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Dionysus

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

“You wanted to speak to me, sir?” she asks, taking a step back and out of reach of my hand.

“What did Cage want with you?” Fuck, why the hell did I ask something like that? What Cecily does with her life is none of my business. “Forget it.” Even though I really want to know whether the interest he obviously has in you is reciprocated.

“I really didn’t intend to answer that, Mr. Dionysus. I don’t usually talk about my private life with people who aren’t my friends.”

I’m trying to keep my inner beast under control, but her impertinence sends my plans to hell.

I take a step very close, invading her personal space. She doesn’t take her eyes off mine.

“Does that mean we’re not friends, then, Cecily?”

The temperature between us rises absurdly, for the simple fact that our bodies are almost glued together, even without any contact yet, which makes me wonder what would happen if I were inside her.

A wave of lust clouds my rationality, indomitable desire surfacing.

I’m not a boy. I have enough sexual experience to recognize explosive chemistry, and what exists between me and the redhead is something capable of altering oceans.

I don’t just feel like I’m boiling. It’s a step further. Cecily’s heat is scalding like lava from a volcano.

“No, we are not. We don’t know each other.” She gives a self-deprecating smile. “As far as I remember, in our last meeting, you wanted to send me back to Kansas.”

“Yet here you are. Still in my life. Still in my world.”

“Not in your world. I came to the party because Elina?—"

“I know. I didn’t say I didn’t want you here.”

“Wow, what a relief. Now I will sleep more peacefully because I have your acceptance, sir. Thank you for telling me that.”

I hide a smile at the sarcasm. Yes, she’s a cactus, but she’s so hot that I wouldn’t mind having to deal with the thorns.

I can see that she’s trying to act natural, but her face and neck are covered in an intense blush. Cecily can’t hide how attracted she is to me.

As a test, I move even closer.

Her pupils dilate, and for the first time, I catch a glimpse of her pink tongue as she runs it across her lower lip.

“My son liked you.”

“Unlike his father, who thinks I’m suicidal or, at the least, reckless.”

“Aren’t we past that already?”

“You tell me. That was your argument when you said I wouldn’t be suitable as a nanny.”

There are other reasons why I shouldn’t hire you, Cecily, but it’s in my nature to like playing with fire.

“I want to try something,” I say.

“What do you mean?”

“For two weeks, you’ll stay at my house at night to see if this arrangement works.”

“I already have a job.”

“But you don’t like what you do. Elina told me that your business is children, much more so than books.”

She opens and closes her mouth, and I think she wants to deny it for the simple pleasure of challenging me, but she seems to backtrack. “Does Elina know that you came to propose this to me?”

“She does, but I need you to understand that it’s a trial .”

“I have to think.”

“What?”

“You just told me it’s a trial. If you don’t like me as a nanny, I’ll be without a job. I have to talk to Elina and find out if she would give me my place back if everything goes wrong.”

“I’ll double your salary,” I say, since I never negotiate to lose.

“And what good would it do me if I were sent away? Nothing times two is nothing.”

“Are you refusing my proposal?”

“No. I really want to work as a nanny, even more so now that I’ve met Joseph, but I need a plan B.”

“I’ll talk to Elina and make sure you’ll have your position back if we don’t work out, Cecily.”

“No. I appreciate this opportunity you are giving me, but I prefer to talk to her myself. I’m not a baby. I can solve my own problems.”

“Don’t you want to know how much you’ll earn?”

“You already said you will double my salary.”

I smile internally. She is smart and a good negotiator too. “If you stay with me”— and shit, I like how that sounds— "you’ll sleep at my house. Of course, you’ll have a night off each week.”

“I don’t need it,” she says but then corrects herself. “Or at least not at first. Later, I intend to make friends.”

“Like Cage?” I am attentive to her answer, even though I’m aware that I have no right to ask her that.

“Um . . . yes, like Cage.”

“Friendship is not what he wants from you.”

“With all due respect, why does that matter to you?”

Good question.

Maybe because I’m a control freak, maybe because I’m selfish and want to be the one to prove it, even though I know I shouldn’t.

“You will be my employee. You’re just a girl. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

She smiles and looks away, but not quickly enough that I don’t notice a hint of teasing.

“Say what you’re thinking.”

“It would be inappropriate, as you’ll be my boss.”

“I’m nothing of yours yet. You will start tomorrow.”

“Already?”

“Yes. Why waste time? But don’t change the subject. I want to know what you were thinking that made you smile.”

“You said I’m just a girl. Yes, I still am, but even girls can kiss on the lips.”

Her voice sounds sexy, almost like a siren’s song, each note escaping with sensuality, but that’s not what catches my attention, it’s what she said.

“Are you a girl ?”

“What?”

“You just agreed that you’re a girl. Does that mean you’ve never had a boyfriend, Cecily?”