Rox was impressed. This Dom guy would have been a good litigator.
“Indeed,” The Dom said, “you’ve already booked her for this time slot. It would be impolite to cancel. I suggest you have a drink with her and ask what she thinks.”
“She’ll say whatever she thinks I want to hear,” Maxence grumbled.
The Dom’s blond eyebrows rose a fraction of an inch. “I doubt that.” A knock rattled the door. “Ah, here she is.”
Maxence flopped back in his chair. His wary glance at the door looked grim.
Rox tried to formulate a plan to get him out of this situation. Surely she could say something that he could pick up on so that he could escape.
A woman strutted into the office, her ebony ponytail twitching as she walked. Her black business pantsuit shone in the recessed lighting, and it took Rox just a second to realize that it was made of leather. Discreet silver studs sparkled at the pockets.
The woman smiled at the four men, her dark red lips contrasting her pale skin. She looked vampiric. “Gentlemen,” she said in a low, sultry voice.
Oh. My. God.
The Dom said, “Maxence, this is Mairearad.”
When Rox glanced back, Maxence’s dark eyes were wide, and his hands were knotted into fists on the arms of the chair. He didn’t look angry. His eyes looked hungrily at the woman, and he uncurled his fingers to clutch the upholstery, looking like he was holding on by his fingernails to keep himself from flinging himself across the room at her.
Mairearad’s smile at Maxence looked like she knew all his secrets just by looking at him. “Hello, Maxence.”
Maxence rose from his chair as if he were hypnotized. “I should like to ask you some questions. That’s all.”
“Of course,” she said and walked to the door. “Follow me.”
Maxence followed her. “I just want to ask you some questions,” he repeated.
She turned back, and her voice was more gentle. “Let’s talk in my office.”
Maxence’s shoulders drooped in relief. “Yes, your office.”
He followed her out and shut the door behind himself.
Arthur laughed. “How long do you think they will actually talk?”
The Dom checked his phone. “Ah, here comes your consultant, Arthur.”
The office door opened again, and another woman came in. This girl was wearing jeans and a silk blouse, buttoned all the way up to her neck. Her blond hair was tied back in a messy knot on the back of her head, and her loose-limbed gait looked like she was gamboling through her own house.
Rox blinked. The two women could not have been more dissimilar.
The woman smiled a brilliant smile that felt like sunshine on a summer’s day and looked right at Arthur. “Ready?”
“Oh, yes,” Arthur said, pushing himself up from the chair. “Hello, Chloe. I was hoping you would be free.”
She grinned and held out her hand to him, not like for a handshake but to hold her hand. He reached for her hand, and she led him away, asking, “What movie did you pick?”
“Another rom-com,” Arthur said, just before the door closed behind him. “Love and Whiskey.”
“That sounds lovely! I’ve got popcorn ready to pop, too.”
“Splendid.”
Rox glanced up at Cash. “All right, I think I know what Maxence just got himself in for, but was Arthur speaking in code or something?”
“I don’t think so,” Cash said. “He was looking at movie reviews in the car.”
“I just can’t even—never mind. I don’t want to know.” Her voice still sounded shaky.
The Dom was watching her again. He thumbed something on his phone. “Casimir, you have your pick of rooms tonight, as it’s a Monday. Before you take Rox back, why don’t you peruse them and decide which one is appropriate.”
The office door opened, and Glenda stood there again, smiling at them. Rox didn’t know how she could breathe in that skin-tight suit, but at least it looked good on her. She didn’t have any pudge.
The Dom said, “Glenda can show you the options.”
Cash told her, “That’s a good idea. I’ll be back in one minute.”
Rox pointedly did not glance at The Dom over there on the other couch. “You think that’s a good idea?”
“There are some very different options,” he said. “I think I should look.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll be right back.” Cash followed the small woman who pranced ahead of him on stiletto heels, and the door clicked shut behind him, leaving her alone with the very imposing figure of The Dom.
Rox glanced back at him, her eyes suddenly too wide on her face.
“I wanted to talk to you alone,” he said, his blue eyes right on her and staring again. They seemed bright blue again, so intense.