Oops, I thought.
Looking up, an embarrassed apology ready to slip past my lips, I forgot what I had to say when beautiful gray eyes collided with mine. The victim of my unintentional crime was the most impossibly ethereal-looking man, and something about him seemed so damn familiar.
An actor perhaps, I wondered.
The man’s lips suddenly twitched. “It’s a good thing your eyes are quite eloquent.” His voice possessed the slightest accent, but I had heard it often enough to recognize it instantly.
Greek!
The realization made my hackles rise, and I thought, Hell, no.
“Apology accepted,” the man said courteously.
I bared my teeth in a sweet smile. “Who said I was thinking of saying sorry?” Well, okay, I had meant to, but I had since changed my mind. He was Greek, ergo a man I needed to hate.
As I turned away, I heard him chuckle, and my teeth gnashed. So he wasn’t just Greek, but he was arrogant, too. That made him doubly hateful in my book---
The hairs at the back of my neck stood up. I could feel him bending down towards me, so damn slowly it was like he was taunting me to look back at him.
My fingers clenched.
He wasn’t going to intimidate me---
But then I felt it, his breath caressing my skin, and I jerked.
“My name is Nathan Callis.” His mouth was so tantalizingly near my ear, I knew I’d be in trouble if I leaned just a millimeter closer to him. “It’s nice to meet you, Alyx.”
My eyes flew wide open. Ooooooh! How did he know my name?
I felt him straightening away in the same tauntingly slow pace, and it was all I could do to keep my back to him. How could he make me feel so…so…
A word slithered into my mind, but I refused to let it take shape.
Whatever I was feeling---
It didn’t matter.
He had no business making me feel in any way when I was still in love with another man.
Right?
When the man finally walked away, I became conscious of Fredericka and Anneke’s fascinated stares. “So, what were we talking about again?” I smiled very, very brightly, hoping they got the picture.
I didn’t want to talk about that too-beautiful guy, whoever he was.
My cousin cleared her throat. “Don’t get mad, okay?”
My gaze narrowed. “Freddie?” I knew that tone of hers, and it always meant bad news. You see, Freddie was one of the nicest and most hardworking girls that I had ever known. She always did the right thing, but when she messed up---
Freddie’s cringing expression made me feel even more suspicious. “The reason I also asked for us to meet here was because…” Fredericka gulped. “I set you up on a blind date – well, it’s not blind anymore---”
“FREDDIE,” I growled. She was barely making sense, but if I had to make a guess---
“…with that guy?”
It was exactly what I feared!
“Oh my God, Freddie!”
“I just thought you guys would click,” Fredericka protested. “He’s so calm, Alyx. He’s the opposite of you, and have you heard about how opposites attract---”
Anneke had an absent-minded expression on her face. “Is that the same Nathan Callis who used to be a supermodel?”
I gagged. “A supermodel?” As a journalist, I covered a lot of events all over the city, but one thing I had been adamantly against was fashion events. Glaring at my cousin, I demanded, “Really, Freddie? You think I’m the kind who’d date a supermodel?” I gagged again.
“Stop being so judgmental,” Freddie reproached me. Turning to Anneke, she said, “Yes, it’s that same Nathan Callis.”
“Oh.” Anneke cleared her throat. “Then that means he’s about three years younger than Alyx?”
I couldn’t help moaning in horror. “He’s not just a supermodel, but a younger one, too?” What the hell was Freddie thinking? Just because I happened to have an unrequited love didn’t mean I was desperate!
“You can be sued for discrimination with that attitude of yours,” Freddie lectured.
I scowled. “I don’t care. I’m never going to date a supermodel, and certainly not someone who’s younger.”
Who knew humble pie could taste this bad? The thought was uppermost on my mind as my last famous words came back to bite me in the ass.
“Sign here please, ma’am,” the police officer instructed.
I did as asked, all the while doing my best to pretend I didn’t notice Nathan Callis smirking at me. He was still the embodiment of all things I still didn’t want in a man: supermodel, Greek, and too rich, gorgeous, and arrogant for his own good.
And as the icing on top of the cake, he was younger, too!
Ah, how the mighty have fallen.
The sound of the signed documents being filed drew my thoughts back to reality. “You’re free to go, ma’am.” Sergeant Morris looked at Nathan, his smile extra jovial. “If there’s anything else I can do, just let me know.”
Boot licker, I thought snidely, but I knew better than to say the thought out loud, seeing how everyone at the police station seemed ready to burn me at the stake if I even glanced at the ex-model the wrong way.