Okay, now I know I’m being tricked, I thought and looked around the office.Is this a prank? A gotcha reality TV show?
At my silence, he set down his papers and looked closer at me, like he suspected I might be slow. “Are you a student?”
“I graduated last year with a degree in Fine Arts. I’m hoping to become an illustrator. In the meantime, I thought I might try living abroad for a year or two, maybe teach English. That was the plan, at least.”
He gave me a condescending smirk. “You like other cultures, do you?”
I remembered those foreign symbols written on the elevator’s control panel and wondered again where the Wilde family was from. What other “culture” was I getting myself into?
“I do.” I swallowed. “Would you like to hear about my experience?”
“That isn’t necessary.” He tented his fingers. “There’s just one last thing.”
I wasn’t sure how I felt about the ice-cold look on his face. “Um, okay.”
“Close your eyes.”
My eyebrows shot up in alarm.Oh, hell no.I wasn’t falling for this again. Severn Wilde might be one of the most gorgeous men I’d ever laid eyes on, a man who every woman in New York wanted, but I wasn’t about to let another man in a position of authority corner me and paw me all over again…
He frowned when he saw the wary look cross my face. “I assure you, Willow, my intentions are purely professional. I understand that it is an unusual request, but it is necessary. If it would put you at ease, I can have a junior executive join us.” This time, there was no smirk on his face, nor was he shuffling distractedly through more important business while he dealt with me. He was giving me his full attention, and for once, sincerity rang behind his words.
I relaxed a little. “No, that’s okay.”
I mean,damn. For $5,000 a week and a penthouse apartment, I’d stand on my head if he wanted.
Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes.
I was tempted to peek, but something told me Severn would know if I did. I heard his chair squeak as he stood and took a few slow footsteps around the desk to where I waited. He stopped so close in front of me that I could feel the heat coming off his body. Or at least I should have been able to, but instead of body heat, he emitted an almost electric kind of chill.
“Whatever you do,” he instructed, “don’t open your eyes.”
A brief moment passed when all I could feel was that crackling in the air and then the brush of his lips against one of my eyelids and then the other.Kisses?What in the world? However, to my relief, there was no lecherous vibe behind Severn’s actions. The kisses on my eyelids felt chaste. Even perfunctory.
But when he pulled away, the electric chill remained. It rippled over my skin, making me shiver.
“Um—” I started.
“Open your eyes,” he ordered, his husky voice an inch from my ear, “and try not to scream.”
ChapterThree
In the moment before my eyes snapped open, a hundred thoughts sprinted through my head.
Don’t scream?
Was Severn Wilde some rich psychopath who lured “nannies” to his office so he could, like, sacrifice them to the devil? Was this a weird kink thing? That’s what I got for seeing all the red flags but showing up to the interview anyway.
Still, I couldn’t imagine Severn Wilde, with his billions and not to mentionthatface, had any trouble attracting willing women to do whatever bizarre kinks he wanted. He hardly needed to be luring the likes of me, a virgin whose only kink was her pink vibrator.
“Open your eyes, Willow,” he repeated.
For a minute, I didn’t, because I was terrified. But then I realized if I was in danger, I’d need my eyes open to be able to kick him in the nuts and run out of there.
I cracked open an eye, ready to scream bloody murder despite his warning…
But to my surprise, the reclusive businessman in front of me was gone. Well, he was still there. It was still clearly Severn, with his sandy hair and chiseled jawline. At the same time, it was very muchnotSevern. His green eyes had become an impossibly electric shade of turquoise, and his light brown, ear-length hair now cascaded down to his shoulders in glittering silver waves. Instead of his business suit, he wore a mist-gray cloak embellished with intricate stitching. His ears werepointed.
Mouth agape, I could only stare.
