Page 20 of Santa's Baby
“Well, for what it’s worth, you’ve got a golden star on my favourites list, too. Especially now I’ve seen your face, you filthy stud.”
He cocks a brow. “Is that so?”
“I wouldn’t be here if you didn’t. You got me good yesterday, Mr Sinclair.”
I watch Reuben’s face turn serious. Shit. I tense up.
“You shouldn’t be here regardless,” he says. “I should never have joined you at the club, and I should never have brought you to this office. I should have waved the association away as nothing, and taken you off my click list without hesitation.”
A flash of horror zaps through me. Aclick list.
“You haven’t done that, have you? Taken me off your click list?”
“Not yet. No.”
I’ve got goldfish gob again. The thought of being ghosted by him unfathomable. I can’t even…
Suddenly the temperature in here is roasting. I’m burning up in the flames of WTF have I fucking done.
“Are you going to? That means never booking me again, I’m guessing?”
Reuben sighs. “I should take you off the list, Tiffany. The blindfold has come off, quite literally. That can’t be undone.”
“Yeah, should, should, should, whatever. But are yougoingto?” I feel sick, and the Creamgirl side of me trips up, losing control. “Because if you’re going to bin me off your list, just tell me now and get it over with. I don’t want to start getting allfucking jumpy when proposals come in, hoping it’ll be you. I don’t want to act like a sad, jilted ex or some shit.”
He raises his perfect eyebrows. “That’s quite a dramatic way of putting it.”
I shrug. “I’m quite a dramatic girl.”
He smirks at that. “Yes, you are. That’s one of the reasons you’reonmy click list, actually. You’ve got a tremendous range of curses when you’re fighting the game.”
I want to smirk along, but I can’t. I look at my hands in my lap and not at him, because he hasn’t answered the question. It’s freaking me out, waiting for the Royal thumb to go up or down.
“Tiffany,” he says, his serious tone returning. “There is a very strict code that everyone in our organisation adheres to. You included.”
I knew it. He’s going to bin me off.
“Maybe if you hadn’t stalked me to a club last night, you wouldn’t have had to strike me off your damn click list at all.”
He shakes his head. “That’s not true. I would have had to strike you off as soon as you recognised me, face to face.”
“But you didn’t.”
“No. I didn’t.”
I’m perplexed, flustered.Out of control.
“Do you have to? Really? Because I won’t say anything. I can be hooded and play dumb,Santa.I won’t shout my mouth off and scream your name.”
His gaze sucks me in, still the calm in the eye of the storm.
“I’d hope not.”
The Royal thumb is still hanging, and I can’t hack this. I’m already too invested in the fantasy of a man I only discovered yesterday. I’m such a fucking dickhead.
I have to baulk and run, to try to save a scrap of Creamgirl’s pride.
“I’ll go,” I say, and get up. “It’s fine, it’s cool. You’re the boss. Knock me off the click list and I’ll get over it. I’ve got plenty other appointments on my calendar.”