Free Your Irresistible Love by Layla Hagen

“Everyone will know.”
    “Relax. No one will pay as much attention to your lips as me. If they do, I’ll rip their heads off.”
    “Stop being such a caveman, Sebastian.”
    “I can’t.”
    “I want you to know I haven’t done anything like this before. I’m not a floozy.” 
    He laughs softly. “Floozy?”
    “I’m serious.”
    “Me, too. I know you’re not that kind of woman.” He moves a strand of hair behind my ear, pushing himself off me, sitting on the edge of the couch. I follow suit. The second I’m sitting, I realize the show has begun. Reality hits me hard.
    “Sebastian,” I whisper, even though it’s just the two of us here. “We can’t do this; you know that.”
    “Because of your clause?” He scrutinizes me, and I detect something besides desire in his green eyes. Worry.
    “Yes.”
    “Only because of that?”
    I blink, fearing he might be able to see through my facade, the fears that my past relationship failures instilled in me. “Let’s not complicate this, all right?”
    “The thing is, Ava, this is already a complicated matter. I can’t get you out of my head since you walked into my office. I like to hear you laugh and see your eyes light up. I like watching you do mundane things like typing on your laptop, giving a presentation, or eating. What do you suggest I do?”
    He renders me speechless, and all I can do is stare at him. His eyes look so sincere. Not that I am an expert on the matter. God knows, I’ve misjudged men and their intentions for thirty-one years. But Sebastian is sincere.
    “I can’t risk my job,” I say eventually, because that’s the truth.
    Breath huffs out of him as he shifts closer to me and locks a strand of my hair around his fingers. “Is there no way around it?”
    “Let me think for a few days.” The fact that I’m even entertaining this thought is dangerous. Yes, my boss is in New York and I’m alone in San Francisco, but this doesn’t mean he can’t find out.
    “Okay.” His voice is full of hope. I almost kiss him again, but catch myself in time. “I want you to have something.”
    “What?”
    He searches his pocket, retrieving something that makes my heart skip. My ruby necklace. Well, not my ruby. I don’t own it, but it’s the one that stole my heart during our company tour on my first day here. 
    “Let me put it around your neck.”
    “Sebastian—”
    “I want you to have it.”
    I jump to my feet, cold suddenly gripping me. I replay our conversation from the walk this morning, specifically the part where he said women are only interested in his bank account.
    “Do you think you have to buy my affection? This is why women take advantage of you.”
    In a fraction of a second, his face grows cold, his whole body stiffening. I can tell I’ve struck a chord. A deep one.
    I shake my head. “I won’t accept it. Nothing against you, but I don’t want expensive gifts from men, much less a ruby. The day I accept one, it’ll be on my ring finger and the man giving it to me will ask me to marry him.”
    He blinks, his expression unreadable. “You’re somethin’.”
    “We should watch the show,” I say in a calm voice.
    “Yeah, we should.”
    We sit on the couch again, keeping a small distance between us. Sebastian keeps the ruby necklace in his hand the entire time we watch the show, playing with it between his fingers. Once or twice, I feel his gaze on me, but we both remain silent.
    The thoughts roaring in my mind are dangerous.
    Kissing Sebastian was like being reborn. His lips were fulfilling, his touch freeing. His groans addicting. He makes me want to throw all caution to the wind. I’m not one to be reckless, but he demands it. I’m on the brink of obliging. What would it be to let this man sweep me away? Would he blow through my defenses the same way he kisses? Unrestrainedly and unapologetically?
    I think he would.
     
     
     

Chapter Thirteen
    Sebastian
     
     
     
     
     
    Admission is the first step in