Chapter 3

Or perhaps he had returned from a trip. He sensed her as a cosmopolitan woman, and it would not be difficult for him to imagine her with a camera on her, stopping at every corner of Montmartre, having a coffee in the Trastevere square, or sitting on her lap, completely naked.

I was thinking about it when the threads of chance did their thing. Yuri's eyes locked on him. Her eyelids tugged more than usual as she acknowledged him.

They looked at each other through the glass without smiling. Marc listened to the wheels of his mind turning and was pleased to imagine that he was liking what he saw. He barely noticed her eyes slide down his jacket and land on the protruding card. After that he saw her exchange a few words with her sister, apologize and leave the room with a serenity that kept him mesmerized. The rippling of her hair in a casual ponytail and the soft scent that filled his senses as she stood before him heightened his interest.

She was even prettier up close.

"You must be Allen Harris." His voice was soft. She sounded relaxed and natural. He pointed to the card sticking out of the pocket of his jacket. I'm so sorry I missed the appointment, I was caught off guard with a surprise party and in the end I completely forgot. I'm glad you decided to come instead, and so quickly. My sister has already told me that she has gone up in the elevator with you.

Mark raised an eyebrow. That was summed up his look of surprise.

He knew he had just been confused with the guy from the insurance company. It was the name that he put on the card that he carried with him by pure chance, besides that this was his own personal insurer. He was glad that he needed the services of one and, even more, that he had mixed identities. She would be safer in her bed than anywhere else.

"Will you come with me to the office?"

«I accompany you wherever you want».

Interest was heightened by following her closely. The clothes hid her figure, and better. He liked being given space to fantasize.

“Shit! He heard her mutter under her breath. What a bad luck.

She whirled on him and put her hands on his chest. Marc was surprised with his heart in a fist, waiting for some movement. She grabbed his arm and yanked him into the first closed door she came across.

Marc found himself, right off the bat, cornered between a heavy wooden door and three shelves full of cleaning products... Or rather, between those three shelves and Yuri's blush, who looked at him between embarrassed and very sure that she had the reason.

"What an interesting contrast."

I'm sorry about this. It's just that, as I already told you on the phone, I intend to handle this as discreetly as possible, and I don't want Mr. Moore to see you around here. He'd wonder who he is, why I want insurance, and... I'm not good at lying. I would end up giving many explanations that I prefer to keep to myself. You already know the whole story.

So Yuri Sandoval had secrets. It wouldn't hurt to know which ones. Moore liked to look cocky and he tended to have ace up his sleeve.

"You'll have to repeat it, because my superiors haven't fully informed me about your situation," Marc answered calmly. He noticed that the blush on her cheeks intensified, and that to counteract it she tried to stick out her chest. Holding back her smile, her stomach sank, drowning in pleasant warmth. Actually, I'm not Mr. Harris, but one of his workers. He was too busy to cover the appointment and he sent me. I'm Mark.

He held out his hand for the pleasure of caressing her fingers, which she offered not very convinced. Marc fixed his eyes on the drawing of the sugar on her lips and moistened his own as if he could incite her to copy it.

Yuri did so, her cheeks burning, and some of the frosting disappeared.

Pushing her away, he detected a vulnerable tremor in her hand, as if she didn't know what to do with it after she'd touched it. She looked off”kilter, and Marc grudgingly had to admit that he didn't feel like he had it all under control either.

Cloudy day. Wrong tie. Twenty minutes earlier. What did you expect? Everything had started badly.

"Marc," she repeated quietly. He, who hated his name, was surprised to hear it. Am...

“Yuri Sandoval, that's as far as I'm going. You can be calm. I will be very discreet with the services you decide to order.

Unless he needed it as blackmail. He was not a man to stitch without thread. Missing opportunities was not in his method of action.

"Um... Honestly, you've thrown me off a bit... I'm surprised Mr. Harris sent someone else." He was very committed to me as a client and he knows it would be hard for me to... open up to someone else. Allen is an acquaintance of a friend of mine, which is why I turned to him. Plus we've been talking on the phone for a few weeks... But you don't care about this, and you're really in a hurry, so...

She gave a nervous laugh and ran her fingers through her hair so flirtatiously that she wanted to kiss her fingers.

"Sorry, I expected anyone but you."

"I didn't expect you either."

No, he hadn't expected it, he could admit it, but it bothered him that his subconscious had drawn it before him. It didn't mean anything either: Marc was going to be seen with a six”foot”tall behemoth with a bushy beard, not an Adidas”clad angel. The contrast was totally insane.

"What do you mean?"

She looked into his eyes.

“It's a personal matter and I had made up my mind that...

She lowered her head, suddenly assailed by shyness. You don't have the face of selling life insurance.

"And what do I have a face for?"

"Well... as a supermodel, and things like that."

Tenderness twisted her smile. A thousand ways to respond occurred to him, each one less appropriate, but he saw her so mortified that he decided to take pity on her.

“To dedicate yourself to home sales you have to have charm

“he narrowed” He was telling me something about life insurance. For your mother, your father or a grandparent, I imagine.

"No, it's actually for me.

He looked towards the door. An excellent idea; thus the slight frown of his eyebrows was lost. For her ?