Reckless In Love(19)

"Oh, my gosh." She gaped at the utterly beautiful china plate. Monarch  butterflies floated across the white porcelain, their wings trimmed in  gold. The plate's scalloped edge was lined in a dusty pink and outlined  with gold. "It's exquisite." The butterflies flew around leaves and  ornately painted flowers with swirls of gold between them. "You don't  expect me to break this for the mosaic, do you?"

He grinned, shaking his head. "No, these are for your mom."

"My mom?"

"Apart from your visits, the china is her only luxury, isn't it?" When she nodded, he smiled and said, "Open the rest."

Her hands weren't quite steady as she unearthed two more plates and  three delicate matching mugs, with yellow butterflies, blue butterflies,  all edged in gold. She didn't have to ask to know the gold was real.  Sebastian was a man who insisted on nothing but the best.

"They're beautiful. Mom will adore them." Her mother had never owned  anything so elegant. Or so expensive, she thought before she could stuff  the thought away to join all her other conflicted emotions about  Sebastian's money-and how free he was with it when it came to her.

"My friend Will imports these from England." He flipped the plate over.  "They're signed by the artist who paints them. This is by Rose." He  pointed to a small rose under the maker's name.

Charlie was overwhelmed. All she had to do was make one offhand remark  about forgetting a plate and a cup, and he miraculously conjured them  for her from England. But not just two. Three. Because he clearly  planned to join them again.

"I'm going to visit my mom again on Wednesday. I know you're busy, but  if you can carve out a little more time, will you come with me?"

"I wouldn't miss it."

Her eyes stung with tears of gratitude. She'd been pissy about his offer  to help her mother, making it about her and her guilt. Yet everything  he'd done had been kind and thoughtful. He always praised, never  criticized. He built people up, never dragged them down. Right from the  beginning, even when she'd expected the rich, take-what-he-wants,  stomp-on-whomever celebrity, he'd been different. She'd looked for  chinks, but everything he'd done defined him as a flesh-and-blood man  who actually cared.

In that moment, Charlie put aside every reservation about his research  into her mother's illness. He wanted to give, so she would accept  without automatically assuming there were strings attached.         

     



 

She carefully put the plate back in its box. "Thank you." Reaching up,  she framed his face in her hands, then rose on her toes and kissed him.  Soft and sweet, still trembling with emotion. "For everything."

* * *

Maybe a better man would have looked at Charlie's kiss as nothing more  than a sweet thank-you. But Sebastian didn't have it in him, not after  the hours he'd spent watching those lithe curves move, her strong yet  elegant hands performing miracles in metal. Hell, the way her mind  worked was the sexiest thing of all.

Being with Charlie, especially when they were in her workshop, reminded  him that there was a life beyond work and society events. Reminded him  of the simple pleasures of working with your hands. Of getting hot and  sweaty. She'd brought that joy of art and creativity back into his life,  right there in front of him. She'd let him watch, had even let him be a  part of it when she'd run with his mosaic suggestion. She was right  that he didn't have any spare time to be there with her in her workshop,  but Sebastian was inexorably drawn both to being a part of the creative  process and being with her.

He'd always craved creating. Now he craved her too. Which meant resisting the irresistible wasn't an option.

His arms around her, he lifted her off her feet, taking her mouth as  roughly as she had taken his so sweetly just moments before, steeping  himself in her taste. He would have sung a chorus of Hallelujah when she  opened fully, giving him everything, if it hadn't meant lifting his  lips from hers to do so. Holding her tight, he possessed her mouth while  she tangled her fingers in his hair.

Her tongue licked out against his, her curves pressed into his muscles,  the pulse at her neck throbbed against his thumb, and he was lost in  need. Desperate to have more of her. All of her. Every gasp of pleasure.  Every moan of desire.

She mesmerized him, and his body took over, raging hard and tight. He  consumed and was consumed. Never before had anyone made him forget time  or place. There was only the feel of her, the taste, the scent, the moan  in her throat. He wanted her with every cell, every organ.

And he knew she wanted him just as badly. His hands molded her bottom to  shift her, and he felt her heat, hotter than her welding torch. Every  instinct told him to shove her up on the bench, to take, grab, own,  possess. Need clamored inside him. He wanted his mouth on her  everywhere.

He might have taken everything he wanted if a cloud hadn't passed over  the sun, if the light hadn't changed and woken him up for an instant.  Lord knew he wanted to jump into the deep end with her. Wanted to take  her hand and fly out over the edge. Wanted to risk everything on the  hope that they were the perfect fit.

But only last night, he'd drawn more pictures of his parents. Sketches  that reminded him of how brutal toxic love could be. That it could  destroy absolutely everything.

Nothing about Charlie seemed toxic. On the contrary, she seemed to be  his ideal match. And yet...he still hadn't been able to completely  figure her out, still didn't understand why she hadn't been reaching for  her full potential until he'd found her in the middle of her junkyard.  He'd never felt this strongly about another woman, never felt like he  was falling in love before.

And that very fact made him recognize that if toxic love was going to  hit him, it would be now, when Charlie already mattered so much to him.  He couldn't imagine how hard it would be to fall completely for her,  only to have to give her up. When they finally did dive into the deep  end together, he wanted them both to truly know enough about each other  to take the risk not just with their bodies.

But with their hearts.

Though it was even harder to pull back today than it had been two nights  ago, he forced a breath of space between them. Her chest rose against  him, as she gasped for the air they'd both lost in their sweet,  desperate kiss.

"You..." The word came out raw. Ragged. "I want..." Damn it, he was  never at a loss for words. Hell, his job was always having the right  words for everything. But he'd never felt this way about anyone, never  had to stop himself from moving too fast because his heart was tied so  closely to his desires.

She put her hand on his face. The same strong, elegant hand that could  create such majestic art. "I want you too." She sucked in another shaky  breath. "Just as badly. But-" She lifted her beautiful eyes to his. "I  want to be sure."

Trust Charlie to find the words. Exactly the right ones. Exactly the ones he was feeling.

"Soon," he said again, just as he had after their first kiss two nights earlier. "We'll know soon."         

     



 

She echoed the word "Soon," in a whisper of a kiss against his lips.  Even before the day arrived when they finally stripped away each other's  walls and became one, for him every other woman had already been  erased. Because all along, something told him he'd been waiting for  Charlie.

He hoped like hell she'd eventually realize she'd been waiting for him too.





CHAPTER ELEVEN


For the next handful of days, Charlie alternately worked on the  chariot...and daydreamed about Sebastian's kisses. Once or twice she did  both at the same time, but that was a surefire way to cut right through  a finger, so she forced herself to focus one hundred percent while she  was in her studio. When she was back in her bungalow at night, however,  all bets were off.

She'd been right about his incredibly busy schedule. More than once, she  heard the helicopter taking off, and at one point she was pretty sure  there was a film crew on the property up by the main house. But though  they were both so busy, Sebastian always made sure to find her each day  to give her a kiss. Just one perfect kiss each time. So perfect that  he'd left her with her head spinning and her lips tingling. And every  single time, as he drew back, he said one word.

"Soon."

It had become both her favorite word...and her most hated.

After working on some of her creations for up to a year or two at a  time, Charlie thought she had patience down to an art form. But her need  for Sebastian was eating through it faster than a plasma cutter.

But for as much as she desired him, she found herself liking him even  more. His thoughtfulness knew no bounds. When Wednesday morning came, he  had his driver waiting right on time to take them both to Shady Lane  for a visit with her mother. She'd hoped Sebastian would steal his kiss  in the limo, but he seemed happy just to hold her hand, stroking his  thumb over her palm in seductive circles that made her almost mindless  with need. And if they hadn't been on their way to see her mother-who  would notice absolutely everything, the way she always had when Charlie  was a teenager-Charlie might have given in to the reckless urges pumping  through her veins and jumped him right then and there on the black  leather seat, with the driver only feet away.