He suddenly became very serious as his eyes searched mine. “Elena, I’m sorry if it seems that way. Paris was a lot more difficult than I anticipated and I have issues there that I need to resolve, but it will take a while. I hope you know that I had a wonderful time with you last week and I am looking forward to another date. I’m just a little pre-occupied with personal things right now. I didn’t expect to meet you and I wish I had met you after all of this was resolved.” His words trailed off as he looked out the window and he had a definite pained expression on his face.
What was going on in Paris that made him so upset?
He looked back at me and gave me a small smile. “Just know that when you see me looking at you like this, what you are seeing is very simple, a man admiring a beautiful woman. You say this is a seductive look, but Elena, when I decide to seduce you, you’ll know.”
I was completely tongue-tied when he said that. What could I say to that? A wave of giddiness washed over me and I felt like a teenager. He still likes me! This was so not part of my plan. Here I was falling head over heels super fast for this guy and I wanted to let all self-control fly out the window. While my head was trying to protest, my body was betraying me. My core began to gently throb as I thought about what it would feel like to have him kiss every inch of my body. He was so sexy and masculine, I just knew that he knew how to devour a woman’s body and I couldn’t wait to let him devour mine.
“Did your mind wander off somewhere, Elena?” A sly smirk turned up the corner of his mouth and I was completely mortified at the thought of him being able to tell what I was thinking.
I was totally embarrassed and prayed that my flushed cheeks didn’t give away my thoughts. What is wrong with you, Elena? He is your boss! I stretched my lips across my teeth in what I can only assume was a pathetic attempt at a smile and tried to appear unfazed by his question.
“What? Oh, just thinking about work.” And you running your tongue all over my…stop it!
“Work? Is that what they’re calling it these days?” That smirk was infuriating.
I looked him square in the eye and tried not to waver. “Yes, work. Speaking of which, I am going to take a look at some files. Did you need anything else?”
He seemed totally amused as the smirk had turned into a full blown grin. “Not right now. I’ll let you now when it’s time.”
Time? “Time for what?”
His eyes smoldered as they fell to my lips. “Time for us.”
Now my cheeks were burning and I averted my eyes so that he could not see into my soul and know that I wanted him. I had to keep that to myself for a little while longer, I couldn’t let him complete control, not yet.
I immersed myself in the files for an hour and then it was time for lunch. The flight attendant served us a meal that could have rivaled a five star restaurant. The rich really do have it good. When we were done eating Sebastian told me a bit more about what we were going to do while in São Paulo.
“Sophia Hudson, the global chair of creative strategy in our in-house public relations firm will be joining us. I would really like for you two to work together this week and come up with some sort of joint strategy to get the word out, and clients in, Blu Sierra São Paulo. She will join us on Friday so you should spend the majority of the day with her.”
“Okay, I’m sure that we can come up with quite a few ideas.”
He went back to checking email on his iPad and I jotted down ideas to share with Sophia when I met her on Friday. We were about an hour away from São Paulo when my mind wandered to Sebastian’s touch and I remembered that he had a date for the gala and she clearly did not appreciate the attention he gave me. Was he the type who liked to cheat? I wanted to know who she was.
“Sebastian?”
He stopped what he was doing and looked up at me. “Yes?”
“Who was the woman that you were with the night of the gala?”
He seemed completely caught off guard by my question and I could see in his eyes that he did not really want to answer me.
“That was Sophia.”
“Sophia, the PR exec?”
“Yes.”
So he did like to mix business with pleasure, well that sucks. Now I had to work with the woman who was staring daggers at me that night.
“Why are you asking me out if you have a girlfriend Sebastian? I am not the type of person who goes after other women’s men.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Oh, are you coming after me?” There was that sexy smirk again.
I shifted in my seat completely flustered that I had let the words come out of my mouth the way that they did.
“I didn’t mean it that way. Look, if you want to cheat on your girlfriend you’re going to have to look elsewhere. I have no interest in being a part of that.”
A deep sigh escaped his lips as he peered at me over the top of his glasses and then removed them.
“Elena.” His voice was pure seduction. “Sophia is not my girlfriend, she was at my table because she’s the global head of PR. We were not there together.”
I narrowed my eyes at him trying to decide if I should believe him. “She looked awfully upset when I came over to introduce myself.”
“That is probably because she knows that I like beautiful women and you are exquisite.” His sexy, little smile wasn’t going to derail my questions.
“No, there was something more there Sebastian. If I’m supposed to work with her please tell me if there is anything I should know.”
He has hesitated once again and then told me something that I did not want to hear. “Sophia is protective of me and can sometimes go overboard, but it comes from a good place.”
I was not stupid, I knew that there had to be something else. A woman is not possessive of a man for no reason so I raised my eyebrows at him, crossed my arms and waited for the rest.
“Sophia is my ex, it was over three years ago and it took time for her to accept that the relationship was over. But she finally did and she has been dating someone for nearly 2 years.”
“Where was her date that night?”
“He was in Los Angeles on business. Is there anything else you would like to know?”