand towards her and she tensed until she realised he only meant to take the holdall from her shoulder. He picked up the bag at her feet and led the way into the apartment.
Bella followed him then stopped dead and gaped. She choked. ‘Oh, my God!’
‘Yep.’
She dumped Minky unceremoniously on the coffee table and swung in a slow circle. Dominic had obviously done his best, opening the heavy velvet drapes as wide as they’d go, encouraging light to spill into the room, but the burgundy-coloured carpet seemed to absorb the light to create a strange pink glow.
‘What is this?’ She didn’t even try to camouflage her horror.
‘My initial reaction is to say, ghastly.’
She almost grinned at that.
‘But I believe it’s what’s commonly called a love nest.’
Good Lord, not good. Definitely not good. She tried to act cool, unfazed, as if she wasn’t embarrassed. As if the blood in her veins wasn’t circling around her body and dispersing the kind of heat she associated with chilli peppers. ‘I guess we should be thankful there aren’t cherubs painted on the ceilings.’
‘Wait till you see the bathroom.’
‘No!’ She swung to him. ‘Cherubs?’
‘Adam and Eve frolicking in the Garden of Eden, complete with strategically placed fig leaves.’
Oh, that was great, just great. She didn’t want to share any apartment with Dominic, but to have to share this one?
She glanced across at him; her stomach tightened. According to rumour, women fell at his feet with tedious regularity. It was said that he picked them up, dusted them off, made love to them and then moved on with breathtaking speed. She had no intention of falling at any man’s feet, least of all Dominic’s, but … This apartment!
The claustrophobic cosiness made her want to flee. It should’ve been impossible to make such a large room claustrophobic, but it had been sectioned off to create cosy nooks.
She didn’t want cosy nooks!
A pink velvet love seat reclined beneath one window, the same dusky colour as the drapes. A tiny pink sofa sat in front of the television unit, and she couldn’t see how Dominic would fit into it on his own let alone with someone—that was, her—wedged in beside him.
A small dining table held pride of place in an intimate alcove. Four chairs stood around it, though she didn’t see why the decorators hadn’t dispensed with the pretence and ditched two of them. A ridiculously ornate chandelier hovered over it all.
The furniture was dainty, feminine and incredibly seductive. Her arms inched about her waist. The apartment crouched as if waiting to pounce and force her to unleash her rampant desires the moment she let her guard down.
Minky yowled and Bella jumped. She hastily removed the cat’s cage from the coffee table and checked the satinwood for scratches. Dominic glanced at the cat and his lip curled as if he’d just stepped in something he wished he hadn’t.
‘Are you allergic?’ she asked, half-hopefully. Maybe he’d choose a tent over sharing an apartment with a cat.
‘No.’
Damn.
‘But I don’t like them.’
‘Me, neither.’ Minky glared at her. She glared right back. ‘I’m more of a dog person.’
‘Then why do we have a cat in our apartment?’
‘It’s not mine.’ She transferred her glare to Dominic. She didn’t like the way he’d emphasised the words we and our in that sentence, but didn’t know how to say so without sounding like a stark, raving lunatic.
Who knew? Maybe she was a lunatic. Mel had lumped her with the cat, hadn’t she?
‘A favour for a friend.’
