Stolen: The Billionaire Decepti(19)

After several minutes he broke the kiss. We were staring at each other and panting, both of us wondering what the hell we were doing making out at work like a couple of teenagers no doubt. I thought he was going to pull back, but instead he took out the comb I had holding my hair up at the back and let it spill down across my shoulders. Then he wrapped his hand up in my curls and used them to position my head where he wanted it, and he kissed me again. The first kiss had been passionate; this one was erotic. By the time we came up for air again I was so satiated I felt like I’d had sex. As I struggled once more to catch my breath he said, “Wow. I knew I’d missed out by not kissing you last night but damned if I knew how much until now.” My plans to avoid or ignore were gone, just like that. I was staring at him, still trying to slow my breathing a full minute later. He finally grinned at me and said, “Are you okay?” I nodded. “Are you upset with me for kissing you here at work?” I shook my head. “Are you mad at me for disturbing your neat little bun?” I laughed.



“No,” I said at last. “None of the above. That was just…”



“The best kiss you ever had?”



Definitely. “I was going to say, unexpected.”



“Sometimes unexpected makes it sexier, don’t you think?” I could hear talking in the hall outside my door and suddenly remembered where I was at. I stepped around him and started twisting my hair back up into its bun. He watched me with those cool blue eyes and once I was satisfied that my hair was back in place he said, “I like you Erin, a lot. I’d like to see you, socially.”



I sat down behind the desk and said, “I’m just not sure that’s such a good idea, Seth.”



“Why?”



“Because of work, of course.” I wasn’t lying. It was all about work. He just didn’t know the depths of my intentions. “It’s not really appropriate, I guess is the word.”



He moved back around to the other side of my desk and sat down in the chair there. He gave me a serious look.



“Do you like me, Erin?”



“Of course I do, but…”



“Are you attracted to me?”



“Obviously I am, but…”



“Do you want what you do for a living and what others think of you to dictate your life?”



It always had. “No of course I don’t, but…”



“Then there are no buts.”



I laughed. He was at least not going to hear one out that was for sure. “What about the other executives? What about the employees? What is everyone going to think?”



“I don’t care,” he said, simply.



“Have you dated other employees here?” I’m not sure why I asked him that, it just came out. I had wondered about it. He seemed like a player to me, although I had no direct evidence of that.



He leaned forward onto the desk and said, “No Erin. I don’t date women who are employed by the company. At least I didn’t, until now.”



“Why would you change the way you do things all of a sudden?”



“Because I can’t stop thinking about you.”



“That’s it?” I said, with a little smile. “That’s all it takes to change your convictions?”



He laughed, “It wasn’t a conviction. It was a rule that I followed in order to protect myself and the company. I don’t want to be accused of sexual harassment someday and risk everything my father has worked for being taken away.” As soon as he said that my mind froze on that single sentence, “Everything my father worked for.”



“What makes you think I won’t take that from you?” I asked him, dead serious.



“I could be wrong, but I just don’t see you as that type. Besides, some people are worth the risk. I’ve never been so infatuated with a woman in such a short time. I have to explore that… if you’ll let me.”



The ice packed around my heart with the Hunters’ name engraved on it began to melt. I knew I was in big trouble but there was a part of me that still wanted to say getting close to him could be about helping my cause and if he ended up collateral damage then so be it. There was another part of me, an even bigger part that had no desire whatsoever to hurt this man. Everything I wanted to do to him and with him was just the opposite of hurt.



“So?” he said, after I had obviously been lost in my head for way too long.



Impulsively I said, “Do you ride horses?”



With a little confused chuckle he said, “Excuse me?”