She squinted an eye at him. “What are you doing?”
“Taking the silver spoon out of my mouth so you’ll talk to me.”
Behind her, Mia heard Cress smother a laugh. “It would be extremely idiotic of me to be rude to the man who can have me hired and fired,” she said.
“Then you know who I am.”
She sighed. “Now I do.”
“After I told you.” He ruminated on that, lifting one corner of lips so handsomely carved they belonged in the Louvre. “Dumb move. I was enjoying the anonymity.”
“Uh-huh.” But he’d just had to pull the I’m-rich-and-in-charge card. She suppressed another eye roll and redirected her attention to getting the stains off his shirt. They’d faded to pink.
Unfortunately, when his mouth was distracting her, she’d dabbed with too much force and had dampened the fabric to the point where it was almost see-through. The wet cotton clung to his abdomen. She had to scrape the material off with her fingers, pressing them into a slab of corrugated muscle that made her temperature rise beyond acceptable core-activity levels.
“What does ‘uh-huh’ mean?” Mr. Smooth-as-Silk asked, still completely oblivious to the potentially intimate situation. He probably thought of her like the tailor who measured his inseam and asked if he dressed to the right or left.
But he had cupped her ass.
“It means that you’re one of those types,” she said. Scrub, scrub. Her knuckles rubbed his abs. “The ones who are just so, you know, sick of being catered to, kowtowed to and sucked up to. You want to be one of the guys. A regular Joe.” But not really. “And as for women—”
She stopped, reminding herself to breathe, then forgetting to as soon as Julian Silk looked down at her. His black-as-sin eyes gleamed. “Please continue. What about the women? They want me only for my money?”
“Hardly.” Mia gave one final swipe of the sponge. “They want you for your money, your social standing and your looks. Which means that, as the proverbial total package, you can’t pin down your dissatisfaction so easily. But you’re bored with high-maintenance socialites and ambitious starlets. You’re restless. You need more. Suddenly, you’re thinking it’s time to taste the earthy flavors of a working-class girl.”
Mia patted his abdominals regretfully. They were lovely.
He drew in a noticeable breath. “Hmm. Interesting analysis. Are you offering?”
“Not me. But I’m sure you’ll have no trouble finding willing prospects, Mr. Silk. Perhaps even in this room.” Mia turned away from his intent stare, more flustered than she wanted him to see. Cress was stirring a cup of the chocolate paint, watching her with more than idle curiosity.
Oh damn. She’d been a smart-ass. When would she learn to keep her head down and her mouth shut?
“Call me Julian.” He slipped his tie off his shoulder, sliding his hand along the silk length in a way that made her wonder what he’d be like in bed, running his hands over her thighs.
“Sure.”
“Or maybe not.” His tone was dry. “I wouldn’t want you to think I’m too egalitarian.”
She shrugged, feeling the warm pink in her cheeks.
Julian gave her a long look, then turned and took several steps before stopping to glance back at her. He cocked an eyebrow. “Oh yes, I almost forgot. You’re fired.”
2
THE ROUND-BOTTOMED pixie’s mouth dropped open. Twin sparks appeared in her vivid peacock-blue eyes. Julian almost smiled. He’d shocked her, as intended.
“Unless you tell me your name,” he added. His palm went automatically to his wet shirtfront, as if that would quell the interesting sensations she’d set off inside him with her diligent scrubbing.
“Or I could just call you the laundry maid,” he said to provoke her further. There was a bit of the devil in him today—and she’d put it there. Before her, he’d been coasting on boredom, having everything in his empire but his crazy sisters under control.
With her tart tongue, quick mind and ripe figure, Mia Some Body was an intriguing prospect. Soon to be a satisfying conquest, when she’d received a full blast of his charm-her-pants-off charisma. He supposed that was conceited, but false modesty was a waste of time when the truth was that he hadn’t met a woman yet who could resist, as Mia had said, the full Julian Silk package.
Ahem. He’d better get his mind off full packages before his own became blatantly apparent.
“I’m no servant,” Mia said. She looked as if she might be grinding her teeth.
“Naturally. But I can hire and fire your delectable ass. You said so yourself.”
She blinked hard, widening her eyes to half-dollar size. “I don’t recall discussing delectable asses.”
He stepped closer and lowered his voice. “An oversight on my part.”
“Are you trying to be funny?”
“Do you see me laughing?”
Mia glanced at her cohort, the lithe young man she’d called Cress. He’d slid the sunglasses off his nose and was watching them with astonishment, the earpieces dangling down so the glasses hung under his chin like a chrome beard.
Mia motioned to the man. “Start packing up. Looks like the shoot is almost over.”
Julian cleared his throat.
“Right,” she said, in a way that meant “Oh yeah. You.” She tossed her head, regarding him with a smile gone smug. “Lucky for me, this job is over. I don’t have to take your orders, Mr. Silk.”
The little minx. “So you won’t tell me your name?”
She stepped behind the table and made herself busy, gathering a fistful of gloppy paintbrushes. He could tell the sudden activity was so she didn’t have to look at him, and that gave him some satisfaction. Not much, granted, but she was proving to be more of an elusive target than he’d expected.
“I’d be happy to,” she said. “If you ask nicely.”
“I was only teasing you about the firing thing. You’re not fired. In fact, I’m actually tremendously impressed by your work, Miss…” He gave her his warmest look, the one he used on orphans, harried secretaries and his sister Nikki when she broke up with another boyfriend.
“Kerrigan. Mia Kerrigan.”
“And please call me Julian.”
Her head tilted. “Not Mr. Silk?”
“No. Mr. Silk was my dad.”
“Was?” A frown flitted across her face.
“He died six years
