Reckless In Love (The Maverick Billionaires #2)(69)

The day grew hot as she worked, and the protective gear and torch turned the heat on high, but still she lost track of time. She relished both the physicality of it and the ability to let her creativity run completely free. She’d just finished off a weld, its line clean and smooth, when a feeling struck her, a sense of something not quite right with her lead stallion.

She frowned and walked a wide circle around it. She’d sometimes asked her students to weigh in on a sculpture and had always been pleased by their insights. She still hadn’t made a decision about the fall session—whether to keep one leg in her old world or to take the huge and scary step fully into Sebastian’s world. And thinking about her students now made her stomach clench.

Pushing the thought away, she refocused on the horse and finally isolated the problem. Her prize stallion was bowlegged. Had she gotten the angle of his knee joints wrong? Or made his chest too wide?

“What’s wrong?”

She almost dropped the torch in her surprise. Thank God she’d already turned it off. Laying it down, she flipped up her face mask. Her heart was racing as fast as her galloping stallions, and it wasn’t only from the scare. It was Sebastian, all dressed up in a dark business suit and tie, his hair perfect, every-absolutely-freaking-thing perfect about him. She could feel his gaze sketching her body, as if he were running his fingertips over her.

“You scared me.” Putting the face shield on the bench, she tugged off her gloves. “What if I’d been using my torch?”

“I wouldn’t have said anything if you were,” he drawled. “I just thought I’d bring you a refreshing bottle of beer.” He set two imports on the workbench.

She wasn’t normally a beer drinker, but with the heat of the day, her work, and Sebastian making her feel so temptingly hot... “God, that sounds good.” As good as having him here with her in the studio, close enough to touch, to taste.

“So tell me what’s wrong.”

She pointed at her horse. “He’s bowlegged.”

“He looks fine.”

She traced the lines of both legs with her hands to show him...and a memory of Sebastian’s sleek muscles beneath her fingers sizzled over her skin.

He stepped in close, his male scent surrounding her, making her a tiny bit crazy. “You’re right, he’s totally bowlegged.”

Laughter burst out of her. She wasn’t a tiny bit crazy for him. She was over-the-top completely crazy.

“But he’s good this way.” Sebastian threaded his fingers through the tips of her hair. She loved that he couldn’t do anything without touching her at the same time. “He’s the handicapped horse that Ben-Hur gave a chance.”

See? He was making up a story, like all great artists did. “Ben-Hur’s kindness would have meant he was gambling with his life.”

“That makes it even better. Kindness trumping both the win and safety.” He was close, so close behind her. She wanted to take him to the floor and tear off all his perfect, polished clothes.

“We should leave the horse like this,” he insisted softly.

“Even though he’s not perfect?” Desire hummed through her voice, but she kept herself in check.

“He’s perfect the way he is.” He dropped a kiss on her neck, heating her all the way through despite the two fans blowing over them. “I know what you’re doing, by the way. You’re saying that art isn’t about perfection.”

“It’s about heart.” She leaned back, letting him put his arms around her, then turned her face up to his. She wanted him, but just as badly, she wanted the moment he trusted her enough to share all the things he’d been holding back. “Is my plan working?”

He drew her tightly against him, all hard male muscle and heat. “Oh yeah. It’s definitely working.”

She wriggled, tantalizing them both. But she knew he hadn’t gotten her real message. Soon, she promised herself, she’d make sure he understood how amazing he was, exactly the way he was, no perfection necessary. “What message am I sending now?”

“That you’re hot and I should strip off every last stitch of your clothes.”

She had so much to do, and so much she wanted to help him see about himself. But wherever Sebastian was, something delicious and sexy was bound to ensue. And she could never resist him. “Anyone ever tell you how smart you are?”

He was already busy trailing his fingers to the smock’s buttons and undoing them. As for her? Despite making love over and over again last night, she ached for him, so desperate and full of desire that her voice was a little breathless. “What are you doing here, anyway? Don’t you have important meetings?”

“I couldn’t stay away from you.”

His simple, sweet words dissolved what was left of rational thought. The horse’s bowed legs could stay bowed for another couple of hours. Sebastian’s eyes were molten, his body all hard edges against her as he shoved the smock off her shoulders and let it fall. Then he unhooked the buckles of her overalls and flipped back the straps.

Charlie shimmied. Everything fell to her feet, and she kicked it all aside.

“Holy hell.” A pulse beat rapidly at his throat.

She wore nothing but panties, bra, and her steel-toed boots. In the heat of his eyes and the flare of his nostrils like a fine racehorse ready to run, she’d never felt sexier.