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“Work that someone else started and gave you just like that.”
“Work that I myself continued. Have you ever stopped to wonder what it’s like to feel that kind of pressure? My grandfather was the most important person to me in the entire world. My grandmother is still alive. My parents are still very much alive, as is the rest of my family. You don’t think my successes and failures aren’t measured? They’d still love me if I tanked their company, but I don’t think I’d be getting any Christmas cookies from my mom that year or a trip to the cabin with my dad.”
Right. He could see that Lexi never had stopped to think about that. That he might actually do some real work. That stress might be a part of the job. That he might think and feel things like everyone else. He tipped back his glass and drained the whole thing without tasting it. After, he wiped his lips with the back of his hand. He loved the spark of indignation Lexi couldn’t hide in her eyes. She’d watched him purposely throw that wine back without savoring it. She took her time, just to prove a point, and he loved watching her do it. Loved watching her drink, swallow, watching her eyes close in heavy lidded pleasure because even though he hadn’t tasted much of it, the wine was obviously good.
“Sorry to disappoint, Sweet Lips, but I’m human after all. Not the robot you imagined. They’ve come a long way with AI, but I don’t think they’re at the point of creating actual people robots yet.”
“Sweet Lips?” Lexi rammed her glass down on the granite island. A hairline crack actually formed in the bottom, the hit was so rough. She didn’t notice. “I’ll thank you not to call me that ever fucking again.”
“But your lips are very, very sweet. I tasted them myself just yesterday. I can attest to the truth and validity of the name.”
Her pale, rain washed eyes darkened. Her lids grew heavy, the pupils blowing wide. She couldn’t help but drop her gaze to his lips.
“I erred,” he admitted while she stared at him suspiciously, like she was about to walk straight into a trap. “I didn’t taste much of the wine. I thought I might rectify my mistakes.”
“H-how?” Lexi stammered. She eyed the bottle. It was still half full.
“I think you know.”
“I- I’ll pour you another glass. Don’t shoot it like it’s cheap Vodka this time and you hate the stuff.”
“I have a far more efficient way. A far better way for all parties involved.”
Her eyes darkened further, and her pupils just about ate up her irises. “What are you talking about?” Her suspicion grew. She was now looking at him like he’d just unearthed a body out of that wine cellar along with the expensive red.
“I think you know.”
“I really don’t.”
“Should I help you out? Give you a clue?”
“No!”
“I don’t think you mean that.”
“If you try and kiss me again, I’ll bottle you with that wine and yeah, I sure as hell mean that.”
“You wouldn’t waste good wine.”
“I could knock you out cold without spilling a drop.”
“Challenge accepted.”
They stared at each other across the island. He waited for her to make her move. To give him a signal. Her eyes finally flickered down to the bottle and she slowly, deliberately, ran her tongue along her bottom lip before she glanced back up at him, a challenge in her eyes.
What a challenge it was. It was real. It was there. Sparkling and drawing him in like those eyes were the sea and there was a siren in their depths. He’d been just about finished from the first time he looked into those blue-greys. She stood her ground and tilted her chin. It was there. The moment he’d been waiting for.
He’d been enticed by Lexi from the first. Lusted after her for a year. Tried to unravel the mystery of her for another. It was in the last year, though, that he’d really been lured to the murky depths of all that she was. He wanted to know. He wanted to drown in her and get lost in her. To be privy to her tears and her laughter, her secrets and the news she shouted from the rooftops. All of it. He wanted to give her the world, and it was pretty fucking hot that she didn’t want any of it. She was probably the one person on earth who knew where he lived, how many things he had, who his family was, that he was rich beyond rich, and didn’t give two. Fucking. Shits.
That’s why he wanted her.
Because she wasn’t like anyone else.
He had his moment. His time. His everything.
Instead of making his move, he grinned at Lexi and lifted his empty wine glass in the most satisfactory toast he’d ever made. “It’s clear you’re not going to knock my skull in after all, so drink your wine and I’ll pour you another. Drink that too and I’ll call you a cab. Thanks for your help this weekend.” With that, he poured his glass full and tossed it back without tasting it again. He kept his wine glass aloft as Lexi stared daggers at him. He raised his empty glass one more time. “To the continuation of a beautiful work relationship.”
