Chapter 45 #2
And that’s when it fully hits me. We’re both scared.
We’re both worried about being hurt. I don’t have to worry that I’m not enough.
Or that he only wants the polished facade I’ve hidden behind.
Because he truly sees and loves all of me.
And he needs me to see past his big life.
He needs me to truly see him, the man he is in spite of the fame and the fortune.
He doesn’t need some sparkly girl on a red carpet. Because I will always love him better than anyone else.
I go on tiptoe and wrap my arms around him. “I love you, too, Sebastian Blake. So freaking much. I love every part of you. You never have to doubt that. Landon’s the one who never had a chance.”
He picks me up and twirls me around. “You love me?” he asks in wonder.
“I love you!” I squeal, laughing. And then I smirk at him. “You should have known. I had the biggest crush when I first starting working for you.”
He narrows his eyes, setting me down slowly so I slide against his body. “Bullshit.”
“I did. And to my frustration, my crush never fully went away. I tried to bury it. But then you’d do something ridiculously sweet. Or make me wild. And the crush would be back.”
He shoots me a skeptical look. “Come on. Most days you barely tolerated me.”
“Well, I had to keep you and your ego in line. Plus, you were my boss. I didn’t think you even noticed me.”
“Oh, I noticed. But I tried my damnedest not to. From the very beginning, I knew you were someone I had to have in my life. You’re so fucking funny and smart and capable.
But more than that, you’re fiercely loyal, and you fight like hell for the people in your life.
And I thought the only way I could keep you was to keep my feelings buried.
And to ignore your sweet fucking body. Your face.
And your lips. Your damn lips distracted me so much. ” He kisses me until I’m dizzy.
When we finally break apart, he takes my hand and kisses my palm. Then he turns it over and frowns. “You’re not wearing your ring.”
“It’s not my ring. We’re—we’re not engaged.”
“It’s yours,” he says softly. “Where is it?”
“It’s here.” I pull it out from beneath my sweater. It dangles on a thin gold chain, sparkling brilliantly. “I thought it would be safest if I kept it on me.” The truth is, I wanted to wear it. To keep it close.
“I like it on you,” he says. “A lot.” He touches the diamond. “This can be your first ring.”
“What do you mean, my first ring?”
“Well, obviously, it’s not big enough to be the main ring.” His lips twitch. “You didn’t get an I love you grand gesture. So, you’ll have to let me give you a ring grand-gesture. It’s going to be obnoxiously grand. The grandest.”
I blink. “Are you talking about …?”
“Yes,” he says with absolute certainty.
“Oh.” I’m speechless, feeling a million emotions at once. Shaky nerves. Giddy hope.
His eyes sparkle with tender amusement. “We’ll take it at your pace. But don’t make me wait too long.”
I take a steadying breath. “Isn’t that supposed to be my line?”
“Maybe, in a relationship where the guy is an idiot and doesn’t know what he wants. But, I’m already all the way in. I know what I want. You. Forever.”
“I want that, too. So much,” I sigh happily. “But maybe we should… um… date first?”
“Fine. But you have to give me something.” He smirks and whips out his phone.
I notice his screensaver is a photo of us.
We took it at our last dinner in Napa. We’re sitting together, illuminated by golden-hour backlight, the vineyards glowing in the background.
Our smiles are brilliant. We look blissfully happy.
“If we can’t have a grand gesture, can we have a mini gesture? ”
He types on his phone for a few minutes. And then holds it out to me. “Can we be social media official?”
I take his phone. He’s one click away from posting the vineyard photo of us with a caption that reads:
Sebastian Blake loves Emma Reynolds.
I laugh, my heart melting at the words. But also, my anxiety ratchets up. “Sebastian. You have three hundred and fifty million followers. And a good portion of them probably want to scratch my eyes out.”
“Everyone already believes we’re together. Hell, they think we’re engaged. But this is confirmation that you’re mine. And I’m yours.” He grins. “I dare you.”
“Are you going to be daring me for the rest of my life?”
“It’s one of my favorite pastimes.”
“Good.” Joy pushes away any last trepidation. I delete his caption, though, and replace it with a heart emoji. Subtle is more my style. And then I press the post button, and there it is. Social media official and our picture as a couple out there to hundreds of millions of people. Gah.
I’m definitely not hiding in the background anymore.
He makes a loud whooping sound, throws his phone on the couch, and then picks me up in one smooth motion, spinning me around again.
I hold on with carefree exhilaration.
“Be a good hostess. Give me a tour of your office,” Sebastian rasps into my ear as he hitches me up, grabbing my legs as they wrap around his waist.
I arch an eyebrow, but I point the way to my new office, and he carries me toward it. His hand roams up my leg, moving toward my bare thighs, making me tinglingly aware that he’s fully dressed and I’m in a threadbare T-shirt and thin cotton panties.
When we get to the room, he flips the light on, holding me with one arm as if I weigh nothing. He looks around the serene, organized space. “Have I told you how proud of you I am?” he asks.
“Not in the last five minutes.”
When he sets me on the desk, my shirt rides up so my underwear is on display, and as his hot eyes devour me, I wiggle, trying to soothe the ache between my legs.
His smile is wicked. “Do you know how many of my fantasies began and ended with you sitting on a desk like this?” He groans. “I almost wish you were dressed for the office right now so I could rip one of your skirts off you.”
I spread my legs, just a little, and Sebastian’s gaze tracks the movement. I’m so wet. I need him to devour my mouth. And I need to get reacquainted with each line and angle of his body.
It’s been too long. When I spread my legs wider, he sucks in a breath, and when I move to touch him, he grabs my wrists and pulls them behind me. “Keep them there,” he commands. “Ms. Reynolds, you need to learn to take orders.”
I swallow back a giggle. Because as if. But his rough voice and vise-like grip on my wrists cause the ache between my legs to sharpen.
“Yes, sir,” I murmur.
“That’s more like it,” he praises. “Now, I’m going to take off your underwear. Slowly. And you’re going to show me your sweet pussy.”
As he says it, he pulls my panties down a little at a time. He kneels in front of me as I recline on the desk, working the wisp of white cotton and lace to my knees, then lower, lower, until they’re off. He spreads my legs all the way and gazes at me as if I’m an altar he’s worshiping at.
Reaching, he pulls my shirt up until my breasts are on display.
He caresses one and then the other. “When you sat across from me at the kitchen table, I tried to ignore the attraction. But you don’t know how many times I lost my concentration because all I wanted was to unbutton those crisp white blouses of yours.
And then I imagined pushing you onto the table, pushing up your skirt, peeling off your underwear, and making you come for me until you screamed my name.
That’s why I tried not to look at you too closely. It was dangerous.”
My skin is on fire, his words and my imagination igniting the blaze.
That mouth is so close I can feel his breath on my inner thigh.
I’m going to combust if it’s not buried between my legs soon.
I make an inarticulate noise, and he smiles as if he knows how wild I am for him. “Easy, my love.” He slides me closer. “I’ll make it all better as long as you do as I say. Now, be a good girl and put your legs around my shoulders.”
When I comply, he turns his head to lick me, and desire pools at my core. His mouth moves up, closer and closer to my center until I’m writhing for him.
His tongue sweeps over me, and I moan loudly, lifting my hips off the desk.
At the sound, his control breaks, and he devours me, licking long and deep.
Stopping only to murmur wicked encouragement and filthy praise.
I’m mindless, lost to everything but the overwhelming sensation of being savored, consumed, in the most intimate of ways.
His finger pushes in and out, adding to my torment, and then his tongue turns its focus to my clit, teasing it in endless light flicks of pleasure. My hips rock into him as he plays with me, giving me just enough to keep me drowning but not enough to push me over the edge.
“That’s the way, Em. You’re so wet, sweet girl. Say you’re mine forever, and I’ll give you what you’re begging for.”
“I’m yours, Sebastian. I’ve always been and I always will be,” I gasp out. “But I need you in me. Now.”
“Turn over,” he orders before gently twisting me around so my feet touch the ground and I’m bent over the desk. “God, that ass,” he groans.
I cry out as he thrusts into me. He’s buried so deep I’m drunk with lust. I want this to last. Want to feel this pleasure and joy forever. He sets a merciless rhythm as begging sounds rip from my throat.
His mouth comes down on the back of my neck, sending shivers through me, and his hands find my breasts, teasing my nipples, making me wilder.
It’s all too much and not enough. “Sebastian, I can’t hold back,” I keen.
“Not yet.” His voice is rough with need. “I always have to watch when you come.” He pulls out and then turns me again until we’re chest to chest, eye to eye. My legs wrap around his hips.
I gasp as I sink down on him until he’s embedded deep, and I’m filled with an overwhelming feeling of rightness, of finally being complete.
He brushes the hair from my face. “Two months felt like two years. An eternity. I never want to go this long without holding you. No matter how busy or where in the world we are, we’re going to figure out a way to be together. Promise me.”
I reach up and touch the faint lines of fatigue around his blue, blue eyes. “I promise.”
He tilts his face into my palm. Then he begins moving in powerful, deliberate strokes that leave me gasping from endless waves of heightening pleasure.
We go on and on, intimately connected in body and soul.
With his eyes on mine and his dick buried deep, a tidal wave of frenzied excitement and aching emotion gathers and peaks, the surging intensity ripping through my body and causing tears to streak down my face.
He follows me over the edge.
The fragments of my world come back together. I find myself in my office, bonelessly perched half on my desk, half in Sebastian’s arms. He wipes tears from my cheeks. “Baby, I can’t handle it when you cry.”
I laugh. “They’re good tears. Not bad tears. I’m just so happy.”
“Yeah?” he asks, his little-boy smile widening with a mix of joy and pride.
“Yeah,” I say softly. Then I shift. Now that the urgency is over, I realize that my office desk is not the most comfortable spot to have sex. “Even though I can’t feel my ass right now.”
He kisses me reverently, then picks me up. “Which way to your bedroom? I’ll massage it better.”
“I knew I kept you around for a reason.”
“Well, you’re stuck with me forever, Em.” He raises an eyebrow. “Do you agree?”
Leaning in, I whisper in his ear. “I do.”