The Sculptor's Seduction (The Gentlemen's Guild Book 2)

by Dr. Rebecca Sharp

  She glanced around, not seeing Sloane in the room. But before she could turn to check the bedroom, she felt his strong arms come around her from behind, holding her back against his chest.

  “I missed you, angel,” he whispered into her ear. Her whole body heated, hearing the love in his voice and feeling his desire pressing firmly into her backside.

  She moaned. “I missed you, too.” Turning, she lifted her lips up to his and he eagerly claimed them.

  Her lips opened beneath his and his tongue wasted no time finding hers. He explored every inch of her mouth, stroking the flames of her desire with every sweep of his tongue.

  Pulling back, he said, “As much as I’ve been in this state of torture – wanting you – all day, I have a surprise for you.”

  She looked into his eyes. “Is it about Tash? Is it what Sebastian told you this morning?” His face shuddered briefly and she knew that it wasn’t.

  “No. But, we probably should start with that.” He spun her to face him, his hands cupping her face. “He has an idea of how to lure Julian out and into making a wrong move so that they can unravel the web around his smuggling operation and arrest him.”

  He didn’t have to say the words for her to know what was coming next, and yet, she asked anyway. “And I take it that that idea involves you?”

  “It does.” His mouth thinned, seeing her displeasure. “Not in a James Bond type of way. He wants me to try to purchase a building out from under Sanchez – a building that he thinks is crucial to stepping up their operation.”

  She nodded. It didn’t sound that dangerous… but Julian did; which meant that anything involving him wasn’t safe.

  “I told him I would do it. But I also told him that I had to tell you.” He reached down for her hands, holding them in his own. “If you don’t want me to do this, I won’t. But if it can help Tash… if it can help Sebastian to arrest this bastard—”

  “I won’t stop you,” she interrupted him. “I won’t stop you, Sloane. And part of me feels so lucky… so loved… to know that you are doing this for her because she’s my friend; if it’s even possible, I think I love you even more. But the other part of me, that loves you equally as much, is afraid.”

  “I know, sweetheart. I can’t promise you that it’s safe, but I promise you to share as much about what Sebastian wants me to do as I can and if it gets to a point where you aren’t comfortable, I will stop and tell him that he’s on his own to find proof.”

  She leaned up and kissed him. “Thank you.”

  “I love you.”

  “Did you tell Tash?” She immediately wondered, her confusion only deepening when he shook his head no.

  “I can’t,” he explained before she could question. “Sebastian told me I couldn’t tell her… and that means that you can’t either, sweetheart. Tash can’t know anything has changed with Sebastian – about what he does, that he’s investigating the man who hurt her, or that he’s not gay; no one else can, at least for right now.”

  She thought for a moment and then admitted that it might be for the best, especially for her friend; Tash had already been through so much. To then have to learn that Sebastian wasn’t who either of them thought he was… Well, in some senses at least.

  “I understand.” She looked up to his calm blue eyes. “Thank you for telling me.”

  “Angel, I already made the mistake of letting my past come between us. I won’t make that mistake with our future.”

  She shivered, biting her lip.

  “What?” he asked.

  “I just… I just love how you said our future.”

  He growled and claimed her lips again.

  What a wonderful future that was shaping up to be.

  “Now can I give you your surprise?” he murmured against her lips.

  She nodded eagerly and he spun her back to face the room, turning her towards the scul—.

  Why was it covered? Why hadn’t she noticed it was covered before?

  Probably because she’d been looking for her sculptor… not her sculpture.

  Realization dawned on her that that was her surprise – he had finished it for her.

  She glanced over her shoulder at him, a huge smile spreading over her face. After everything that had happened – everything that had begun because of this sculpture, she felt her anticipation to see it innervate her entire body. With his hands on her hips, Sloane led her over to the sheet-covered mass, stopping her a few feet from it, and then moving around her.

  “Cyn,” he began as he grabbed the edge of the sheet. “I could find a million words and a million ways to tell you how strong and talented and beautiful you are – and I know that you’d believe me because you love me. But I want to give you this – I want you to see it for yourself because they say that seeing is believing. So, when I tell you that I love you, when I tell you that you’re beautiful, this is what I see; this is you.”

  With a flick of his wrist, the sheet flew down over the statue and floated to the floor, landing with a soft swish.

  Oh my…

  Her hands came up over her mouth – a poor cover for the shock that was etched over every one of her features.

  It was…beautiful.

  She was beautiful.

  She took a step closer to her marbled self, her hand reaching out to gently skim over her stone face, taking in the statue’s expression of pure love and bliss; it was like nothing that she’d ever seen before.

  Minutes later, she finally found the strength to break her gaze away and turn towards Sloane – the man responsible for this masterpiece.

  “Is this really…” She trailed off, her hands jumping up to her cheeks as she just realized that it had moved her to tears.

  “How you look?” He finished for her. “Yes. But, angel, this was never about the way that you looked; it was always about the way that you were.”

  Her gaze slid back to the statue. “I don’t understand... I don’t believe…”

  “Sweetheart, this is how you look when you dance.” His hand joined hers, tracing down the stone. “That first night that you danced for me, your movements brought me to tears. You are more than talented and passionate; there is a part of you that is able to reach out and touch people when you dance and I don’t want you to ever again doubt how incredibly special that is.”

  Her hand came back to cover her mouth, her heart ready to burst with the emotions that this statue and Sloane evoked.

  “Cyn, you are beautiful,” he continued. “No, you are drop-dead fucking gorgeous on the outside, but that gorgeousness is only a pale reflection of the strength and beauty that’s on the inside.”

  Her tears flowed in proportion to his words of love that seared through every self-doubt she still harbored in her heart.

  “After how it ended with Marcus, I just thought I was only made for one thing – that I only deserved one thing; people look at me and only see the surface. Until you.”

  “Angel, you were made for so much more and I hope that now you can see that.” He came to stand next to her.

  Her eyes widened in awe, looking at him and then back to his masterpiece. “Just like most people would have looked at this block of stone as nothing – you looked at it and saw this.”

  He shook his head as his hand captured her chin, tilting it up so that her eyes met his brilliant blues.

  “I didn’t see this…” His thumb brushed over her lower lip. “When I looked at stone all I saw was you – the angel in the marble – and I carved until I set her free.”

  She could barely make out his face through her watery eyes, but his words sent her over the edge. A sob burst from her lips as her arms came up around his neck, crushing him to her as her tears soaked into his shirt.

  And he had – he had freed her from the cage of insecurity that she’d locked herself and her heart in.

  “Don’t cry, angel,” he whispered, his hands rubbing soothing circles over her back. “You’ve done the same for me. I punished myself for the act
ions of others and lived in fear that I’d be doomed to repeat them; your love freed me from that. And I hoped that I could do the same for you.”

  “You have,” she sobbed into his chest. Her mumbled words had come out embarrassingly thick, but she didn’t care.

  Every rise and fall of her emotions over the past few days, everything with Tash and Sebastian, with the studio and Ellie, it all came out with her tears. And yet, none of it mattered as much as the fact that this was real; that Sloane and his love for her was real.

  That she deserved his love.

  She felt his chest rumble against hers. “Please stop crying, Cyn. I feel like I’ve done something horrible.”

  Immediately, she shook her head back and forth, her sobs stopping abruptly with a hiccup. Pulling her head back, her hands came to his face and pulled it down to hers as she kissed him with every happy word that couldn’t escape her throat right now.

  Slowly and tenderly he kissed her and she melted against him. Their love flowed and diffused into each cell, warming her from the inside out.

  “Thank you,” he murmured against her lips.

  Cyn pulled back, a smile finally slipping onto her face. “For what?”

  “For trying to seduce me that very first night,” he replied with a mischievous grin.

  She laughed, finally breaking through her emotional and tearful torrent. The lightness of the sound illuminating the room around them.

  “Oh, my dear sexy sculptor,” she began coyly, looking up at Sloane from underneath her eyelids. “That was nowhere near what I would classify as seduction.” She bit her lip as her hand traced down over his chest with only one destination in mind.

  His eyes widened at her unexpected intimation, groaning as her hand closed over his solid arousal. His lips came down hard on hers, but for only a second before he pulled back and pulled her hand off of him.

  “Vixen,” he rasped. “As much as I want to know just what the hell you are implying, I’m not done with you yet.”

  Now it was her turn to look up at him in surprise, eyebrows raising in question. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, I have another surprise for you.”

  Cyn laughed. “I don’t know if I can take another surprise after this one, Sloane. This—” She turned back to face her statue. “—already made my heart burst. Do you really want another mess on your hands?”

  “If by mess, you mean you – then yes, I want you in my hands. All of you. Every laugh, tear, and smile, angel; I want them all.” And then he claimed her lips again.

  For a minute, Cyn thought he was going to forget about his second surprise the way that he was kissing her – deeply drinking from her mouth as though he were trying to draw every emotion out of its spring.

  “We should go,” he murmured. “Before I lose the battle against taking you right here. Right now.”

  She was tempted – oh, so tempted – to encourage that loss of control. But a part of her was curious as to what else he had for her. And an even greater part of her just wanted to make him happy by letting him shower her with these surprises.

  “Where are we going?” she asked. Stepping back from him, she gave him the space and the moment to compose himself before he turned towards the door.

  “My apartment.”

  He clasped her hand and she had to skip to keep up with him as he pulled her from his studio, quickly locking it behind them.

  Her stomach flipped as he pulled her to him downstairs in the flower shop and kissed her quickly in the heart of what smelled like a field of lavender.

  Could this night be any more magical? Could this man be any more perfect?

  And for the first time, those thoughts didn’t scare her like most thoughts of things behind ‘too good to be true’ had in the past.

  He held her hand as he opened the door to his apartment in One57; he’d held her hand the entire way there.

  She walked through the doorway not noticing anything that jumped out at her as being different about the space. He turned back and grinned at her as they rounded the countertop where the barstools sat and then she saw the box on the table – lavender and wrapped with a deep purple bow.

  She arched a brow. “Did you do that?”

  “Would you believe me if I said yes?”

  She giggled. “No, not for a second. You may be a sculptor, but for some reason, I can’t picture you wrapping a gift all that well.”

  He briefly feigned a look of insult as they walked up to her present. She gave it a good once-over, trying to figure out just what he had bought her.

  What more could she possibly want?

  She had her friends – even though Tash was in London. The thought made her feel guilty for a moment, but Cyn knew her friend would want her to be happy and not let this situation with Sanchez ruin that happiness.

  She had her studio and her dream that was finally becoming a reality.

  And she had all of this because of him.

  “There’s something inside the box, gorgeous.” She heard him tease smartly.

  Reaching for the ribbon, she untied it and carefully unwrapped the paper surrounding the round box underneath.

  Cyn found herself holding her breath as she lifted off the top of the box, revealing a multitude of tissue paper that she quickly dug through, now very eager to see what was beneath it.

  And then for the second time that night, she felt her heart skip a beat as she lifted out her pointe shoes from within.

  How…

  She just looked at him, unable to find the words to ask.

  “When I went to your apartment that morning, I saw them,” he began softly, knowing what she needed to hear. “Sanchez’s men had trashed the place and they were laying on the floor. So, I grabbed them and had them cleaned. I figured that with the studio opening, you would want them – and I wanted you to have them.”

  The first of her tears slipped out.

  “I thought I was going to have to get new ones.”

  “You can, but I wanted to make sure that you still had these – a reminder that this was always what you were meant to do, that you were always good enough, angel.”

  Maybe it was the fact that she’d already bawled her eyes out once already, but she didn’t feel any more tears fall from her eyes. Instead, she felt herself smiling because she truly believed what he said. Seeing his sculpture had done that for her; it solidified her belief to the point where nothing could shake it.

  She was talented. She was meant for this. She was more than enough.

  “Thank you, Sloane,” she whispered, carefully setting her shoes back on top of the tissue paper before she turned to wind her arms around his neck. “Have I told you tonight just how much I love you?”

  He pretended to think for a second. “I don’t know, I can’t remember. Maybe you should tell me again…”

  She laughed. “Well, my sexy sculptor, I love you very, very much. Although, now that I think about it, I think I have told you that… I just haven’t shown you.”

  Heat blazed through her and she felt his body harden against her. Cyn peered over his shoulder toward the bedroom when a thought struck her.

  “So, this will be the first time you’ve had sex with someone in your apartment?”

  “Cyn.” He turned to her and she worried that she’d said something wrong the way his face looked so serious. He gathered her tighter against him with one arm and tipped her chin up to his with his other hand, his burning blue stare arresting hers. “For everything that you can think of, I think it’s safe to say that you are my first.”

  The thought set off fireworks in her heart. There were a lot of everythings that she wanted to think of…

  She looked at him for a moment before replying, equally seriously, “Sloane, for everything that you can think of, I think it’s safe to say that you are my only.”

  She reached up and pressed her mouth to his.

  It was time to seduce her sculptor...

  Epilogue

  S
loane groaned, waking up as the rising sun drifted over his bed. It wasn’t the light that woke him, it was the absence of his light from the bed that stirred him from sleep.

  Where was Cyn?

  He pushed himself up to see her standing in front of the windows again, watching the dawn paint watercolors across the sky.

  Wait… was she…

  He blinked twice, sliding to the edge of the bed to get a better look – to see that Cyn was, in fact, standing naked in front of the glass. In spite of the numerous orgasms he’d had since they got back to his apartment last night, he’d woken up wanting her; and now, seeing her like this only made his arousal throb even more painfully. Ripping the sheet off of him, he stood and walked over behind her. Her head moved slightly, hearing his approach, and then his arms wrapped around her, pulling her back flush against his chest.

  “Good morning, angel,” he whispered in her ear.

  She turned her head to look back at him. “Good morning.” She licked her lips and he needed no further invitation.

  He captured her mouth in a long, deep kiss, groaning as she sagged back against him, his erection pressing firmly into the sweet flesh of her backside.

  “How did you sleep?”

  “Wonderfully,” she replied with a smile.

  Christ… Screw the view from these windows – this view, right here, was the only thing he ever wanted to wake up to; it was the most beautiful thing he could ever hope to see.

  “I have a surprise for you.” He heard her whisper, a small, devious smile sliding onto her face.

  He raised an eyebrow. “Oh, you do?” His hand that had been resting on her hip drifted over her stomach and down towards her core. “I wonder what it might be…”

  She grabbed his hand just before it reached its intended destination. “Not that.” She laughed softly. “Not yet.”

  Peeling his hand off of her, she turned to face him, pushing him back towards the couch with a firm, “Sit.”

  He complied, sprawling out on the couch, enjoying how she stopped mid-step to take a long, wanting look down his body, lingering on his arousal that rested hard and heavy on his stomach. In return, he let his eyes drink in the sight of her naked form: her tousled black waves, her generous breasts – nipples erect and begging for his touch, the curve of her hips, and the glistening sweetness that was between them.