Black Sparkle Romance Read Online Free Page A

visitors’ couch. Gaining courage, she decided on the former. Lauren turned to the stranger. “This is—” Her phone suddenly rang and she stood up. “I’m sorry … I have to take this. Give me a minute.” She walked out to the balcony and shut the soundproof glass door behind her.
    An awkward silence settled over the office, and Mira felt trapped. The hum of the air conditioner was deafening, the tick-tock of the clock on the wall annoyingly loud,like the chirp of a canary. Even the sweet smell of hydrangeas on Lauren’s desk transformed into a pungent odour, and bile rose to Mira’s mouth. Holy cow, what is happening to me? Shifting slightly, she turned to find the stranger’s eyes glued to her. He’s still staring! “Do you mind?” she blurted out, and then wished she hadn’t – her voice sounded pathetic.
    He grinned again, his hazel eyes wrinkling at the sides. “Don’t blame me. I’m just amazed—”
    She rolled her eyes; was that the sorry line he used on ladies? Boooring!!
    “… I mean, seeing you again, the lady who totalled my car a week ago, in a city of over fifteen million people,” he whistled. “God works in mysterious ways.”
    She stared at him. “Excuse me?” she snapped. “I didn’t ‘total’ your car, Mister … it was a tiny dent! Please don’t blow things out of proportion here!”
    “‘Tiny dent’ isn’t exactly the expression I’d use; I remember my headlight was smashed—”
    “And I also remember you rejecting my offer to pay for the damage!” The last sentence came out as a shout. Glancing at the balcony and satisfied that Lauren couldn’t hear her, she hissed, “Why are you here? Did you come to report me to my boss? And how did you get my office address?” Her eyes widened. “Wait … did you Google me to find where I work?”
    He laughed, but still kept the mysterious smirk. “Maybe.”
    “That’s not an answer.”
    He flashed a playful smile and her nerves trembled. “Like I said, God works in mysterious ways.”
    She stood up. “You know what? This is ridiculous – I’m out of here. I don’t care if you tell my boss; you can tell her I drove your car off the Third Mainland Bridge—”
    “Who drove off Third Mainland Bridge?” Lauren had come back into the room and was standing beside her mahogany desk, surprise etched on her face.
    They both turned to her. The stranger stood up and leaned against the desk, and Mira noticed again how tall he was. “Yeah, who drove off Third Mainland?” he asked, hands deep in his pockets, his eyes focused on her. He stood a good four inches above Lauren’s six feet, and the air was heavy with his Hugo Boss aftershave. He was dressed casually in iron-grey jeans with a blue shirt and a black suede blazer, and she noticed one new thing: there was no wedding band on his finger. You shouldn’t be thinking about that! her Rational Mind yelled at her. Snap out of it and focus … what is wrong with you?
    Backed into a corner, she relayed the parking lot incident to Lauren, and watched as her boss’s curiosity transformed into an amused grin. “Well!” she said. “You’ve saved me the trouble of introductions – you already know each other!”
    “No I don’t know him—”
    “Well, not technically—”
    They stopped and looked at each other, waiting for theother to continue. He didn’t, so Mira went on. “I don’t know him. I just dented his car, which I offered to—repair,” he finished for her. He smiled at Lauren. “She never forgets to add that detail.”
    Mira pressed her lips together, her fists tightening into knots. Lauren laughed. “Anyway, Mira, this is Dominic Odogwu, my nephew. He is a high-profile photographer who has done a lot of work for many top magazines … Genevieve, True Love, TW … you name it. He took that memorable picture called ‘Eko My Love’ … you know, that popular picture of Victoria Island’s metropolis, Bar Beach, with sailing boats and a setting sun on the