Nate hastily closed the French doors behind him as he escaped into the relative safety of the hallway with his prize safely in hand. Today had been one hell of a day and he hadn't had a proper meal between the madness at the office and making sure Michael was kept contained, the poor bastard. He felt a faint unease at leaving that poor defenseless girl in there with his glowering friend but knew Michael would never hurt a woman, let alone poor Bambi in there.
His stomach rumbled. He brought the Madeline cookie up to his mouth for a bite.
"Who the fuck are you?" came a peeved voice behind him.
Startled, Nate's fingers pinched the cookie a little too hard and it crumbled, to drop to the ground. Nate sighed, gave the dropped cookie a rueful smile and turned around.
Cleopatra stood before him in all her glory. Shiny blue black hair was cut to shoulder length, while straight cut bangs skimmed perfectly arched brows and provided a startling contrast to her white skin, electric blue eyes and sinful red lips. A black flapper dress hugged her tall, slim frame. Nate's half smile turned into a grin.
"You owe me a cookie. God couldn't have created those lips to say such words, except in the context of the bedroom. Of course there they would be alright... as dirty, dirty pillow talk. I'm Nate Robison."
Cleopatra gave him a disgusted look and arched her eyebrow even further.
"The stupid asshole's fucking business partner." She muttered under her breath. "Where's my sister?"
Nate blinked, "Sister?"
"Yes, my sister... Lila. Is she still up here?", both eyebrows came down in a glower when Nate didn't immediately respond.
"You're Bambi's sister? Why weren't you here earlier?"
"I was banished. Grandmother was afraid I was going to start trouble." She smirked. "I just saw the barracuda downstairs and I want to make sure Lil is okay."
"She's fine." Nate automatically responded.
So this was the older black sheep. He'd had some preliminary information on the Sebastian family and he'd idly wondered why Dame had negotiated for her younger granddaughter when the older one was still unmarried. Word was that she was rebellious and the old Dame wasn't able to control her. Seemed like the information was pretty accurate.
Katie shifted and stared at the man in front of her. He stared straight back with the same stupid smile on his face. What the fuck was he smiling at? And why wasn't he answering her question?
"Well...?" prompted Kate.
"Well?" responded Nate.
"Where's my sister? And why the hell are you smiling like that?"
"You're charming."
"And you're creepy." She countered.
Nate laughed.
Katie blinked and bit the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling back. What was wrong with her? Sure he was cute but he'd made a pass at her earlier. Typical male, she told herself sternly, don't be fooled.
"So where is she?" Katie asked again.
Nate opened his mouth to respond when they heard a feminine cry from down the hallway. Worried blue eyes met widened brown ones. Katie pushed Nate aside and rushed down the hallway.
Accidentally stepping on the fallen cookie crumbs, Nate tried but failed to keep his balance and fell to the floor. Picking himself up, he limped towards where Cleopatra had rushed off to. Turning around the corner he crashed into a soft warm body and braced himself for impact with the floor once again.
"Uff."
"Ouch!" came Cleopatra's breathless voice below him.
Nate felt the sensation of soft feminine curves cushioning his body. He opened his eyes and met beautiful blue ones. "Lady you're dangerous."
Katie moaned, "Get off of me, I can't breathe." Nate flipped onto his back and reversed their positions so she was on top. "This better? It works for me."
