Still holding onto my hands, he swung me around like we were dancing. My back was facing the wall and Seth’s chest was at my eye level. He bent his head down so that we were eye to eye and then he said, “I should have kissed you, Erin. I’m going to kiss you right now to make up for it, as long as you don’t object.”
I thought about objecting, I really did. The words ran themselves across my brain but for some reason they didn’t reach my tongue or my lips. I was strangely okay with that. The only thing I wanted on my tongue or my lips at that moment were his tongue and his lips, so instead of speaking I tilted my head back further. Seth took a step forward and with his arm wrapped around my waist, he pressed my body against the wall. I felt like I couldn’t breathe and that fire he’d lit in my belly the night before was now burning hot in my chest. He leaned down and swiped his lips across mine. It was like he was testing me out to see if I was going to object. When I didn’t he brought them down again, this time to cover mine and I heard myself moan slightly as my lips fell open. He slid his hot tongue in between them and found mine. I felt his hand slide down and grip my backside and lift me up off my feet while we kissed. I was completely engulfed by this man I purported to hate and I loved it.
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?”