Both women blinked up at him. Sebastian looked innocently from one to the other. There was a throbbing below his belt, and he realized how utterly aroused he was. Listening to Mariss speak her native tongue, watching her interact with what she deemed a threat, appeared to be more than he could handle. His current state had nothing to do with Hellena.
However, there were two women staring at him. One wanted to cut him, the other wanted to fuck him, and he'd be damned if he knew which was which.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Please Stop…
Sebastian took Mariss by the arm and pulled her down the hall. "Go to the car, Hellena," he growled. "You're going home." He sent a quick text to his driver as he led Mariss to one of the empty edit bays. Sebastian locked the door and pushed her up against it. His knee, he slid between her legs and used it to lift her until she was at eye level with him.
"What are you doing?" Her voice came breathy and lacking conviction.
"I'm going to kiss you." Without waiting for permission, Sebastian pressed his lips to hers. He didn't care that she tasted like a chili cheese burger with extra onions. What mattered was the taste and feel of her lips against his. His tongue explored the depths of her mouth, caressing her tongue as he did.
She didn't push him away. It occurred to him that she wasn't able to tell him no, but he continued to kiss her until he'd had enough.
He had yet to realize that, with Mariss there was no such thing as enough. Most women were out of his system within weeks, but Mariss had been lurking there, tainting his blood for over half a year.
The kiss turned heated and hungry. Mariss moaned into his mouth and her fingers found their way into his hair. It was his turn to moan as the feel of her fingers on his scalp once again sent tingles up and down his spine.
"I want to take you to bed, Red."
With that one moment of honesty, the spell was broken. Mariss pushed him away and he let her slide back down to her feet.
"That…is unacceptable." She shoved her hands through her hair to straighten it, then pressed her palms to her cheeks. "Oh, my god," she said like she was talking to herself.
"Hey." Sebastian took her by the arm and turned her around to face at him. "That was my fault."
"Are you apologizing?" she asked.
"No. I don't apologize. Never. But I started that. I can't help myself around you."
"Well, you need to. I confessed to you that I have no willpower around you and you took advantage of it, just like I knew you would."
"On the contrary. I wasn't thinking about that when I brought you back here. I wasn't thinking about anything, except how badly I wanted to taste those lips that spoke to Hellena so brusquely." Just thinking about it had him hot and bothered again. It was all he could do to keep from adjusting himself as his trousers suddenly became tighter.
"You have to stop this, Sebastian." Mariss fanned her face with her hand. "Please. I'm begging you. If we're going to work together this can't happen every time we're close to each other." The pleading tone of her voice caused him some distress. He heard what she was saying, but what he understood was that her attraction to him was so strong that there was no way they could work together without some kind of physical relationship.
Sebastian nodded. "We'll figure this out." He stroked her cheek with the backs of his fingers.
"Stop being tender," Mariss snapped. She slapped his hand away and backed against the door to get away from him.
"Why?"
"Why do you do stuff like that?"
"Because I want to."
"Don't."
"Why do you think that I'm some kind of villain, Red?"
"Because I have to." She heaved a heavy sigh. "As long as I believe you only want me for one thing, I can resist you."
"You weren't resisting a moment ago," he countered.
"I know." Her voice was nothing but a whisper, as she admitted her treachery.
Mariss unlocked the door and marched out, her ass swaying from side to side. Sebastian took a moment to calm himself. The throbbing below his belt was now an ache that needed attention, but there wasn't much he could do about it now. He readjusted himself as best he could and went in search of Mariss.
She was in the board room. She'd kicked off her heels and sat with one foot tucked underneath her while she wrote on a notepad. Her hand strokes were smooth, unstopping as she moved from line to line.
Sebastian knocked on the glass. Mariss looked up and motioned him inside. She was at the farthest end of the table from him, so he took a seat as far away from her as possible.
"What are you doing?" she chuckled.
"Keeping my distance, since you're losing your will to fight me." He leaned both arms on the table and let her see into him.
"How are we supposed to do business with you so far away?"
Sebastian shrugged. "Shout."
Mariss laughed and it was a happy sound.
"Come down here, Bassy."
He liked it when she called him that. Sebastian admitted it to himself as he stared at her from the end of the table. What he wanted to do was take her mouth with his once more. He'd take her body on this table if she'd let him. The thought alone made him ache again.
Mariss stood. She punched a button on the wall and he heard the doors lock into place. Then she flipped a switch and the glass frosted. No one could see in or out.
"That's handy."
"Shut up, Sebastian." Mariss crossed the room and sat on the edge of the table in front of him. She straddled his knees with her bare feet. Her toenails were painted a deep blood red. Sebastian stroked one toe, unable to keep his hands to himself. Mariss jerked it away, but when he looked up into her face she was biting her lip, trying to keep from laughing.
"Does that tickle?"
"Stop talking, please."
"Why? Do you like it?" Sebastian reached up and twisted a strand of her hair around his finger. It was so soft. He leaned forward so he could press it to his nose. Berries.
Mariss was not gentle when she reached behind his head and pulled his lips to hers. She nibbled at his lower lip. Her fingers curled into his hair, tugging, pulling almost until it hurt. Sebastian growled and shoved his tongue into her mouth. If she wasn't going to be gentle, he wasn't either. He stood, pushing his chair back as he did. With a hand pressed to her back, he leaned Mariss backward so he could get at her neck. He scraped his teeth over the spot just below her ear that he knew she liked. She melted in his arms, moaning so loudly he almost checked to see if anyone heard. Her hips ground against his and there was no hiding the evidence of what she did to him.
Sebastian smoothed her hair back and kissed her again. He tasted her mouth, stroked her tongue with languid, savoring strokes. She pulled him closer so her breasts were pressed against his chest. He could feel her heart racing.
"Stop," she moaned.
"Do you really want me to?" Sebastian bit her earlobe.
"Yes. Please. I can't."
Sebastian pulled back, but her fingers tightened in his hair. She kept him there, her lips hovering just below his. He could have her. He could take her right here in this room. She might hate him afterward, but she'd come back for more. They always did.
"Let go," he commanded, his voice low. She let go of his hair as if burned by it. Sebastian swept her off the table and smoothed her hair as she straightened her blouse. Then she walked back to the other end of the table and sat down.
Mariss flipped open her notebook. "Let's discuss." She looked the picture of calm and collected, but her hand trembled a little and she fumbled her pen for a moment before regaining control.
Sebastian sat gingerly next to her, trying to keep some distance between them. "Boa Designs is debuting at Men's Fashion Week in the summer." He crossed his ankle over his knee. "We should start looking for models soon. I want to use newer models."
"Promoting expansion?"
"Something like that." His lips twitched. Mariss wrote notes as he spoke. He'd never watched a
woman write and been enthralled by it before.
"Do you want them all to be as ripped as you?"
"Excuse me, ripped? Am I ripped?"
Maris looked him up and down, turned back to her notepad, and wrote something.
"What did you write down there?" She hid it with her hand. "Let me see."
Sebastian tried to pull her hand away, but she snatched the notepad from his grasp.
"Don't be so nosey."
"Nosey? Let me see what you wrote," he chuckled.
"What's with you and Hellena?"
Sebastian froze with one hand reaching for the notepad, the other holding Mariss' wrist closest to him. "What do you mean?"
"What is the nature of your relationship?"
"We're friends."
"What kind of friends?"
Sebastian leaned back and re-crossed his legs. There was a lot to his relationship with Hellena that he didn't share. "Good friends."
"Do you sleep with her?"
"I don't sleep with women, I fuck them."
"Well, do you fuck her then?" Mariss blinked, and her eyes were determined to get the information she was after.
"On occasion."
Mariss rolled her eyes. "She loves you."
"I don't believe in love." Sebastian reclined a little farther back, not liking the direction of this conversation.
"That's all well and good, but that doesn't mean that she doesn't believe in it. You care about her. I can tell."
"Of course, I care for her."
"No, not for her. About her. There's a difference, whether you believe in it or not. She scares me, Bash. I've known women like her. She's unhinged."
Sebastian shook his head, and dismissed the thought with a wave of his hand. "She's fine, Mariss. I'll talk to her. Did you think maybe you scared her with your knife flipping too? She has something of a phobia."
"Really?" The way she said that was far too interested.
"I shouldn't have told you that. Please, Mariss, do not threaten her with a knife." He took a deep breath. "Let's try this again, yes? Hellena is a close friend of mine. I helped her through something of a rough time a while back. Yes, we have sex on occasion and yes, I know she has specific feelings for me that make it hard for her to handle that I…" How did he word this properly? "I may be interested in having you in my life as more than just a bed partner."
Mariss' eyebrows went up. "You mean, like a girlfriend? You'd be my mistress?"
"I don't know about all that."
"You'd be the other man."
"Yes, I realize that. You're a stubborn woman, Red. I told you that your resistance-"
"Was futile." She grinned. Mariss turned the page on her notebook and started with a fresh sheet of paper.
"Mare, can you come to the office please?" Brit's voice came over the intercom.
"I'll be right back."
Mariss left the notebook on the table. She unlocked the doors and flipped the switch to unfrost the windows. Sebastian waited until she was gone and took a peek at her notes on the other page. In all capital letters and underlined it said, "Muscles!!!"
***
Mariss punched the button for the elevator. Sebastian stood beside her. He wanted so badly to reach out and touch her hair. He could still feel the silky tresses between his fingers. Instead, he shoved his hand in his pocket.
"Are we going to dinner?" he asked.
"Do we need to?" Mariss turned indifferent eyes to him.
Sebastian frowned. "Need to? Probably not, but I'd like to."
"Haven't you spent enough time with me for one day?" She shifted her weight to one foot.
Sebastian was starting to see that there was more to her than the refined demeanor she put on for the public. He liked the depth of character she showed as she got used to him and opened up.
"We had lunch."
"Yes," he laughed. "Now it's time for dinner."
The elevator doors opened and they stepped in. It was just the two of them and the friction was palpable. Once, Sebastian had stood in a field where lightening struck a few yards from him. Every hair on his body stood on end. It made his skin crawl like it was trying to separate from his body. This was almost like that. The urge to push her against the wall of the elevator and take her here was so electric that he found himself turned fully toward her.
"Yes?" Mariss swallowed. Her desire made her doe eyes moony and her breathing ragged. She tucked her hair behind her ear and blinked at him.
Realizing how tense he was, Sebastian took a deep breath and relaxed. He leaned his shoulder against the back wall and let a lazy grin cross his face. "Have you ever made it in an elevator?"
Mariss relaxed too. She laughed and shook her head. "No."
"Would you like to?"
"You know what? Dinner sounds good. I want steak. Spare no expense, right?"
The elevator doors opened and his phone started to ring.
"Sebastian," he answered.
"Bash, you need to get to the club now." Hellena's frantic voice pulled him up straight, all flirtation gone.
"What's wrong?" he demanded.
"The police are here. Sebastian, you need to get down here now."
"I'm on my way." He hung up.
"What's wrong?" Mariss asked.
"I have to see to something at the club."
She nodded. Her shoes clacked on the marble floor, drawing his eyes there. He'd never been attracted to feet, but her toes peeking out of the ends of her shoes were cute.
"We can do dinner another time then."
He thought she sounded disappointed.
Sebastian directed her to the door with a hand on her back. His car was already waiting at the curb. He opened the door and motioned her inside. Mariss looked at him, but slid across the seat to give him room.
"You'll come with me to the club." Sebastian took the seat next to her. Nodding to the driver, he slammed the door with finality.
"I don't want to go to the club," she insisted.
"Hellena won't bother you. I'll speak to her. It'll be fine. I'll straighten things up there and we'll go to dinner." He watched her eyes. She was conflicted, but she nodded. "Good."
Mariss was changing him and he wasn't sure it was for the better. She made him tense, always rethinking putting an arm around her or kissing her. He reminded himself that she was married, but that had never been a problem for him before.
"Would you like a drink?"
Mariss nodded and he poured them both a glass of Bourbon. She sipped daintily and he watched her sweet lips. Sebastian put his arm around her and pulled her against him.
"Sebastian, please." She pushed away from him and leaned against the other side of the car. "Stop."
"You didn't mind being close to me earlier."
Mariss pursed her lips. "That was…a mistake. I'm still married, despite what happened earlier. I'm sorry for leading you on like that."
"Of course. My mistake." But he couldn't shake the feel of his arm around her. This woman was getting in his system in a way he wasn't used to.
"Don't let it happen again." She cupped both hands around her glass and lifted it to her lips.
"You like hard liquor," he observed.
"When I drink, I like hard liquor," she clarified. "I don't always drink like I did that day in the hospital."
"Just when your husband leaves."
She shrugged. "You know," her head tilted to the side, "I don't think I've ever heard you say his name."
"I try not to." Sebastian took a swallow of his drink.
"Why?"
"What do I need to say it for if I'm not talking to him?"
Mariss laughed. "There's no need to get pissy. It was just a question."
"There's nothing funny about it, Red."
"Okay, Bassy." She said his name with extra emphasis. "Whatever you say, Hun."
"Hun?" He smiled and something comfortable squirmed in his stomach. "You're starting to loosen up around me."
"Yeah, don't ge
t excited. That's not a good thing."
"Why isn't it?"
"I get too comfortable and you see the temper."
Sebastian raised an eyebrow. "I haven't seen that already?"
She shook her head. "You'll know when you have. Trust me."
They pulled up to the club a little while later. Blue and red lights flashed from the tops of four cop cars. Club goers marched from the building, their faces contorted in anger. When the car pulled up, most stopped and waited for him to get out.
"What's the problem here?" he asked as he helped Mariss out.
"They're kicking us out," one man in latex answered. "Something about a bomb threat?"
Sebastian raised an eyebrow. "Bomb?" He closed the door and ushered her to the building.
The club was practically empty. Hellena was to the side talking to a cop. When she saw him and Mariss her eyes darted between them for a moment before she motioned him over.
"You can have a seat over there," he motioned to the booths against the wall. "I'll send someone to bring you a drink. I should just be a few moments."
As he joined Hellena and the police officer, she was saying, "Thank you so much." The cop walked away and Hellena led Sebastian to the back room.
"What's the problem, Hellena?" he asked once the door was closed. "What is this I hear about a bomb threat?"
"I made it up."
"What?" It took a lot to confuse him, but he wasn't sure he'd heard her correctly.
"I knew you wouldn't be by tonight so I made up the bomb threat so you'd come."
For a moment, he wondered if what Mariss had said about her being unhinged wasn't accurate. Hellena hopped up on the desk. She was still wearing the corset from this morning, but with black besparkled skirts instead of her red jeans.
"I've been naughty," she crowed. She reached for him and
pulled him into a passionate kiss.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Do You Want To See My Snake?
Mariss' table was littered with shot glasses, but that wasn't the thing that caught Sebastian's attention. A man in full-body latex paint sat next to her laughing like something was hysterical.
"What are you drinking?" Sebastian asked her, leaning in close. The music was turned back up and there were more people than there'd been a while ago.
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