“Miss Livingston.”
He extends his hand, and it’s when I slide my fingers into his warm grip that I notice that I can’t breathe.
Nodding and swallowing and pasting a stupid smile on my face as I pry my hand free, I watch him with mounting awe.
Once in his chair and leaning back comfortably, he sits there, the pose deceptively casual, but I can feel the energy humming from his being.
“Mr. Saint,” I mumble at last, never more aware of my attire and how out of place I must seem amid such polished luxury.
He’s staring too, in a slightly puzzled, quiet way. I bet I’m the only woman he’s ever seen in coveralls. In sneakers. I bet everyone wears their best when they’re going to see him.
Shit.
He glances at his watch, startling me when he speaks. “Clock is ticking, Miss Livingston, so you might as well shoot.” He signals to a chair across from his desk, and . . . can I just say that his voice is really quite an experience?
His presence is quite the experience. No wonder people talk about it online—hell, to whoever will listen.
His jaw all lean bone, his eyebrows two dark slashes above thick-lashed, deep-set eyes. His lips are sensual, slightly tilted at the corners. The kind of lips Gina calls “edible.”
“Thank you for seeing me, Mr. Saint,” I say.
“Saint is fine.” He leans back in his chair.
Adrenaline courses through me as I finally have no other choice but to attempt to sit on the chair he indicated, every effort I make focused on my movements. I’m trying not to recline to avoid getting paint on the fabric—a bit stiffly, I pull out the questions I wrote on my phone on my way here.
“So my main interest is, of course, your new social media platform, the first to ever really compete against Facebook . . .”
I can’t help but notice he’s distracted by my clothes as I sit across from him. I can feel his eyes on me, checking me out. Is he disgusted by my outfit? I can feel his hot eyes on me, and I’m just about squirming.
He shifts in his chair, a hand covering his face. Is he hiding a smile? Ohmigod, is his chest moving a little? He’s laughing because of my clothes! Because I’m rigid as a mannequin here, nervous and frantically wondering if I have paint on me or not.
“As you know,” I force myself to continue, but god, I’m mortified, “investors have not only been wondering whether it will remain privately held . . .”
I trail off when he stands and walks to the far end of his office. He walks in a way only confident men walk. It’s unsettling when he walks back to me, extending what looks to be a clean men’s dress shirt.
“Here, put this on.”
Holy crap. Is this his shirt? “Oh no.”
His eyes are extraordinary up close, peering down at me with a curiosity I hadn’t seen there before.
“I insist,” he says, with a hint of a smile.
My heart speeds up. “Truly,” I protest, shaking my head.
“You’ll be more comfortable.” He gestures down at me, and I feel myself go hot. He just smiles, a twinkle in his eye.
Standing to take the shirt, I pluck each button open with shaky fingers, then slip my arms into the sleeves. I start buttoning it up as he heads back to his desk, his strides slow this time, almost predatory . . . because he won’t take his eyes off me as he walks around.
The faster I try to make my fingers move, the more inept they feel. The shirt falls to the middle of my thighs—a shirt that has touched him, his chest, his skin, and suddenly I can’t stop being aware of what he’s doing; slowly lowering Chicago’s most coveted male body back into his chair.
“Okay,” I announce.
But it’s not okay. It’s so not okay right now.
I’m blushing to the tips of my ears, and his eyes are twinkling mercilessly, as though he knows it. “You wear it better than I do,” he assures me.
“You’re teasing me, Mr. Saint,” I say under my breath, lowering myself to the chair again. His shirt smells of soap, the collar starchy, loose around my neck. God. My knees feel weak. I couldn’t feel more vulnerable if I’d bared myself naked in front of him.
“All right, so now that you’ve managed to dress me properly,” I tell him laughingly, then scorn myself for my familiarity. Pull out your questions, Rachel. And while you’re at it, pull out your objectivity, too.
His cell phone rings. He ignores it, and I realize he’s smiling over my comment. Lips curled seductively at the corners, teeth perfectly even and white against his tan.
His. Smile.
Oh.
My stomach dips unexpectedly. “Would you like to answer?”
“No,” he says bluntly. “Go ahead. This is your time.”
It rings again. He glances at the screen, narrowing his eyes.
“Please go ahead,” I encourage.
I really need for him to look at something else for a hot second.
What is going on in my life?
I’m wearing his shirt!
He finally murmurs, “Excuse me,” and takes the call and turns his chair a bit as he listens into the receiver.
Exhaling as I pull my questions up from my phone again, I lift my lashes and watch his profile as he listens attentively. Just sitting there doing nothing but taking a call, he sucks up all the oxygen in the room. He screams class, money, sophistication, and purely powerful things.
They say he once leaped from the top of his office building.
He’s been called bold and daring both in business and out of it.
I hadn’t believed everything I read last night.
I’m not sure it’s all a lie now.
There’s quite an energy under those business clothes.
He wears those clothes like second skin—hell, as if he sometimes sleeps in them. Under his white shirt, I can see the impressive muscle tone of his arms and chest. No picture I saw online truly captured the effect of that tanned, well-structured face in person. Absolutely none. His face is walk-straight-into-a-wall stunning, and I won’t even dwell on his body, but now I understand why his bed is the most coveted spot in town.
He hangs up and settles back down, and we stare again for a moment. “Do you want to go ahead now, Miss Livingston?” he prods, gesturing to my phone.
“I amuse you,” I blurt.
Hiking up one eyebrow, he seems to turn the question in his head a bit, steepling his fingers before him. “Intrigue me, yes. Do you paint?”
“I was at a neighborhood park this morning. Members of my community get together sometimes; we’re trying to stay active against street violence, gang fights, drug selling in general.”