But as he casually sat in her guest chair, his long, muscular legs stretched out in front of him, it was hard not to recall going down on him in this very office a little over a month ago. And then he’d pulled her up on his lap and taken her hard and fast. She felt her face getting hot and turned to look out the windows. The day was that icy, rainy, drab December that no one really wanted. Yet to her, it was the perfect day to cuddle close under the covers and make love.
“Did I bring too much drama?” he asked.
She took a deep breath, shaking off the vestiges of the erotic image in her mind, and faced him. “No, but then I’m beginning to realize that you do use charm to get your way instead of throwing your weight around.”
“Well,” he said with a sardonic grin. “I learned the hard way that getting everyone’s cooperation is easier than stomping my foot.”
Except he didn’t seem like the kind of man to stomp his foot until he got his way. “Well, I guess you should head back to your hotel, while I reach out to my contacts and get everything set up. I have your number...or should I go through your assistant?”
She’d been surprised when his assistant had shown up on the video call. Bert was a young-looking thirty, with wiry dark hair and a very laid-back feel. He had just taken notes, interjected with things he’d handle and asked if he should come to Chicago or stay at Sean’s place in Malibu. Which Sean said they’d discuss later.
“Let me talk to Bert,” Sean said. “This is just between us but I think he was planning to propose to his long-term girlfriend at Christmas so I don’t want him out here if that interferes.”
“Okay. I’ll copy him on everything so he’s in the loop,” she replied, trying not to let the fact that he was putting his assistant in front of himself affect her thoughts of who he was. Yet she had to. This was what she had wanted, why she’d agreed to take him on as a client. She needed to know the man behind the headlines for both herself and her baby. If she decided to cut Sean out of their lives, she owed her child the truth about its father.
“Perfect. Now then, what about lunch?”
She quirked an eyebrow. “What about it?”
“Will you go to lunch with me?”
“No,” she said. She had a fire to put out with a local celebrity chef.
“I thought you wanted to get to know me.”
“I do, but you’re not my only client. I have someone who I need to go see,” she told him primly. “I am available for coffee at three if you want to meet me at the shop where we first met.”
He pushed himself to his feet and came over to her desk, holding out his hand.
She stared at it for a long moment, and when she finally took it, he bent, brushing his lips against the back of hers. “It’s a date.”
“Not a date—abusinessmeeting,” she insisted. But the shiver of sensual awareness that went through her made that lie apparent. She was never going to be blasé about Sean touching her.
“See you later,” he said with a wink, then walked out of her office and closed the door behind him.
After he left, she leaned back in her chair and let out a breath she hadn’t been aware she was holding. This was getting more complicated.
Honestly, she would have been happier if he’d been the asshole that Delaney had labeled him. But he was more than that. She was starting to realize that Jack was just one thin layer of the man that Sean was. This professional movie star was another layer. And the child with the abusive mom another one. But how did they all come together and who was therealSean O’Neill?
She’d given herself these two weeks to find out.
But would that be enough time? A part of her wasn’t entirely sure that a lifetime would be enough to figure him out.
And more importantly, she thought, how was she going to balance the idea that she still wanted him and he didn’t know she was pregnant with his child?
She had no clue. Before she could ponder that problem any further, her phone vibrated and she looked down to see it was a message from Sean.
Thanks for giving me a second chance.
Is that what I’m doing?
I hope so.
We’ll see. Later.
She put down her phone and dove into her other client, who was anactualdrama king, and tried not to think about second chances. They’d rarely worked in her experience, but she was hoping that this time maybe things would work out.
Bert texted him that he’d found a house for Sean to use instead of the hotel. He was having it cleaned, decorated and brought up to Sean’s specifications. Bert thought that he should be able to move in that evening.