Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 66453 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66453 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
She’d been making me pretty damn uncomfortable for the last month, so we were in the same boat there. I took another sip of my coffee, but the caffeine did nothing to lift my mood. Selena was saying everything I knew. We were in perfect agreement.
And it felt like shit.
“Like I said, you made the right decision.”
“But then I thought about it more.” Selena leaned forward. “I’ve spent my whole life avoiding discomfort, Dominic. I didn’t agree with what we were taught in school, but I didn’t argue like my sister did. It was more comfortable to just go along. And then when my parents pushed me to major in finance, I did it even though it’s never been my passion. They said accountants would always be able to live comfortably, but artists starved.”
“They sound…interesting.” I was also interested in the direction this conversation was going.
“That’s one word for them,” Selena agreed. She set her coffee down on the edge of my desk and stood up. She was so close I could have put my hands around her waist and pulled her down onto my lap and defiled another seating area. “The point is, I’m tired of being comfortable. I want to be with you, whatever that looks like for us.”
She reached out to touch my face. Her fingertips were hot from holding her coffee, and they moved like burning embers over my cheek, my jaw. I caught her wrist just before her hand fell away. Squeezed it because I still didn’t know whether I should pull her down or push her away.
She didn’t wait for me to decide. She leaned down, kissed me for one long, lingering moment, and then stepped away.
“Where are you going?” I asked, feeling strangely disoriented. We’d agreed this was a bad idea, and then she’d told me she wanted to do it anyway. She’d kissed me, and now she was moving toward the door. Form wasn’t following function anymore, and speaking of form, my cock was also disoriented. It had risen to the occasion and now…
“I’m going to work,” Selena said, a laugh in her voice. “It’s almost eight. Mrs. Flannigan will be here in a minute.”
“Come back here.”
She shook her head, a small smile on her face. “No. I’ve told you I want this despite everything. Now it’s your turn to figure out whether you really want to do this despite your everything.”
“I’ve figured it out. Come back.” I didn’t know what I would do if she did. I couldn’t very well take her on the floor of my office. I just knew that the farther away she got, the colder it was.
“Later,” Selena said, hesitating at the door. “After you’ve really thought about it.”
I fought to clear my head. She was serious about this. I had to be, too. But first, I stood up and strode across the room. No one was in the office yet. I shut my door and pulled her to me, crushing my mouth down on hers, letting her feel the full force of my erection against her hip. If she hesitated or pulled away, I’d know she hadn’t really thought this through.
There wasn’t even a hint of hesitation as she pressed herself against me. She wrapped her arms around my neck and met my tongue with hers. Lightning shot through my bloodstream. This is right, a voice in my head marveled. Despite everything, this is right.
Mindful that it wouldn’t look good for a junior associate to be coming out of my office this early in the morning on an otherwise empty floor, I let her go.
“You have to really think about it,” Selena said breathlessly, her pupils dilated with lust. She reached up and smoothed her hands over her hair, then made sure her shirt was still tucked neatly into her waistband.
I told her I would, but I had a bad feeling that all I’d be thinking about was her.
22
SELENA
I told Dominic I didn’t want his answer until after Thanksgiving. That was out of self-preservation. If he told me he couldn’t do it, I didn’t know if I could sit across from him at dinner and put on a happy face. And if he said he could do it, well, I didn’t know if I could stand to be in the same room with him without touching him.
We’d spent the last month on the fence. It was an uncomfortable balancing act, but we’d managed. I figured that was the safest place for us to stay until the holiday was over.
When I woke up on Thursday morning, it felt more like Christmas than Thanksgiving. I had a huge bubble of excitement in my chest that only grew bigger as the morning edged into the afternoon. I got up early and made waffles, then had to heat up the waffle iron again when not just Christi but Jake came out of her room at 9:30.