He reaches down and lifts my chin up, his other arm staying locked around my back. His warm, deep blue eyes lock on mine and the world tilts. My whole body liquifies and I lean into him, the scent of pine and spice surrounding me until I’m practically huffing him in like a drug.
“Aspen? Are you okay?”
Jerking up and groaning, I pull back and force a laugh out. “Yeah. I’m so sorry. I’m just a klutz lately.”
“I’d never call you that. I’ve seen your work. Your sculpting is next level. I could never do something like that. You’re very gifted.”
Flushing even hotter, I push my hair out of my eyes, dropping them to the ground.
“I’m sorry anyway. I should watch where I’m going. That’s very nice of you to say though.”
He growls under his breath. “I need to go but we’re gonna talk about this later. I feel like you’re being way too hard on yourself and I’d like to know why.”
He waits until I jerk my head up and then he nods like he’s making a point. “Thank you. The door’s open. I really appreciate this.”
“Sure, sure. It’s not a problem.”
“Don’t downplay your help, Aspen,” he growls and then he stomps off to his huge SUV and starts it up, his eyes lock on me, standing there frozen.
“What the hell is he talking about?”
I watch him pull out, waving at him like a moron.
Huffing out a harsh breath, I step inside his huge foyer, staring around at the beautiful space.
Everything’s so perfect. Just like the man.
He’s every damn thing I’m not and I wish I didn’t want him as much as I do. There’s no way that he wants me.
I haven’t got a prayer of that dream coming true.
I carefully hang up my coat in the closet that’s next to a beautiful buffet with a spotless mirror. My eyes twitch. My hair is a mess and I’ve got some clay stuck to my cheek where I must have rubbed at it. My plain brown eyes narrow and I swipe at it, sighing.
Yeah. The hard truth is I’m not good enough for that man.
Sighing again, I settle on the couch in the huge great room, my eyes catching on the gorgeous view of the mountains. Snow drifts down in the window and settles on the porch railings outside. The peaks of Wildwood Mountain are barely visible behind the heavy gray clouds hanging over them.
I feel just like those mountains. Lost in the clouds, lost to my own eyes, my own soul.
Lost and alone. Hopeless just like always.
CHAPTER 2
Sebastian
Charlie chatters at me from the seat and I’m really trying to stay focused on what she’s saying.
But I can’t forget that look in Aspen’s dark chocolate eyes. Heat and lust. But just as fast as I saw it, something else crept in. Something that made me want to punch someone right in the face.
Shame.
She’s got nothing to be ashamed of and yet that’s what I saw on her pretty little face. Shame.
I don’t like seeing that look on her face. Not at all. And I’m pretty sure that it has something to do with that dickhead she was dating until four months ago. That guy was a smarmy little bastard and I was damn happy when she finally kicked his ass to the curb.
And not just because she’s mine.
He wasn’t good enough to kiss her fingers let alone her lips. Drove me nuts dreaming about him touching her. I lost track of how many times I almost stormed over there when he came to pick her up.
