There’s no way this behemoth hasn’t had women throwing themselves at him daily.Statistically, he should have kissed dozens, if not hundreds, of others.
I sneak a hand through the front of his suit coat and flatten my palm on his chest.His impossibly wide, muscular chest.
“You don’t have to pretend,” I say in a voice so thick I hardly recognize it.
“I’m not pretending.I gave you my first kiss, and I expect you to take all my other firsts and lasts, too,” he murmurs.
His face is too close.I want to lean forward and test the silky smooth skin of his lips with my tongue.
“You’re teasing me again,” I accuse in an embarrassingly breathy voice.
“Not teasing.Flirting.Hoping.Praying,” he clarifies.
Footsteps and the sounds of arguing filter in through the door to the hall.
“Am I taking you out to dinner tonight so you can tell me who hurt you, or should I follow you home?”he asks.
Panic quickens my heart rate.
“Dinner,” I acquiesce.
He leans forward, ignoring my plight, and brushes his nose back and forth against mine.
“It’s a date, sweet pea,” he murmurs before planting a quick kiss on my cheek and scooping me off my feet.
I squeak and fist my hand in his shirt, but he settles me in the chair, uncurls my fingers, and tucks my chilled hand inside his jacket as he kneels in front of me.
The door opens less than half a second after he wraps the coat sleeves around me, bundling me inside with his delicious scent and residual body heat.
He angles his shoulders so his back is to the door and his bulk hides me from those entering the room.
As coworkers and chaos descend, I struggle to process what happened through the fog of terror clinging to my mind, but as my panic recedes, regret rises.
When I later spot Sebastian alone in his office, I knock on his door.He calls me in, so I step inside and shut the door.Butterflies attack my stomach as he quirks a brow.
I stand awkwardly with my heart in my throat and his borrowed suit coat draped over my arm.
“I’m not going on a date with you,” I blurt.
He leans back in his office chair and rests his chin on his steepled fingers.
It doesn’t matter whether he’s friends with my brother or not anymore.There’s too much between us to take this any further.I can handle being friends, but if we get romantically involved only to break up later, I’ll never recover.There’s too much at stake.
“So you’ve come to tell me who locked you in fifteen years ago and why you waited until now to tell me?”he prompts.
“I…” My mouth dries and throat closes.I can’t form the words.
“Sit down, Penelope,” he says with a gesture to the two chairs in front of his desk.
I drape his jacket over the back of one and sit in the other.
“How do you know Ms.Kim?”he asks.
I close my hands into fists and take a deep breath.
“Did she shut the server door today?”I ask.
He props his elbows on his desk and rests his forearms along the edge as he nods.
