Priceless: Contemporary Billionaire Romance Novel by Aria Hawthorne Read Free Book Online

his eyes fell upon her neckline,
admiring her natural ability to wear fine jewelry. “So please, no more talk
about not accepting it.  It was my pleasure.”
    Miles
tried to keep his tone level, but firm.  The idea that she might return his
gifts truly pained him.  He watched Maribel’s cheeks blush pink; she looked
like a Renaissance painting with her soulful brown eyes and black strands of
hair coiling down one side of her bare shoulder, and he felt certain there was
no prettier woman in the world who deserved rubies and diamonds more than she. 
    The sincerity and determination in his voice was so
charming.  Maribel felt herself blush and vowed silently not to push the point
further. “Thank you.”
    Miles
nodded in acceptance.  “The earrings on the other hand, well…” he paused and
wavered, noting the tear-drop ruby earrings that hung from her ears.  How much
to say, he wasn’t sure.  The last thing he wanted to do was to make her feel obligated
to him. “I will confess something to you.  I did consider the fact that you
might not want to wear something other than your diamond studs.”
    Maribel
touched her ears, surprised he had remembered what kind of earrings she was
wearing before she changed them.
    “Yes,
I’ve had those studs a long time.”
    “Sentimental
value,” he acknowledged. “I understand.”
    Maribel
stared at him; it was as if he was reading the deepest emotions within her
heart.
    Miles
stared back at her, hoping it was enough for now.
    “So
the earrings can still be discussed.  But they looked fantastic on you as
well.  So we simply may need to shake hands and call it a draw.  Agreed?”
    He
extended his hand across the table, and Maribel complied with a reluctant
smile.  They both smiled.  It was all so silly and juvenile, and yet, that was
the spirit of their connection—fun and freewheeling, spontaneous and original. 
He had such a way of making her feel like she deserved it—every bit of it.
“Agreed.”
    Miles
was used to shaking hands with women who had long painted nails, sharp diamond
rings, and even sharper attitudes.  Maribel’s hand, on the other hand, was soft
and tender. When she finally attempted to withdraw it, Miles held it a little
longer than necessary.
    “And so long as we’re laying all of our cards on the
table, I have a confession to make to you,” he suddenly announced.  “I thought
that you might be planning to spend Valentine’s Day alone, so that’s why I invited
you here to spend it with me.”
    Maribel peered at him with surprise. “Were you
planning on spending it alone, too?”
    The insinuation surprised him.  It was a perceptive
question, one that probed whether or not Miles had betrayed more than he
wanted.  Abruptly, they were interrupted by the ringing of his phone, lying on
the table. 
    Miles glanced down at its screen.  G-I-L-L-I-A-N. 
    “Excuse me, business,” he said, taking the call.  It
was a convenient disruption. Miles didn’t want to take the call, but he didn’t
want to acknowledge that he had planned to spend the most romantic day
of the year—alone.
     “Yes,” he answered and shifted away from the table.
    “You’re
avoiding me,” Gillian asserted.
    “No,
it’s a Saturday.”
    “Since
when do you not work on weekends, Brax?”
    “I
answered your call, so let’s cut to the chase.”
    “Oh,
I see… all business, are we?” Gillian’s voice shifted with aggression. “Fine.
My client wants seven-percent escalation, thirty-year lease term, and a
twenty-percent share of common elements expenses, or the deal is off.”
    “Fine. 
The deal is off.”
    Maribel
heard the sharp voice of another woman on the other end of his phone.  Nothing
about “the deal is off’ sounded good to her.  She watched as Miles shifted back
into his chair and gazed out the window—as if he was the only one at the
table.  Maribel suddenly felt like she was eavesdropping on his