Instinctively, I lay back, and he followed, propping his elbow on the blanket and his head in his hand. He made no move to kiss me, just stared. I’d never observed him up close this long. Maybe it was his thick black lashes that’d once distracted me into thinking his eyes were green when they actually had hints of blue. Perhaps it was his unfairly sharp jawline more than anything that’d gotten me so riled up that first morning at the coffee shop. “We’re missing the movie,” I said finally.
“I don’t miss it at all.”
My cheeks practically ached from a day of smiling and laughing. Several hours on, and I wasn’t ready for our dog date to end. I wanted more. To learn not only his fears, but to understand them inside out so I could soothe him. To be there on the next anniversary of his mom’s death—equipped with Dunkin’ Donuts and a shoulder to cry on instead of harsh words over spilled coffee.
I could picture it clearly, and if that was the future I saw for myself, I could kiss it goodbye if I took his job. He’d never forgive me. I wouldn’t do that to him anyway, now that he’d let me in and showed me what’d driven him to work as hard as he had.
Vance had offered me something more, but today, Sebastian had painted me our potential future. Was I willing to lose that over a job? The answer was obvious.
Sebastian was the more I wanted.
There was only one way to wave the white flag. Perhaps because I’d fought my attraction to him for so long, it now overwhelmed me. I tilted my chin with as subtle a pout as I could manage. I could’ve begged for a kiss just then, but pillowy lips said more than words ever could.
Sebastian cupped one side of my face. “You want me to get a noodle?”
I would’ve laughed, but cozied up in the blanket, with him pressed up against my side, I was oddly calm—and content just to lean into his palm. He trailed his hand down my side, resting it on my waist, then lowered his mouth. I closed my eyes as his rough tongue landed on my cheek.
Wait.
I squealed as slobber covered the right half of my face. Bruno nosed his way between us, pushing us apart. He rested his head on my chest and stared at Sebastian.
Sebastian flopped onto his back, scoff-laughing. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” he said, his eyes on the sky. “Bruno’s even nosier than Justin.”
“At least Justin wants us to kiss. Bruno, on the other hand . . .” I put my hand on my dog’s soft head. “I think this might be his way of saying he likes you as a friend but nothing more.”
Sebastian turned his head, locked eyes with Bruno, and sighed. “I’ve never had to work this hard for a kiss, but if Bruno doesn’t approve, then I’ll just have to keep at it.” He moved a strand of hair from my cheek, then thumbed the bridge of my nose, over my freckles. “You know what they say.”
“There’s a thin line between love and hate?” I asked.
He smiled, punctuating one cheek with his semi-colon dimple. “The best buns are worth waiting for.”
19
Georgina
On the doorstep of my apartment building, Bruno ensured Sebastian and I stood one Great Dane’s length apart. After the movie, we’d returned Opal, and Sebastian had insisted on walking me home.
He leaned against the doorframe, admirably collected under Bruno’s side-eyeing. “So, how’d I score today?” he asked.
“By my calculation . . . you haven’t yet.”
“Yet?” Sebastian raised both eyebrows. “Was that an invitation upstairs?”
I resisted an enthusiastic yes! Sebastian was first and foremost my colleague. Wasn’t he? After what he’d planned for me today and what we’d each shared, our relationship had shifted. No, he was definitely more than a colleague.
“Do you think it’s a good idea?” I asked. “We still have to work together.”
“I’ll quit,” he murmured, moving closer, undaunted by Bruno’s growl, “if it means I can come up.”
My heart skipped and my insides tightened, excited by his persistence. “We haven’t even kissed.”
He leaned in, wine and mint on his breath. “That’s because I’ve been waiting for a moment when I wasn’t at risk of getting my junk bitten off, but . . .”
I laughed nervously and pulled Bruno back by his collar, taking the next few seconds to collect myself.
Sebastian Quinn and I had gone on a date.
Sebastian Quinn wanted to come upstairs.
And me? I wasn’t ready to say goodnight.
“What do you think, boy?” I asked Bruno as I got out my keys. “Should we let him in?”
Bruno cocked his head and barked.
“He says it’s all right as long as you cool it with the dog puns,” I said and unlocked the door to the building.
Sebastian followed me in. “He’s showing me his teeth. You sure?”
“No.” I hit the elevator call button, and the doors opened. “But I’m willing to take the risk.”
We boarded the car. “Did he give your ex any trouble?”
“Not really,” I said, “but Bruno and I have been on our own the past six months. Plus, Neal was sort of . . . non-threatening.”
“That would imply I’m threatening.”
“What I mean is that he and I had a different kind of chemistry. We went through the honeymoon phase like anyone else, but it wasn’t that intense. Or that long.”
“Aha.” Sebastian nodded, fixing his eyes on me as we ascended. “And Bruno is picking up on our . . . threatening chemistry.”
“He’s very intuitive.”
“That, or I’m emitting a pretty strong I-want-to-fuck-your-brains-out vibe.”
My breath actually caught in my throat, and my involuntary squeak turned his eyes hooded. “He’s picking up on your BDE,” I suggested.
“If there was ever a moment for it, it would be now.” He wet his lips. “But I guess I’ll have to take it slow until Bruno’s comfortable.”
“When have you ever taken it slow?”
“It’s been a while since I liked anyone enough to get to know them better.”
I stayed on my side of the elevator until we arrived on my floor, even though what I really wanted was to go to him, cancel let’s-take-it-slow, and dive in head first.
“I was afraid opening up to someone would endear them to me,” he said. “And I was right. I want to tell you all my secrets.”
At my door, I let Bruno in and turned to Sebastian. “You can, you know.”
“I could,” he agreed, “but then I’d have to kiss you.”
“You’d have to kiss me?”
“Or kill you. Your choice.”
“If you were any other guy, I’d accuse you of hyperbole,” I said, “but I’m sure you’ve wanted to do both at some point.”
Sebastian shrugged. “As Justin would say, there’s a fine line between kissing and killing.”
I stepped inside and flipped on the living room lights. “There’s the title of your feature,” I said, removing my booties.
Sebastian paused in the doorway, his broad shoulders nearly blocking the light from the hallway. “Still want me to come in?”
“Do you want to?” I asked.
“Yes. But that doesn’t answer my question.”
I toed my muddy, grassy-soled, dog park sneakers under the coffee table—the same one hosting the wine bottle and glasses—and straightened a stack of magazines, which included the latest issue of Gauntlet. “If I say yes, does that make me a traitor?”
He cocked his head, scanning me head to toe. “To whom?”
The lamps weren’t the only thing warming the space between us. The apartment was stuffy, and having Sebastian there wasn’t helping. He took up the whole entryway, giving me looks that made me sweat. “We’re supposed to be enemies,” I said. “Don’t you feel like you’re betraying yourself?”
“We were never enemies.” He entered the apartment, closing the door behind him. “You frustrated the hell out of me. Got under my skin in ways I didn’t like. Threatened my life’s work.”