He nodded toward the bed. “That problem I will solve by wearing boxers just for your benefit. Our other problem? We go with avoidance. It’s been marginally effective so far.”
That Nate ordinarily slept in the nude was disturbing enough to her senses. What he would look like in boxers more so.
“You’ve seen me in a towel,” he reminded her. “Same thing. Out of curiosity,” he ventured, tilting his head to the side, “what would you have done if the towel had fallen off?”
“Sued you for indecent exposure.” Spinning on her heel, she headed for the bathroom. Nate’s laughter followed her.
“I wouldn’t have been much good as your knight in shining armor sitting in jail now, would I?”
* * *
You couldn’t think of beds and boxer shorts when you were presenting the global marketing plan to your husband’s ex-lover. A respite it would have been if Mina hadn’t felt so intimidated in the other woman’s presence. Mingmei was as brilliant as she was exquisitely beautiful, asking probing, thoughtful questions about the marketing plan that never would have occurred to Mina. By the time they finished, she felt like a rank amateur.
Her mouth tightening, she clicked out of the presentation and sat back in her chair. “Any further questions?”
Mingmei crossed her arms over her chest. “None of my questions were a criticism, Mina. I wouldn’t have expected you to know the answers. They were discussion points to take back to the global team for further thought.”
Her chin dipped. She really needed to master that tightly schooled expression her social behavior coaches had failed to conjure up in her.
When Nate texted to say he was running late with his investor lunch, Mingmei’s executives had already started to show up for their scheduled meeting. “Why don’t you present the marketing plan?” Mingmei suggested. “Nate can do the rest when he comes.”
A wave of panic enveloped her. She knew the presentation. But to present it to a team of executives after being on the job for a week? Nate had made it clear she was to stay within her role.
“You want my advice?” Mingmei directed a pointed look at her. “Seize every opportunity you get. If you don’t feel comfortable doing something, do it, anyway. Fake the confidence until you have it.”
Mina swallowed past the tension climbing her throat. She knew the presentation inside out.
“Sì,” she said. “I’ll do it.”
Her knees knocked together as she stood at the front of the conference room, Mingmei introducing her to the half dozen executives who ran the sales, customer service and marketing teams. Her mouth like sawdust, her hands clammy, she clicked the remote to start the presentation. A gladiator, she told herself. She was a gladiator.
Her voice tight, her delivery far too rapid, she began. It was a friendly room, thank goodness, with the executives stopping her to ask a question when they wanted to explore a point further. She felt her shoulders and voice loosening as the session turned interactive. By the time Nate walked into the room fifteen minutes later, she was midway through the presentation and firmly in her groove.
His gaze widened, moved from Mina to the table of executives and then back again. She thought he might interrupt and take over. Instead, he pulled up the chair closest to the door and sat down.
Mina kept going, thinking he didn’t look angry like he had in the meeting with Giorgio, so maybe she’d made the right choice. Nate watched her from the head of the table, his dark gaze inscrutable as he joined in wherever he was needed, but let her take the reins with the rest.
When she’d finished the presentation, she sat down, her legs like jelly. Her heart was pounding, her head buzzing, an extreme high enveloping her. She hadn’t let fear rule her, the fear she wasn’t good enough, as it had so many times in her life, and it felt good. Molto bene. As if she’d begun to slay her demons.
Nate said nothing until their meetings concluded and they rode the glass elevator skyward to their suite.
“Whose idea was it for you to present?”
“Mingmei suggested I do it.” She threw him a sideways look. “Is it okay that I did?”
He nodded. “You did a great job.”
She exhaled. “I was worried you’d be angry.”
“If you’d gone up there and presented the financial results for the year I would have been, yes. But you presented material you knew.” He rested an appraising gaze on her. “I’m thinking of offering you a dual role when we get back to New York. Part of the time as my protégée and part of the time on the global marketing team. If you want to go in that direction.”
“Sì.” She gave a sharp nod of her head. “I do. Mille grazie. That means so much to me, Nate.”
His mouth quirked. “See what you think when you meet my director of marketing. She’s a fire-breathing dragon. But the best in the business.”
They joined Mingmei for dinner in the rooftop restaurant with its spectacular view of the city. Watching Nate’s former lover more closely, she determined Susana had been right. Mingmei’s repartee with Nate was utterly professional, but every once in a while Mina caught a glimpse of something in the other woman’s eyes. A wistfulness? An admiration that extended to the man beneath the title.
“Mingmei is lovely,” she said as they walked into their suite.
Nate flicked a glance at her. “You should know we were once lovers. In case you hear talk.”
She shrugged off her wrap. “Susana told me. I think she thought it was better I knew.”
“It was three years ago, before she came to work for me. There is nothing between us now.”
On his part. She pressed her lips shut, her gaze dropping away from his. “You don’t have to explain your personal life to me.”
With that, she took her irrational jealousy off to the bathroom to wash up before bed. Nate was still working when she wished him good-night, offering an absent-minded one in return. Determined to be asleep by the time he joined her, she quickly swept the rose petals out of the bed and into the trash can and curled up with a book to put herself to sleep. An hour and a half after she’d gone to bed, she was still awake, staring at the ceiling, when Nate came in.
She averted her gaze as he stripped, hung up his suit and got into bed.
“Can’t sleep?”
“No.”
“Want me to tell you a bedtime story?”
“No.”
Laughter rumbled from his throat. “Likely a good thing. The only ones I can think of would be strictly X-rated.”
“Nate!”
“Go to sleep, Mina.”
She squeezed her eyes shut. He turned on his side and all was quiet. The clocked ticked loudly on the mantelpiece over the fireplace. Dannazione, but she was restless. Rolling on her side she hugged her pillow. It was too soft—she hated soft pillows. Reaching for the other pillow she’d dropped on the floor, she tried that one out. It was too hard.
A sigh left her throat.
“Good God.” Nate reached over and flicked on the light. Which put his amazing, sculpted chest on display. She’d never seen anything like it, muscle and sinew converging in a mouthwatering work of art.
His gaze raked over her face. Dropped lower to the lace nightie Susana had insisted she buy for her honeymoon. The look on his face sent all the blood in her body rushing to her twin heated cheeks.
“I don’t sleep much,” he said grimly, returning his gaze to her face, “but I do need a few hours. So let me assure you I am not crossing the center