“Rafe…” My phone rings, the sharp sound slicing through the room like a gunshot. Both of us freeze. I close my eyes briefly as every muscle in my body tightens with frustration. Of fucking course. The phone continues to ring, vibrating on my desk.
“You should get that.” She stands up, nearly touching me when doing so. I stare at her for more than a second, breathing hard before glancing down at the screen. My expression hardens, and she realizes it immediately. “Bad news?”
I don’t respond. Instead, I take the coward’s way out, putting an abrupt end to what fucking could have been. “That shirt hurts my eyes,” I say after my gaze drifts down the length of her body, lingering on the bright colors, when really, I’m stuck on the exceptional fucking view.
“You noticed it, though.” I exhale sharply through my nose, seriously close to a laugh.
“You’re staring at me again, Seraphina.” I lean into her space, lowering my voice and ignoring the phone ringing again.
“I am not,” she says with all the confidence in the world.
“You are.” Heat rushes to her cheeks.
“Maybe you’re just stare worthy.” I blink, clearly caught off guard, then my expression hardens again. But it’s too late. She saw it, and when Seraphina sends me a smile full of triumph, it’s me who moves, heading back around my desk and grabbing the phone off the cradle right as the ringing stops.
This shit has to stop. The only problem with that is, damn if I want it to.
3
RAFE
I’m a fucking dick, plain and simple. Still, she left me with her parting shot, and it kicked me right where she wanted—square in the balls and doing nothing for my aching cock. I drag a hand down my face, then stare at the report in front of me, the numbers blurring on the screen. Seraphina leaving her tablet on my desk is for one of two things: a reason to come back into my office or to keep me looking at the report and how we were almost swindled.
Not like any of it is sticking. I’ve got a pile of shit to get through—projections, contracts, emails waiting for my signature—and none of it matters. Because every few seconds, my attention snaps right back to where Seraphina is currently sitting, right in my line of sight. She definitely knew what the hell she was doing by leaving the door open.
I tear at my tie, tugging it away from my neck and lifting it over my head, then drop it to my desk. My eyes move right to Seraphina. She’s sitting at her desk that’s situated near the floor-to-ceiling windows much like mine. The mid-morning Seattle drizzle paints streaks along the glass beside her. She has her hands up, putting her hair in some kind of loose twist, but strands keep escaping around her face even when she attemptsto tame them into place. When she’s through with her task, she tucks one long shapely leg beneath her in the chair, losing a shoe in the process, before she becomes completely absorbed in her work.
Unlike me.
Seraphina Westwood is completely unaware that she’s driving me insane. Again.
This is a bad idea, a very bad idea, especially after what almost happened moments ago.
I can still smell her.
I can still hear the soft inhale she made when were close.
I can still taste the mint rolling off her lips that I wanted nothing more than to dig my fingers into the back of her head, pull her close to me, and get her flavor directly from the source. Then she looked up at me with her doe eyes. Christ.
The shrill tone of my office phone shatters my moment, and I’m left with one thing and one thing only to do: answer the damn thing.
“Sable.” I mutter a curse. Across the way, Seraphina’s mouth twitches like she knew exactly who would be calling. Little traitor.
“What?” I answer the phone with annoyance.
“Well, hello to you, too, big brother,” Sable says with a chuckle. “And my, don’t you sound pleasant today.”
“Is there a reason you’ve been blowing my phone off the hook?” Whereas there was once a time my hackles would be raised and I’d answer a split second after the phone rang when it came to my little sister, now, I can breathe easier. She’s got a man, a damned good one, too.
“Can’t a sister call her brother?” I can hear Nellie in the background and a slight tinge of exasperation in her tone. She’s nearing the end of her pregnancy, and, from what she tells me, she is as round as a beach ball.
“I’m working.” Seraphina isn’t the only one who receives the brunt of my pleasant disposition.
“Mhmm, sure.” I lean back in my chair, watching Seraphina, tugging at my lower lip with my thumb, and wishing she would be here in my lap. Instead, she’s pretending to not pay attention, but I catch the tiniest shake of her shoulders. The damn woman is laughing at me.
“What do you want, Sable?” I question, needing to get off the phone and actually be productive in some type of way today.
“I called earlier, you know.” There’s abutin there somewhere.
