Page 10 of The Season of Secrets

I cross my arms. “Did she tell you why?”I honestly couldn’t say; I have a very short fuse.

She narrows her eyes and purses her lips into the cutest fucking scowl. “No, but that’s not the point. You should apologize. It was her first day!”

I raise an eyebrow at her. “You want me to apologize?”

She shrugs and leans against the railing. “Marissa says you are grumpy towards everyone but me…” She cocks her head to the side, and I’m having a hard time gauging how much she’s had to drink. If this curiosity is fueled by alcohol or maybe…something else?“Why is that?”

“Why do you think?” I cock my head, matching hers.

Her blue eyes narrow and she scrunches her nose and I find myself again tracing my gaze over the freckles that sit on the bridge of it. “I…I’m not sure.”

I slide my hands into my pockets to stop from touching her. “Sure, you do. You graduated top of your class.”

A pretty pink tinges her cheeks and I don’t think I’ve ever seen her blush before. Now I want to know if the rest of her skin pinkens just like that. “I don’t know men as well as I know business.”

I nod at her drink. “How many of those have you had?”

“This is my first.”

“And before that?”

She tucks a strand of her dark shiny hair behind her ear revealing a diamond stud earring. “A vodka soda and a glass of champagne.”

I narrow my eyes at her because I don’t know where that leaves her in terms of her judgment. “Walk a straight line.”

“Excuse me?” She laughs and just the sight of her lips ticking upwards has me begging my dick to stay down.

“I want to make sure you’re not intoxicated.”

She sets her drink down on a nearby table and crosses her arms over her chest. “Why?”

“You can know why after you do it.”

She narrows her eyes at me and begins walking a straight line perfectly before she turns around and holds her hands out. “Now tell me.”

I let out a breath, wanting to be a man of my word but also not wanting to unleash all my complicated feelings on this woman I can’t even touch.Fuck it.“I…can’t stop thinking about you,” I tell her honestly. “Since the moment you walked into my office.” Her breath hitches and she sinks her teeth into her bottom lip as her lips quirk up in a smile. “But I can’t. We can’t.” Her smile fades and I realize she does want me too.You’re going to have to push for it then, Raegan. I can’t. There’s too much at stake.“God, I want to. But…we would both be in a lot of trouble.”

“I see.”

“But I wanted you to know.” I shake my head at her. “You are stunning and brilliant and confident and you have this energy about you that I can’t get enough of. You consume my thoughts, Raegan.”

“Wes…” She starts and it’s the first time she’s said my name. A vision of her screaming it out while she climaxes all over my dick flashes through my brain.

I shake my head. “We should get back inside.”

We begin walking back when she stops in her tracks.“What was the point in telling me all of this?”

“Because I couldn’t hold it in any longer.” I turn around and give her a smirk. “Besides, you already knew.”

I’m trying my best to keep my eyes off of Raegan who’s across the room talking to Liam Pattersonagain, and I feel almost irate at the thought of her going home with him. I’m not completely oblivious to what happens at these parties and while Liam seems like a good kid for the most part, I do know he has a bit of a reputation for sleeping with women in the office.

Don’t fall for that shit, Raegan.

I wish I could tell her. I wish I could tell her to just wait until she’s done working for me and finds a new job so then I can finally ask her out.

But in terms of business that would be the worst move.Raegan is smart, insightful, hardworking, and driven with a long list of other attributes that make her a model employee. I’d be stupid to let her go because I want to forge a relationship with her.

She may not even want a relationship with you! You’re twenty years older than her.

---