Silent Whisper by Andrea Smith Page B

woman who phoned looking for me is not a paramour, I assure you. I was introduced to her at Fire Island, but it was on the golf course, not in a brothel ,” he clarified.
    I winced at his implication. That was actually kind of cruel, but then I always knew that Dominic wasn’t the fuzzy, cuddly, teddy bear type.
    “We talked briefly and she expressed some interest in doing some business with one of my subsidiaries,” he continued.
    I put on an air of disinterest, but my mind was absorbing every word he said. “Uh huh,” I replied, combing through my curls with my fingers.
    “I’m afraid you didn’t make a very good first impression sweetheart.”
    “What?” I turned around quickly to look him in the eye. “I’m not following.”
    “The woman’s name is Abigail Andreoff—ever heard of her?”
    Dear Lord.
    “The fashion designer turned entrepreneur who owns the Andreoff chain of high end couture?” I asked excitedly.
    “One and the same,” he replied. “I persuaded her to take a look at some of your designs to see if she was interested in stocking a few in one or more of her galleries in Europe.”
    “Oh my God,” I said, “Those galleries take clients by appointment only, Dominic. I’m not sure my designs would be…”
    “Good enough?” he asked.
    He knew me so well.
    I nodded.
    “One of the key ingredients to success, Karlie, is to have the utmost confidence in yourself. You’re not that person from Chester, West Virginia any longer. You need to reinforce that in your mind. If you don’t believe in yourself, then no one else will either. Besides that, selling in small volume to upscale galleries and boutiques will keep your overhead down and your profits up. It also creates demand. People want what’s in short supply, and they will pay almost anything to have it.”
    “Are you one of those people, Dominic?” I asked quietly.
    My eyes locked with his and saw that the warmth had returned to them. I released a soft sigh because he was just that beautiful to me. I had been crazy with uncertainty over the past couple of weeks, but that was gone now. I was as certain as I ever would be about my feelings for him and the depth of my love for him. Whatever he wanted, whatever he needed, I wanted to be the one that provided it to him.
    “What do you think?”
    “I think that you are,” I replied softly. “I behaved foolishly on the phone with Ms. Andreoff, and I’m sorry. I guess I was struck with jealousy at the thought that you—you didn’t want me or love me anymore,” I finished quickly.
    He was gazing down at me, studying me carefully. I felt sheepish under his scrutiny and somewhat ashamed. “I hope that I’ll have an opportunity to apologize to her. I don’t want her thinking negatively of you because of me.”
    “That’s a start,” he said. “Go on, please.”
    “I just don’t understand why I didn’t hear from you these past weeks; I mean was that supposed to be my punishment or something?”
    “It was my punishment,” he said, not bothering to hide his irritation.
    “I don’t understand.”
    “I don’t understand it either,” he shrugged, “But you’re just going to have to trust me on that one. Being apart from you was my self-inflicted punishment for wanting you more than I have a right to and for not considering your feelings in all of this. I’m used to getting what I want,” he said, his eyes now flickering over my scantily clad body. “Do you realize that your top is on backwards?” he asked, cocking a brow seductively.
    “Oh…yeah,” I said suddenly feeling shy around him. Dominic was almost being playful which was so out of character for him.
    “Would you like me to help you get it turned around?” he offered with a sly grin.
    “Ummhmm,” I said nodding and raising my arms up over my head.
    He pulled my top up and over my head, letting it drop to the floor. He moved in closer, his hands now fondling my breasts roughly, his fingers pulling and