She hadn’t really noticed that until that moment. Birdie frowned. She liked having the advantage of height over men, most of the time.
“What about the rest? Is he rich?”
Birdie nodded and put her thumb to her forefinger, rubbing.
“Well done, girl! Now you just hook him and reel him in.”
That had gone on long enough.
Birdie shook her head and got up.
“Now, Sam, you know I’m not looking to hook anybody. Or anything. Not even fish. Remember the one time you took me fishing?”
Sam chortled.
“My dear, I never thought I’d hear you squeal like that.”
Birdie glowered.
“I’m a city girl! You wanted me to take a worm and…”
She shuddered.
“Hunting, perhaps, next time,” teased Sam.
Birdie was glad the subject had changed, because she was now annoyed that Adam hadn’t called her to check on progress for twenty-four whole hours. Really, didn’t he care? This was supposed to be something in which his input was very important!
By the time Sam left, Birdie’s mood had oscillated to relief at not having him looking over her shoulders again.
Really, he was very handsome, but he had a problem with micromanagement. Maybe somebody should tell him that. It couldn’t be a good idea to run a software empire like that, could it? He should learn to trust people to do what they were supposed to do.
She was actually doing very well with the design. She had two options for him, both being done meticulously, and she had a feeling she knew which one he would pick.
Maybe she should call him. They could set up a date… An appointment, she corrected herself quickly. Maybe they could set up an appointment.
But what was the point? She seemed to forget how to talk, half the time, when Adam was around. She would end up shoving the designs towards him and making signs in the air instead of talking.
Anyway, she wouldn’t have the nerve to actually ask him out, even for something that was almost business. Even if it was probably quite a normal thing to do.
She jumped when her phone rang. Her palms got sweaty when she saw that it was Adam.
She had to take a few deep breaths to calm herself down.
Her heart was pounding.
She swiped to take the call.
Damn, her hand was too sweaty to do that properly. She rubbed them against her jeans and tried again.
“Hello?”
Her voice didn’t sound too bad, at least, she consoled herself.
“Birdie, did I catch you at a bad moment?”
She shook her head before she remembered that he couldn’t see her. “No. I’m free, really.”
“Great. I wanted to swing by and see how it was coming along. I have a couple more ideas.”
That made Birdie bristle a bit.
Adam and his ideas were getting a bit annoying. He loved Birdie’s sketch. He really did. But he kept coming up with new symbolism to add to the tattoo. Hidden messages, he called them.
The last time, he’d wanted a baby’s rattle incorporated into the tattoo for his mother.
It had made absolutely no sense to Birdie, and that had been because it was a joke. Still, she was having trouble progressing as she should because of all his strange requests.
They needed to stop.
“Why don’t you come by the studio?”
“I’m almost there, actually. I was hoping you’d be free.”
Birdie didn’t even have to close her eyes to picture that impish grin with that irresistible dimple. She would not get flustered. She would not.
“All right, I’m free.”
“Great, see you about now!”
Birdie took more deep calming breaths.
Well, she took deep breaths.
“Birdie, I’m popping out for a minute. Can you handle things here?” Marley asked.
“Oh, sure, Marley,” said Birdie, a little relieved. Marley tended to hover a bit when Adam was around. It would definitely be easier to talk to him if he weren’t around.
He had just left when Adam roared in on his convertible. It looked like a… holy shit, it was a Corvette, vintage and meticulously restored. Birdie’s mouth fell open.
Adam got out and walked into the studio.
“Hey, Birdie.”
Birdie nodded. Great, cat got her tongue again. Just perfect.
“So, how’s the design going?”
He looked around for a place to sit and settled himself in one of the reclining chairs for clients getting tattoos.
Birdie sighed.
This was getting just a bit out of hand.
“Why don’t we go out this evening when I’m off work and talk about this?”
The words were out before she could stop them. She had just asked him out on a date.
Was it a date?
No, it was a business dinner.
Wasn’t it?
Shit.
Adam looked a bit surprised, as well he might. He was probably not used to women who asked him out. He was probably used to lovely, ladylike women who expected him to do the asking, and expected him to hold doors open for him, and… well, a lot of things Birdie knew would never even occur to her.
“All right, I suppose we could do that. Though you look free now.”
Birdie was mortified. He didn’t want to go out to dinner with her!
She raised her chin and squared her shoulders.
“I have an appointment in ten minutes. Our meetings usually take much longer than that. I hadn’t checked the books when you called, and I didn’t think you meant a long meeting when you asked if I’m busy. So, I’m afraid it’ll have to be after hours.”
Adam raised an eyebrow at the frost in her voice. That was unusual.
“Sure, evening works for me. Shall I pick you up at about eight?”
Birdie nodded, wondering if she’d be able to make coherent sentences again.
Maybe she shouldn’t be allowed to handle a tattoo gun until she got herself well in hand.
Adam was still waiting. Birdie was getting irritated. Why wasn’t he leaving?
“Birdie?”
“Yeah?”
“Where should I pick you up from?”
Oh, of course.
“I live right above the studio. Here’s good.”
“Great, then see you at eight,” said Adam and was off.
Birdie managed to get herself under control and get her work together by the time the next client came. She hummed as she worked. She was well into the session when Marley came back.
“Well, you’re in a better mood now,” said Marley with an affectionate smile.
“Yeah, I guess. Doesn’t this look good? I think it’s coming out really well.”
Marley stopped and admired the tattoo, as he was obliged to, before going on to get things ready for his next client.
But there was something odd about Birdie. She was… antsy. As if she couldn’t stay still. Her hand was steady, of course, but her feet kept moving.
Something was up, and Marley had a feeling that it was something to do with Adam.
He didn’t like Adam. That had been a gut instinct, and he’d had good reason for it. He’d seen the effect Adam had on Birdie.
He’d thought that it would be a short-term thing, and Birdie would get over it. But he had never seen Birdie so off balance about a guy.
Even apart from everything else, he didn’t trust Adam or the world he was from. He had good reason for not trusting Adam, though he hadn’t told Birdie that. For some reason, he wanted to keep that connection to himself. It felt like a betrayal, but he didn’t know how to tell Birdie.
There was only one person in that rarefied world of the rich that Marley trusted. Irony of ironies, that one person was Adam’s brother, Richard.
Richard had really done the anonymous thing properly, and come in for a tattoo years ago. He’d asked for a dove on his shoulder blade, and Marley had don
e it well. It was, Richard had said, for peace.
He always hoped for peace.
All right, so Richard was a bit of a hippie. But he was a good guy. He didn’t have as much money as Adam did. Not because he couldn’t have had it. Adam was close to his brother.
But because he had chosen to take another path.
Richard was a part of Adam’s empire, too, and Adam would have been happy to share the controls with him. Or at least, that was what Richard had told Marley.
But Richard had just wanted to design and be left alone in peace, as long as he had enough to never worry about the bank balance. That was a luxury, and Richard understood it.
Marley and Richard had bonded over their similar artistic tastes, and they had started hanging out once in a while. Marley had heard bits and pieces about Adam, of course. Richard was fond of his brother, and had been worried about his self-destructive tendencies.
Then, of course, there was the string of women that Adam dated.
Any man who was rich was bound to have his pick of beautiful women. Adam had, by all accounts, enjoyed that as much as any other billionaire playboy.
Richard had been no saint, either. But Adam had gone through trust fund babies as if they were candy. He had never dated the same woman for more than a couple of weeks.
In the last year, Richard had been getting more and more worried about Adam because he had changed completely. Marley had known that Adam had been in an accident, but he hadn’t known much more about that.
He did know that things like that could change people. He knew that, he accepted it.
But after such a long time of self-inflicted isolation, Adam was taking an interest in Birdie. He didn’t like that. Birdie was fragile, a lot more fragile than she seemed. She couldn’t deal with the kind of dating lifestyle that Adam was used to.
Still, once the tattoo was done, he’d be out of their lives. He’d watch out for Birdie.
If Marley was being eaten up by jealousy, he ignored that and told himself that it didn’t matter. He was just watching out for Birdie.
He had been in love with Birdie for years. When the time was right, he would let her know. But Birdie needed her friend first. Lovers could come later.
Love meant that you put somebody else’s needs first. He didn’t think Adam would know how to do that in a million years.
He jolted out of his reverie when Birdie came across to him.
“So, do you think you could close up tonight?”
Marley gave her an amused look.
“Why, got a hot date?”
“Well… No. Kind of. Maybe. I don’t know.”
Marley went on high alert. “What do you mean?”
“Well, Adam came by today. He wanted to talk about the design again. But I was waiting for a client, so I told him that we could talk about it afterwards, in the evening. I think it kind of turned into a date.”
Marley went completely still. “You’re going out on a date with Adam? Birdie, do you think that’s a good idea?”
“It’s not really a date,” hedged Birdie.
“We’re just, you know, going out to grab a drink and a bite. It’s more of a business dinner. Yeah, it’s definitely much more of a business dinner. So, no, not a date.”
Marley bit back his worry, not all of it for himself.
“Birdie, you should be careful with him. I know something of his history. He dates and discards women as if they don’t matter.”
Birdie bristled with anger.
“I appreciate your concern, Marley, but your worry is misplaced. I can take care of myself. Do I need to remind you that I took care of myself for long enough? I still do.”
Frustrated, Marley rubbed his head.
“This isn’t the same. That was your world. His world is different. His world has no place for people like us.”
Birdie whirled around.
“What do you mean, people like us? He’s a man who was in a horrible accident, Marley. I’m helping him with that. I’m doing my job. I don’t appreciate you trying to tell me what I should do.”
Marley backed off. There was no point antagonizing Birdie. Anyway, she was fiercely independent. He had always known that. There wasn’t much of a chance of her listening to him at all, not if he went about it that way.
“I’m sorry, Birdie. I just… I just want you to be safe.”
Birdie softened because she knew the sincerity in his voice was real. There was no subterfuge there.
“I know that, Marley. But it’s just dinner. There’s no need to get so worried. I’ve already met him alone, you know. Remember? I survived that just fine. I’m pretty sure I’ll be fine for dinner. He’s not a big bad wolf, I’m not Red Riding Hood, and will you please stop fretting like a grandmother?”
Marley grinned despite himself. Was it any wonder that he loved this woman? She was everything.
“Give up my knitting? Never,” swore Marley, making Birdie chuckle.
“Now, show me what you were working on. We should get some work done. I chased Adam away so that we could get some work done. Andy should be here any minute, catch me up until then.”
Feeling perfectly happy, Birdie settled down to show Marley what she’d done until then. It never took long to show Marley exactly where she was headed. Birdie was grateful for how well they worked together.
Still, she thought as she worked on a fairly simple tattoo for Andy, Marley did worry too much. The dislike he had taken to Adam was just unreasonable.
So what if Adam had dated so many women? He was very handsome and very rich. Women probably threw themselves at him all the time. He was young. Why wouldn’t he date as many women as he could?
It wasn’t as if she was pledging lifelong commitment and fidelity to Adam or anything. It was just a date. Marley was bending it all out of proportion, really. He would just have to deal with the fact that she was going to go on a date with Adam.
Maybe. She wasn’t even very sure if it was a date. It was just a dinner meeting to talk about the tattoo. Not even a real date, she told herself.
But Marley had placed a few new doubts in her mind. Her annoying reaction to Adam couldn’t just be pushed out of the way all the time. She needed to deal with it. That part of her that kept threatening to make her swoon when he was around like some old-fashioned, corseted heroine was also getting giddy with delight at the thought of a date.
So what if it was a date? It wasn’t like she never dated. She dated.
Fine, it had been a while since she’d dated, but she knew how it worked. One date and she wasn’t going to be all heartbroken and devastated if he didn’t ask her out again.
Besides, she had asked him out this time. Boy, that had taken some nerve.
Birdie pushed it all out of her mind and finished up on Andy before heading up. Marley didn’t look at her.
As she stood in her little apartment and looked around, a faint smile touched her lips.
Adam wouldn’t feel very comfortable in her little apartment. He would be used to so much more luxury, so much… more.
But she loved her apartment. It might not be much, but she had made it hers. It had been important to do that, even if it had meant sewing curtains and cushion covers herself, refurbishing tables and chairs on her own, with her own hands. She had needed a place that was truly hers.
Now she had her home, and she had Visions. That was far more than she had ever hoped to have a few years ago.
A few years ago, she’d had nothing.
She had dealt with that, hadn’t she? She had found a way out of that. One date – or not-date – with a billionaire, no matter how handsome and charming, wouldn’t shake the foundation of who she was. She had far too much to be grateful for to let it be jeopardized.
Marley was just worrying for nothing.
She showered, and paid attention to how she dressed. She didn’t want to embarrass herself, wherever he was taking her. She hadn’t thought to ask. But she didn’t want to be uncomfortable, either.
The one pair of wedge heels she had should do, decided Birdie. She would remain true to herself and wear a distressed denim skirt with a formal black blouse that dipped at her cleavage. She would not wear a dress that made her uncomfortable.
Adam made her uncomfortable enough without adding to it this way.
She wanted to match his confidence with her own. She wanted to match his self-assurance with her own, too. She would.
She was done being a bumbling idiot around him.
Very carefully, she did her face with subtle strokes of makeup that would emphasize her eyes and her full lips.
Tonight, thought Birdie, she wouldn’t be the only one who bit her tongue very few minutes.
Chapter 6
Adam’s mouth dropped open when he saw Birdie. She had done… something. He didn’t know what she had done, but she sure had done something.
She looked incredible.
“Wow,” said Adam.
Birdie heaved a sigh of relief. He hadn’t noticed how she’d been gaping because he’d been too busy gaping at her. It was nice to feel as if they finally had a reasonably level playing field.
She wasn’t the only one with scrambled brains.
“Shall we go?” Birdie’s voice was bright and firm. Adam looked like he’d gotten a jolt to hear that, too.
Good, thought Birdie. He should get used to how she didn’t stutter and stammer and lose her train of thought.
Birdie tried not to hum with pleasure at the Corvette he was driving again. But she was thrilled to be going somewhere in it.
Without waiting for him to open the door, she hopped in and turned to smile at him. Adam looked like he’d lost his train of thought when she really turned that smile on him.
She wanted to giggle. This was going well.
Birdie thought he’d take her to a fancy restaurant. But he didn’t. He did better than that. He took her to a little family-run Italian restaurant and bakery where it looked like he was a regular.
He moved along, with Birdie in his wake, shaking hands, hugging, and exchanging greetings. Curious eyes surveyed her. Birdie wondered if he was going to introduce her to anybody.
Finally, they found themselves in front of a short, stocky woman with her hair in a huge black bun. She wore an apron and had a ladle in her hand. Birdie immediately wanted to sketch her. What a character she made!
Be My Everything (Brothers From Money Book 11) Page 20
