AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I was defending you.”
“And I didn’t ask you to do that.”
He stalks toward me, and it takes all my self-control not to back away. When Sebastian slides his hands over my waist, heat winds through my core. “I willalwaysdefend you, Georgia.”
“You just ruined my plans for my gallery opening.”
He leans in, hands tightening on my waist. “You can do better than Cameron Fuller.”
“I hate you.”
His lips are so close to mine I can feel his breath on my skin. “Liar,” he whispers.
We come together in an explosion of torn clothes, nails, and teeth. All the anger inside me, the stress, the fear, it all evaporates when I’m clasped in Sebastian’s arms. Sometimes it feels like the only place that I can truly let go is when we’re in bed together. Or, in this case, when we’re on my brand-new desk together.
When I can be rough with him—when he can be rough with me—there are no pretenses. He bends me over the desk, drags my jeans down with a rough tug, and shoves my underwear to the side. In this moment he owns me just as much as I own him. Nothing matters except the heat of our bodies and the fire of our lust.
I wonder if it’ll burn me down to nothing, if this desire will consume me whole. How can I enjoy what he does to me when all my carefully laid plans for the gallery are lying in ruins—and it’s mostly his fault?
He did it for me, a small voice says when he enters me, and warmth sweeps through me, pleasure chasing close behind.
“You can be as mad as you want, honey girl, but you know you belong in my arms.” He says it like a vow, his voice shredded with barely leashed desire. My body’s response to his is answer enough.
I moan, mindless. “This isn’t forgiveness,” I pant, gripping the edge of the desk.
“Sure it isn’t,” he growls, then he makes me lose my mind for the thousandth time this summer.
Later,when our clothes are back on, we clean up the blood and dog pee off my new hardwood floors and give Bella some long-overdue attention. The dog licks my hands and scrabbles up my legs, and I sink to my knees to pet her soft fur.
Sebastian sits on the floor beside me. “I’m sorry, Georgia. Sorry for punching him, for ruining your opening, and I’m sorry for what I said about your business.”
Bella’s chocolate-brown fur feels like velvet under my palm. I pet her as her eyes close in contentment, her front paws on my thigh. “I appreciate that,” I tell Sebastian.
“I’ll make something for you,” he says. “And I’ll talk to some of the people from the Fringe Fest. I made friends, you know. No, don’t look at me like that. I can make friends when I try real hard. We’ll make sure the artists don’t blacklist your gallery.”
Smiling tentatively, I nod. “You’re probably right about Cameron, anyway. Judging by the way he left today, I doubt he had any interest in having his work displayed in my gallery for professional reasons.” I squint. “Did he really use the word ‘cove?’”
Sebastian leans back on his elbows, lounging like a big cat. One side of his lips tips up. “He sure did. Thought he was real clever, too.”
“Ugh.”
“It’s almost like I did you a favor.”
I scowl. “Don’t push it, Seb. I had to clean up all manner of human and canine bodily fluids from my new floors for you.”
His laugh is warm and smooth as silk. He runs a big hand down Bella’s back, tapping her rump fondly. Then he jerks his head to the door. “Come home with me tonight.”
I hesitate. The word “no” is on my lips, but there’s something in his voice, in the way he shields his eyes with lowered lids… It’s vulnerability, I realize.
Sebastian has always had a temper. He’s hot-blooded and protective, and he knows I hate the kind of confrontation that happened today. He’s worried that I’ll reject him, that he’ll screw up this tentative thing that exists between us.
So, instead of going back to my house on the coast, I scoot closer to him and kiss him gently. “Okay.”
His shoulders loosen, and he hooks a hand around the back of my head. We fall into a heap on the floor, and I find myself grateful that the door is still locked.
The next morning,I wake up in Sebastian’s bed. He bought a bed frame since the first time I was over, and he even has the guest room set up across the hall. His half of the duplex still feels temporary, like a bachelor pad with little or no homey touches, but at least it’s livable. It tells me he’s not running back to Clare anytime soon.
As soon as I stir, I feel a heavy arm curl around my stomach and something hard and hot at my backside. It should scare me, how much we want each other. I’ve never been with anyone who stokes these kinds of flames inside me.
