Part 19 (1/2)
A soft breath hissed out of her as he dipped down and pressed his lips to her knee. ”I can do plenty on the basic stuff. The...ah...coding.”
Her fingers pushed into his hair, tightened. ”Marc...?”
Tracing his tongue along her skin, he murmured, ”Hmmm?”
”Are you serious about me doing your website or did you just decide to throw some work my way?”
Tensing, he sat up.
Her eyes glinted.
”What?”
”You heard me. Do you want this site done or not?”
”I need a new site, d.a.m.n it. You've seen how s.h.i.+tty it looks, right?”
”Oh, yes. I've seen. But if you're serious, then you need to let me work when I say I'm working.” She glanced down to where he was holding on to her ankle. ”Would you be totally cool with it if I walked into the recording studio when you and the guys were working on a new alb.u.m and just starting stripping out of my clothes?”
Slowly, he uncurled his fingers from her ankle. ”I'm just...”
”Marc, I know what you're just...doing.” Chaili kept her gaze focused on the computer. ”And if I didn't need to have this done for you in a seriously short period of time, then we could just for as long as you want.”
”If it's going to be too hard to get the website done by the deadline, we can put it off a few days,” he said, blowing out a breath. Shoving upright, he started to pace.
”No. I said I could get it done. And the bonus happens only if I get it done by that time, remember?” She looked up long enough to flash him a quick smile. ”I plan on getting it done.”
”Yeah. I see that.” Hooking a hand over the back of his neck, he glanced over at the clock. ”How long are you going to work?”
”I'll need a break in a couple of hours. If I get enough done, I may stop for the day,” she said.
”Okay. So...lunch?”
She smiled at him. ”It's a date.”
Chapter Fourteen.
”I want to take you out tonight.”
With the phone propped on her ear, Chaili continued to work on the pictures. So far, she'd finished up the pictures for Miguel, Seth and Mac. Jacob and Marc were all that was left. Jacob had been out of town and she'd get his done once he was back. She was nervous about working on Marc's, but that wasn't anything she could explain to him.
”Okay. Take me out where?” she asked.
”Blue's.”
Chaili almost dropped the phone.
”Ah...” She licked her lips. She wasn't so certain she wanted to do that.
”Yes?”
”I don't have anything to wear.” That wasn't a lie. Blue ran a cla.s.sy joint and appearances were important. Chaili wasn't about to go in there without the right kind of armor. Clothing was armor in certain areas of life. Walking into the place where her ex had tried to humiliate her a couple of times...yeah. Armor was necessary.
”Maybe you could let me buy you something.”
Chaili turned away from the computer after taking a few seconds to save her work. She rose from the computer and paced the floor of her living room, staring at nothing, seeing Marc's face in her mind.
For the past two weeks, they'd seen each other almost every day and it felt like she was getting so deep in over her head...but she wasn't scared, because he seemed to be right there with her.
This, though...this was a hard thing he was asking.
”I'm not a member there anymore,” she said quietly. ”I can't afford the dues and I don't really want to be a member anymore.”
”I am. You know how the place works, right? I'm at the select level. I can take guests, and I want you to be my guest.” He paused and then added, ”My date, Chaili. I'm taking you as my date...my woman, not my slave, not my submissive. I want to take you out to dinner, for drinks. I want to dance with you someplace where I don't have to worry about cameras or anything.”
Swallowing, she moved over to the couch, thinking that through. ”Is that all we're doing? Dinner. Drinks. Dancing?”
”I already told you I've got lines I won't cross...certain areas at Blue's, I haven't gone, and I won't go there.” He blew out a breath and then added, ”But if you want, I can see if she's got one of your rooms open.”
”My...” It clicked and then she sighed. ”No. I don't need that, Marc.” h.e.l.l, it didn't seem necessary. Marc took her places with just his voice, just his hands. That extra kick in the kink factor wasn't needed anymore. ”So this is basically just a date. Dinner. Drinks. Dancing. But you want the privacy thing, right?”
”Pretty much.”
Nibbling on her lip, she thought it through. ”Okay. But you're not buying me anything to wear. I'll go shopping.” And she could actually do that too. Ilona had sent her an advance and she only felt a little bit guilty keeping some of the money. It was a h.e.l.l of a lot of money, more than she'd expected to see in the next six months. Wasn't wrong to spend a little bit of it on clothes.
”I want to buy you something.”
”No.” She didn't feel right with it. Hedging away from the insistent command she heard in his voice, she offered the most practical reason imaginable. ”I'm not that easy to find clothes for these days. The mastectomy made certain of that.”
”That didn't go well,” he muttered.
He hadn't wanted her spending her money on clothes for a date, Marc thought.
Standing in the middle of the store, looking around, he eyed the mannequins and tried to picture one of the dresses on Chaili. s.h.i.+t. He'd planned on just getting her sizes, but...
Okay.
That plan was out. But he was buying her something.
A long, slender woman clad all in black approached him. She had a polite, professional mask in place and looked almost as lifeless as one of the mannequins. But he figured she'd be a good person to ask.
”Is there anything I can help you with?”
Once he'd made his purchase, he shouldered through the doors and started down Michigan Avenue. He needed to put in a call to Blue. She had private dining booths and he wanted one. He wanted to make sure nothing would go wrong tonight.
A real date.