Violet blinked her green eyes repeatedly and prayed to the God Pan that her slumber had not turned her face into a melted mess of modern art, like the kind where they spray bottles of colors onto a canvas and then smudge them all together.
It would be humiliating.
She closed her eyes for a second and imagined what self-confident Lily would do.
Keep going no matter what.
That's what Lily would do. She bit her lip wishing she had a Ciandris, a preseli bluestone amulet worn by witches that could command time to do all sorts of things including, stop time itself. Too bad no one has seen a Ciandris in over three hundred years.
She tried to stop the blushing, pushing away at her thoughts on amulets as she reached for her jacket. His sultry baritone voice seemed to be having an effect on her. It raised the hairs on the back of her neck as if he had just whispered there.
The dark-haired man was too handsome. He gently squeezed her hand in a firm grip and pulled her in gently toward him as he helped her to her feet.
Violet's jaw dropped. She couldn't help it as his bright blue eyes locked onto hers. There was something almost unnatural about his eyes. They were shrewd, or perhaps condescending was the word she was thinking of, or was it arrogant?
"Roderick Greystone." He said parting his full lips as he enunciated every syllable.
Her cheeks went from a rosy blush to a scorching fiery blush as she whispered her own name in a half stupor. "Violet Narcissus."
"Follow me Miss Narcissus," he said as he returned his hand to his coat pocket.
Violet still stunned lingered a moment before repeating his words. "You want me to follow you?" She questioned him pointing a finger at herself.
Roderick froze as a wicked smile now crept slowly across his face, "Yes. I would love for you to follow me."
He headed straight for the elevator and she followed closely behind. Her heels clicked on the marble floors as they entered, and a cold silence poured into the claustrophobic space like water in a bath.
The doors shut and she turned her head toward him and wondered how she just got herself into this predicament.
It was a dumb mistake, he locked eyes with her again.
The hairs on the back of her neck rose up as if she were in the presence of a predator. Violet did everything to calm her pounding heart even though she felt like a rabbit caught in a trap. She didn't know what to say so she shifted the basket to her other arm in order to avert his gaze.
She supposed all men were like predators and she was nervous. She needed to calm herself.
If Lily could do it, she could too.
His office was large with a view of the ocean behind his desk. But his back was to the ocean and Violet thought that was a travesty. If she had such a lovely view, she would rather be facing the ocean if it were her office.
Roderick took the seat behind his desk and gestured for Violet to seat herself in the velvet chair opposite him. She set her basket down and then politely sat.
"Can I offer you some water?"
"No thank you. Mr. Greystone."
"Please call me Roderick."
There he goes again staring and smiling. It was starting to really get under her skin.
"My family owns Enchanted Winery and if you haven't heard we had a fire last night."
"It is the talk of Morgana's Veil."
"Well, she gulped, we need a venue for all of our scheduled weddings and I thought perhaps we could make.. uh… some sort of agreement. Now I was thinking…
"What do we have to agree about?"
"Well you see we need a venue and…
"What is the basket for?"
"I wanted to offer a token of friendship. And I thought…"
"I don't need friends," he said as he leaned back into his chair with his hands pressed into his desk.
Violet's mouth hung slightly open in shock.
"I'm not trying to be rude. The fact is you were already told no." He narrowed his eyes slightly but never flinched from his unrelenting gaze. "But you strike me as a woman who always gets what she wants. I'm the same way."
Violet bolted upright and took one step back as Roderick rose from his seat and in one fluid leap was facing her.
"You blush a lot for a nymph."
"I'm not afraid of you," she said, taking a step closer to his face. Her fear was replaced by anger at his arrogance. Just as she moved toward him a lightning bolt crashed outside his window.
But she didn't flinch.
"You should be," he smiled, "You do know I'm a wolf, don't you."
Violet felt herself internally vomit. "Of course, I know." Fuck she didn't and even Lily hadn't bothered to tell her. It all made sense. Feeling like she was near a predator, she was. And for Pan's sake Damon would kill her if he found out.
"These are modern times you know. We have nothing against wolves." She lied.
"You don't want to bargain with me. You should just walk away. For your own sake."
"I would love nothing more than to bargain with you," she said fiercely standing her ground.
Roderick smiled sweetly and touched his lip in a way that made Violets knees shudder, "And what do you have to bargain with?"
****
"Why for Pan's sake did you not tell me they were wolves?"
"You really have been sheltered your whole life, haven't you?" Lily shook her head, "I thought you knew. It's a miracle there isn't an ogre posted outside to keep you from leaving."
"There is. Only Damon's worse. By the way I lied and told them my last name was yours. They think I'm Violet Narcissus," she said as she chucked her purse onto the table.
"I can't believe you met Roderick Greystone." Lily fanned herself, "he's hot stuff."
Violet narrowed her eyes into slits, "you forgot arrogant, completely conceited and a real jerk."
"Was he mean?"
"No."
"Did he do something to you?"
"He got very close to me," she pouted, "and he looked at me funny."
Lily circled Violet with her hands on her hips as she eyed her up and down. A strange frown formed, and her eyes expressed her thoughts as she searched for something she couldn't quite grasp. "You really don't know anything about him, do you?"
"No. And I don't want to. It doesn't matter anyway. We have a lot of work to do."
"I thought he was calling you with his answer tonight."
"We have to prepare for his answer to be, no."