“Let’s have a seat and see if we can’t make you more comfortable.” He nodded toward the seating area, moving over and taking a seat on the sofa. He sat with his knees spread wide apart, feet planted flat on the floor, his suit pulling tight across his tree-trunk thighs and drawing attention to his prodigious bulge.
He unbuttoned his jacket to reveal a tight, white dress shirt.
When Sebastian didn’t move, he dipped his chin toward the armchair across from him.
Sebastian didn’t know how it was possible to turn a subtle nod into an order, but Blackwell managed it effortlessly.
Feeling like he had no other option, he walked over to the armchair and sank into the plush leather, folding his hands over his lap and looking anywhere but at the werewolf across from him.
“That’s better.” Blackwell draped his arm over the back of the couch and turned to Harding. “Thank you. I’ll call you when I need you.”
Sebastian bit his cheek, hoping that Harding would object to the obvious dismissal and stay, but luck wasn’t on his side. Harding nodded and muttered that he would be in his office if Blackwell had any questions. He slipped out of the conference room, closing the door behind him.
Sebastian stared at his lap, feeling Blackwell’s gaze on him like a burn.
“Just the two of us,” Blackwell said, his rumbling voice dropping even lower. Sebastian shuddered, an unbidden mental image of hearing that voice whispering directly into his ear making his gut clench.
He looked up, his breath stuttering when he met Blackwell’s eyes. They burned into him, scorching and filled with a hunger that Sebastian didn’t understand.
“Yup,” Sebastian said, unable to get enough air into his lungs. “Just us.”
“Are you disappointed?” Blackwell tilted his head and placed an easy hand on his thigh, drawing attention to his bulge.
Sebastian blushed.
Blackwell chuckled, dark and pleased. “So you’renotdisappointed.” His grin turned wolfish again. “That’s good to know.”
Sebastian was mortified. He didn’t want Blackwell to think that he was attracted to him, yet there was no denying that Blackwell was exactly his type.
That didn’t mean he wanted the man totakehim.
“I have a job,” Sebastian blurted, casting the words out like a lifeline.
Blackwell’s eyebrows rose to his forehead, his fingers tapping a tattoo on his thigh. He licked his lips.
“Yes, I read that in your file. Teaching, right?”
Sebastian nodded, his head moving too fast and his words coming in a rush. “Second grade. The new school year starts on September first.”
In other words, Sebastian had no time to be swept away by a werewolf.
“So that gives us the whole summer to get to know each other.” Blackwell’s thumb stroked over his thigh, moving up and coming perilously close to the bulge that Sebastian was trying his best to ignore. “Perfect timing, really.”
Sebastian swallowed, trying to figure out how to put a stop to this.
Maybe he should just tell Blackwell that he wasn’t interested?
“I don’t…” Sebastian trailed off, losing his nerve in the face of Blackwell’s intense focus.
“You don’t, what?” Blackwell prompted. He leaned forward, the sheer size of him making it hard to think.
“You’re not going to pick me, are you?” Sebastian asked, putting the question out there before he lost his nerve.
“You don’t want me to?” Blackwell’s brow furrowed, his eyes narrowing.
“I don’tknowyou.”
Blackwell didn’t say anything, and as the seconds passed, Sebastian got more and more anxious.
