Unscripted Seduction - Chapter 6
Damian let out a short humourless laugh. ‘Functioning. What a bloodless little word.’
‘It’s a practical one.’
‘No, Ms Osei. It’s the sort of word people use when they want art to behave like an appliance.’
Her chin lifted. ‘And this is the sort of speech difficult men give when they want their damage mistaken for profound insight.’
Something hot and immediate punched through him.
He took a step towards her before he could stop himself. ‘You know absolutely nothing about me.’
‘Then enlighten me,’ she shot back. ‘Because from where I’m standing, you’ve missed deadlines, alienated key staff and threatened to walk off the studio’s flagship film while hiding in a house large enough to have its own weather system. So yes, I need a timeline, Damian. I need pages, a detailed report on where the script stands, what’s holding it up, and what happens next.’
God, the audacity of her. The nerve.
The fact that she was standing her ground while thunder rattled the windows and the first hard drops of rain began striking the glass in sharp, scattered taps.
‘I do not report to you.’
‘No,’ she said. ‘You report to the project. I’m simply the woman standing here long enough to force the issue.’
‘And you think you have compelling powers, do you?’
She shrugged, but he caught the tension in it. ‘I do. You don’t want to deal with Ashon. But especially not Cilla. Frankly, I’m your best bet.’
A fork of lightning split the sky, so bright it lit her face from the side, turned her skin dark gold and her eyes to something fierce and impossible. Thunder cracked overhead almost instantly this time, loud enough to shake the room.
For one suspended second she flinched slightly. Barely even that.
And then, with terrible clarity, he remembered the weather alert he’d ignored that morning. The storm front rolling in off the water. The way heavy rain turned the lower stretch of road into a half-flooded mess if it came fast enough.
His gaze flicked to the darkening windows, the violence gathering outside, then back to her.
Slowly, despite himself, Damian smiled.
It wasn’t a pleasant expression, he knew. And the little thrill that jumped beneath his skin at the thought of his unwanted visitor being trapped here with him?
Yeah, that was…irritating.
‘Well,’ he murmured, the sound almost lost beneath another violent growl of thunder, ‘perhaps I don’t need to do anything to you after all.’
His eyes moved towards the storm beating its way across the coast.
‘Looks like a higher power is about to take care of my problem for me.’