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He left a thousand-dollar tip!
Talking with Sean had been so easy that, for the past hour, I had forgotten the vast disparity between our lifestyles. But this was the reality check I’d needed. I didn’t do dinners with men like him.
We stepped out into the cool night air, and the city lights twinkled back at me merrily. Sean’s hand was on the lower part of my back as the black car pulled up to us. Once again, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I didn’t want this night to end.
When we walked out to the waiting car, Sean held the door open for me just as Traci came out with brown paper bags. It looked like she was having a hard time speaking as he placed the bags in the car.
“Oh, thank you, Mr. Tassater,” she blurted as she turned to him. “That was so very generous of you.”
Sean made sure I was fully in the limo before he shut the door and nodded at her. “Take care, Traci,” he said before he walked around to the other side and got in next to me.
He looked ahead at Chris, our driver, and said, “Chloe’s home, please.”
Chris nodded before he pulled the separator up between him and us.
I turned to Sean, forgetting all about the tip. Sean would drop me off at my doorstep like a perfect gentleman. I felt my heart quicken, but for all the wrong reasons. Henry would answer the door—I was sure of it. Sean would see him, and I didn’t want the pity and sympathy that would take over him instantly. It would change the way Sean looked at me, and I didn’t want that.
“Could you drop me off a few blocks away from my apartment, please?” I asked.
31
CHLOE
“Nonsense,” Sean insisted, his jaw set. “In case you forgot, I’m not Will, Chloe. I’ll drop you at your doorstep and make sure you’re safely inside before I leave.”
My heartbeat sped up at the impossible image of Sean and his towering frame in my living room. That lasted for a delicious few seconds before it was replaced by fear. I hadn’t prepared Sean for Henry, and I certainly didn’t want Henry to witness yet another date of mine stumbling over words when they saw him.
“My brother,” I began, only to be interrupted.
“Your brother will not suspect a thing,” Sean said. “I remember. I’ll tell him you and I had a fabulous night together and that I hope you’ll let me take you out again. And when I’m gone, you can explain to him that you felt nothing for me.”
His eyes searched me in the dim interior of the car, and when they found mine and held me in a meaningful gaze, I felt my first pang of yearning.
There was no way I could feel nothing for Sean. I felt a shit ton of things for him, and this hadn’t even been a real date. His gaze was raw and probing.
I could go out with you when I was eighty and still feel something stir in my heart when you looked at me like that.
I cleared my throat. “You’re right. I’ll explain to Henry that I felt nothing special for you,” I said, forcing my voice to sound icy cold.
I saw a flicker of vulnerability in his eyes, a weakening that made him resemble a wounded animal for a second, and when it was gone, it was replaced by his usual hard look. We were stubbornly silent for the rest of the ride, and I tried to curb my heart from admitting that it had feelings. It was as if my age-old habit of distancing myself from my emotions was finally broken.
After fifteen minutes, we were back outside my apartment. Sean opened the car door for me, and I got out, legs wobbly, lips pressed shut as he walked me up to the door. The lights in the apartment were off, and I exhaled, relieved that Henry wasn’t back yet. I’d managed to get back before he did, just like I’d promised.
I turned around resolutely at the closed door, ready to wave goodbye right here. I looked up at Sean’s soft brown eyes and his fine brown hair, steeling myself for an icy good night when Sean took a step forward. His feet were in front of mine, inches away from mine. His body bent closer, his head dipping dangerously lower. Before I knew it, his hands were cradling my face, his breath hot and heavy on my cheek as words rolled off his lips.
“Maybe I should pretend to be Will for just a little longer then,” he said, nuzzling my ear.
This was definitely a terrible idea.
His scent—a deeply male, musky cologne—enveloped me, and his closeness sent my head spinning. I didn’t know if I would ever get another night like this with Sean dropping me off at the door.
Before I could rationalize, my arms were encircling his neck while my face was tilting up to his.
Reaching up to those lips.
I didn’t want him to be anyone else but him. Tall, arrogant, and stubbornly handsome. And my weakness.
“Kiss me, Sean,” I whispered, and it was all the invitation he needed.