Cinderella and The Playboy

She smirked at him. “No shock there, sir.”

“Abby,” he scolded.

But he got no response. She was staring, transfixed, out the windshield, her eyes wide, her lips parted. Full, pink lips that he wanted to run his thumb over to feel, then his tongue to taste.

But he wouldn’t.

He shoved all thoughts of her and him and lips and tasting away and helped her out of the car. “What do you think of the place?”

“It’s beautiful,” she said, and if he wasn’t mistaken, she sounded a little sad.

“But?”

She raised a brow at him as they walked up the front steps. “But what?”

“I read people’s reactions for a living, Abby.” He held the front door open for her. “I can tell when someone’s not telling me the complete story.”

“It’s just…so enormous.” She glanced around, taking in the black marble floor, chrome and glass accents and circular staircase. “You live here all by yourself?”

He nodded. Damn right he did. In fact, he’d never even brought a woman here. It was his place of solace, to relax, think.

He had a decidedly bacheloresque penthouse on Wilshire Boulevard that he usually used for entertaining. He could’ve taken Abby there. But he had neighbors who liked to gossip, and the Malibu house had just seemed more appropriate for her makeover and their dinner meeting.

He followed her with his gaze as she moved over to the fireplace and touched the empty mantle gingerly.

“You must not spend much time here.” She glanced over her shoulder at him. “There are no pictures or mementos or…anything.” She shook her head. “You should do something about that. It’s not fair to the house.”

He frowned. Not fair to the house? What the hell did that mean? His house was exactly as it should be: comfortable and functional. Just because he didn’t have a bunch of meaningless clutter on his mantel like at her place—art supplies everywhere, a million pictures of her family decorating her desk and tables.

He shook his head at her annoying observations. Never in his life had he met anyone who just said whatever was on her mind or asked whatever question popped into her head like she did. People who didn’t think before they acted were headed for disaster, didn’t she know that?

Hell, it was good that this woman was only going to be around for a weekend.

He nodded at the stairs. “Why don’t you go upstairs now, first door on your right. The team’s waiting for you.”

Her eyes widened. “The team? What team?”

“Your makeover team,” he said, turning to go.

“Wow,” he heard her say quietly. “It’s going to take a whole team?”

With his back to her, he couldn’t help but smile at her guilelessness.

“Hey!” she called to him. “I thought you might want to ask me a few questions about myself.”

“Later. At dinner,” he replied succinctly as he reached the door. “I have work to do.”

It was only partly a lie, he thought as he turned in the doorway and watched her walk up the stairs, her hips swaying gently with the movement. He did have work to do, always had work to do. But this time he was using it as an excuse to get away from the pretty redhead who was threatening to drive him crazy.

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