‘Big,’ he said.
Holding his gaze she willed her cheeks not to redden as her mind went in an entirely inappropriate direction with that word.
‘Right.’ She moved to the next item on her list. ‘And your target demographic?’
‘Couples.’
She raised an eyebrow. ‘Just couples? That seems a bit limiting.’
Lukas shrugged. ‘The hotel isn’t large enough to accommodate a varied market and it’s my experience that you’re better to focus on one area and do it well before expanding to incorporate other markets.’
Forced to agree with his assessment she made some notes and mulled over his comments. ‘So you want romantic.’
‘Sexy.’
She looked up. ‘Excuse me?’
‘Sex, Eleanore. I want the hotel to be elegant and stylish and I want it to ooze sex appeal. You do know what I’m talking about, don’t you, Miss Harrington?’
Eleanore hated the sardonic gleam in his eye. Of course she knew what it was. She was unfortunately looking at it right now.
So much for mind over matter.
Deciding to ignore his taunt, and her own spiraling thoughts, she strove for professionalism. ‘The hotel has to be about more than that.’
‘Why?’
‘Why?’ Was he being obtuse to push her buttons? ‘Because relationships are about more than sex.’
‘They are?’
Determined to ignore the mocking glint in his eye she pushed on. ‘You know they are. They’re about intimacy and friendship and fun.’
‘Fun?’ His frown spoke volumes and she recalled his reputation for short-term affairs. ‘Surely you’re not going to tell me you’ve never had fun with a woman?’
‘I’m not going to tell you anything,’ he grated, clearly annoyed with her. ‘Other than what I already have.’
Eleanore mentally rolled her eyes and then forgot about Lukas as her attention was snagged by something outside the window. ‘Is that a horse and cart?’
Lukas followed her line of sight. ‘A sleigh.’
‘Oh!’ She laughed. ‘Of course, that’s what I meant.’
‘I take it that excites you as well?’
The way he looked at her made her cheeks redden again. ‘Yes, it does. I’ve never seen a real one before.’ She watched the polished black sleigh with a couple snuggled up together in the back, a brightly coloured blanket thrown over their knees. The driver wore a big Russian hat and heavily embroidered jacket and with the graceful buildings iced with snow in the background the whole storybook scene was like something out of a Tolstoy novel.
She sighed. ‘Now that, my friend, is romantic.’
His eyes fixed on her face in an inscrutable expression. ‘But hardly sexy.’
The air between them stretched tight for the longest time until finally Lukas broke the searing connection by returning his attention to his phone.
Annoyed that she had once again been caught up in his animal magnetism while he had been completely unaffected Eleanore glanced back at the glossy sleigh passing a group of ice skaters. Romance was sexy and she’d prove it to him if it was the last thing she did.
* * *
‘No.’
Eleanore frowned as Lukas strode into the cavernous foyer of his office building and headed for the bank of shiny elevators. He hadn’t even heard the whole of her idea yet and already he’d dismissed it.
She wished he’d slow down. Even if she wasn’t wearing heels she would need to take two steps to his one. And if he went slower it would give her time to take in the sheer wonder of his building. Steel, glass, mirror-finished dark floors, curves and angles. It was a feat of engineering elegance and she just wanted to stop and stare.
They stepped into a waiting lift and Lukas swiped his keycard across the security pad. A few more corporate heads joined them but Eleanore barely noticed. ‘You haven’t even heard all my ideas yet.’
‘I don’t have to. And I have already said that I want this hotel to be elegant and revolutionary and sexy, not some sort of fun park.’
Eleanore let out a long sigh. He was going to be as impossible to work with as she had first thought. ‘I’m not intending to turn it into a fun park, but let’s face it, if people are coming to Russia in the dead of winter they’re going to want to do more than sit by the fire and drink vodka.’
‘Yes, they’re going to want to have sex.’
Eleanore briefly closed her eyes, determined to maintain a level of professionalism with him she usually had no trouble attaining. ‘Didn’t you say your target audience was couples?’