Page 12 of Lovesick

“Trust me on this, kitten.”

God, I hated how much that made me want to obey.

I moved the cursor to accept, letting it hover before clicking on it.

4

EMILIA

The screen went black for half a second before it lit up again. His face, clear and sharp in the glow of his own screen, came into view. He looked impossibly handsome. So unreadable too, as always. His usual grey eyes were dark, and they found me through the camera. He didn’t speak right away. Just watched me.

My throat dried up. He looked too good for someone who’d worked all day. It wasn’t fair. His dress shirt was undone at the top, revealing just the edge of his collarbone. His tie was gone, and his jaw was dusted with his usual stubble. Casual. Dangerous.

His eyes dipped low, and I knew exactly what he was looking at before he said a word.

“You’re still in your work clothes,” he said, voice low and smooth. Almost too calm.

Shivers ran down my spine. Because, apparently, that’s the effect my body had on him.

I shifted slightly on the couch, my blouse tightening around my shoulders as I did. “I haven’t had the time to change yet,” I replied, pretending my voice wasn’t doing that breathy thing it always did when he was around. Even through a damn screen.

Dean leaned forward, elbows on the desk. “Why?”

I gave a small shrug. “Came home, had to cook dinner, cleaned up around the apartment a little.” I stopped then, unsure why I was telling him all of that when he surely wasn’t interested. I bit my tongue.

“You’ve been sitting there with your laptop for a while though,” he stated, as if he had seen me sit here for the past hour.

“Why do you think that?”

“Because you answered my email pretty quickly. What were you looking at before I messaged you?”

“Nothing, really—”

“Emilia.” His voice had a mocking undertone, and it made me press my thighs together again. “Tell me the truth. What were you looking at?”

“I-I…” Swallowing the spit that had puddled on the back of my tongue, I looked at the open window behind the one he was displayed. The window through which I had almost booked a flight to Tokyo. “I was looking at flights.”

Dean raised a brow. “To where?”

“Tokyo.”

“To visit family?”

I nodded, my lips in a tight line.

“You’re running away,” he then said, not giving me a chance to take a breather. He wasn’t giving me space. None at all. He kept pushing, kept taunting, and I let him like a fool.

“I’m not running away,” I said, furrowing my brows. “Why would I want to run away?”

“Because of me.” He had no shame. No filter. He said exactly what was on his mind, and he didn’t care about the consequences. Not that there would be any coming from me. Still, he was ruthless and so. Damn. Arrogant.

I lowered my head. “You’re wrong,” I whispered with a small shake of my head.

“I’m not, but you believe whatever you like, Emilia.”

I looked up again, watching his intense eyes darken even more. A smirk tugged at his lips, sending immediate shivers down my spine.God…

I swallowed hard, pulse thudding in places it had no business reacting. “Is this a work call?” I wanted to change the topic.

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