“Is staying here tonight treating you the way he did?” He ran a hand through his hair. “I can cool it, Georgina. We can go at any pace youwant.”
“I’ve taken it slow with all my exes, Sebastian. It never made a difference. I would say you and I have taken it slowenough.”
“Then . . . I’d slip the other strap of your dress over your shoulder.” He swallowed. “Every time you removed your jacket today, those damn strapsfell.”
“They’re flimsy,” I said, brushing the other one down. I wanted to fall against him, to feel his arms around me. “Ifeel very flimsy at themoment.”
“And I feel strong. Like I might break you if I’m notcareful.”
I zipped the pendant of my necklace along its chain. Luciano had told me once I had pretty, slender hands, and that if I put my mind to it, I could use them to direct a man’s attention wherever I wanted. “Youwon’t.”
“No matter what you wear to the office,” Sebastian continued, “I imagine what it would be like to take it off. Jacket. Blouse. Skirt. Stockings. Even your jewelry, like thatnecklace.”
Sebastian had built a career on an adeptness with language, so it shouldn’t have surprised me his words aroused me as much as finally feeling his lips against mine. “You don’t have to imagineanymore.”
He frowned. “I want this, Georgina. You know I do. I’m trying to begood.”
I reached back and unzipped my dress just enough to loosen it. “And I’m saying you don’t have tobe.”
“What happened to being shy?” heasked.
It was a valid question. I’d spent most of our acquaintance fumbling the line between bold and bashful. “I guess you bring out the George inme.”
He groaned, covering his face with one large hand. “Why would you say that? I told you, I can’t fantasize about someone namedGeorge.”
“What about someone named George who wearslingerie?”
He slatted his fingers to peek at me. Turned out I could talk the talk—but did I, as myself, without a mask or a character to play, really have the guts to seduce Sebastian? For now, I left my dress where itwas.
He dropped his hand. “I like you, but I’m scared of fucking it up. I don’t want to treat you like a one-nightstand.”
“How do you know you like me if we’ve only been out on one date?” I asked, because in order for us to proceed, Sebastian needed to vocalize it for himself as much as I needed to hearit.
“All day has been an adventure,” he said. “And ever since you walked into my office, I’ve been trying to be better. For you, or to beat you, I don’t know. A little of both. But in the end, you challenged me when nobody elsewould.”
Something he’d hated me for. And now? The way his eyes roamed over my body, then back to my face, it didn’t look as if he hated me at all. Maybe he never had. Maybe he’d meant it when he’d said there’d been nogame.
“You make me laugh,” he continued. “You make mecrazywith your messy desk and melting gummy bears and the fact that one of your video games requires a PlayStation you don’t seem toown.”
I crossed my arms. “That’s why the plastic wrap is still on. I have three days left to returnit.”
“Meanwhile, you’re creating color-coded schedules for your dog and reviewing my team’s ideas and personal lives with a fine-tooth comb. I can’t figure you out—I never could. You make me mad in a badandgood way. Just because I didn’t ask you out untiltoday—”
“You didn’ttechnicallyask me out atall.”
“See?” he said. “You can’t just let me finish my sentence. You do that all the time, nitpicking over details, and yet you keep your sunglasses in a Ziplocbag.”
“The cases are too bulky,” I saiddefensively.
“But a plastic bag, Georgina? Really? They’re all scratchedup.”
I sighed and walked to him, my shoulders straight but my straps sagging. “Believe it or not, those are the reasons this will work—unless we both decide we don’t want it to. We were enemies first, but westillwant to kiss. That meanssomething.”
“You were never my enemy,” herepeated.
I’d certainly felt like I was, but I couldn’t say he was mine, either. “I’m not some girl you picked up at a bar or club, or wherever you pick upwomen.”
“The theater,” he said. “Industry event . . . at the park. On the subway. Sometimes even thesidewalk—”
