Page 15 of Billionaire's Promise

I take in the man whose shoulders fill the space, who’s so tall that the top of his head seems to brush the doorframe.

"You?" I swallow. "How did you get in here?"

5

Baron

"I walked in." I growl.

"You need to be buzzed in at the studio door." She frowns. "You can't just walk in like that."

"And yet, I just did," I point out.

"What is that supposed to mean?" She blinks. "Did you just break in?"

"It took me exactly three and a half minutes to crack the code to your studio door," I growl. "And the front door to the building doesn't even have a lock."

She reddens.

"Your security here sucks, you know that?

"You're exasperating, you know that?" she snipes back.

"You ain't seen nothin’ yet."

"Oh, piss off," she mutters.

"I will, after I take you home."

"I can take the tube," she insists.

"It's not safe. I'll drive you instead."

"Says who?"

"Says me."

"And who are you to tell me what I can and can't do?"

"I told you, when it comes to your safety I will not compromise, Ava."

"I am safe." She scowls.

"Says the woman whose studio is in a building whose door doesn't even have a lock. Seriously Ava, you need to move your studio from this walking disaster zone of a place."

"Disaster zone?" She snarls, "You dare call the place I built with hard work and commitment, the first space I have created dedicated to my art, a disaster?" Her chest heaves and her cheeks redden.

Why do her eyes seem swollen? Was she crying again?

The woman next to her shifts restlessly. Shit, I had been so focused on Ava, I hadn't even noticed that there was someone else in the studio. So much for my security ‘expertise.’ And I had insulted her about something that clearly means so much to her, and that too, in front of someone else? Way to go, asshole.

I draw in a breath, then rub the back of my neck, "I apologize." I roll my shoulders, "I may have been out of line."

"May have been?" She arches a brow and I stiffen.

"I am sorry I insulted you about your studio." I glance around the space, "It's a beautiful space."

She narrows her gaze.