Reckless In Love (The Maverick Billionaires #2)(7)

Sebastian seemed to approve of her outfit as she slid in beside him and he said, “Good morning,” in a deep voice that was enough to raise her temperature several degrees, turning the air-conditioned interior of the car positively sultry.

“Nice ride,” she told him as she appreciated the soft leather with the slide of her palm over the seat. The limo was over the top, true, but he was a rich man and she could already tell that he did everything with style. And clearly enjoyed every second of it. “Although you didn’t have a driver with you yesterday, did you?”

“I didn’t want to split my attention between you and the road today.”

Her breath caught at the simple way he’d just told her that she mattered to him, both as an artist and as a woman. He always had just the right words. The fact that it was also his job didn’t make their impact any less.

“You’ve probably been working all morning and didn’t take the time to eat. So I brought you brunch.” He waved a hand over the spread he’d provided. “Bagels, cream cheese, and lox.” Sebastian tapped the coffee carafe. “And this is a special Arabian coffee imported by a friend of mine.”

She didn’t know which smelled better, him or the coffee. Both made her mouth water. He looked seriously scrumptious in another suit. She wasn’t necessarily partial to the executive type, but Sebastian Montgomery was rapidly changing her preferences on a lot of things.

“Sit back,” he told her as he poured her a cup of coffee. “I’ll serve you.”

A blush crept into her cheeks as she was instantly hit with an explicit image of him serving her breakfast in bed. He set her cup on the console, then slathered cream cheese on half of a sliced bagel, topped it with lox, and passed her the plate.

“You’re too good to be true.”

He fixed her with a gaze that was as sultry as she felt. “No. I am that good.”

“And cocky about it too.” She couldn’t hold back her smile—couldn’t see a reason to.

He laughed, and she felt the sound rumble through her. “So I’ve been told.”

A certain amount of cockiness was probably good in his business. And the truth was she didn’t find it at all unattractive. Not on him, anyway. Somehow, it only added to his charm.

She dumped a pile of sugar and cream into her cup, but he took his coffee black and didn’t make a bagel for himself. “Aren’t you eating?”

“Like I said, I want to concentrate on you.” When he sat back and asked her, “Why welding?” the full force of his concentration felt like a warm stroke of heat along her body. “From the research I’ve done, it’s not something a woman usually gets into.”

He’d done research? Only on her profession? Or had he tried to find out more about her too? “My dad was a welder by trade. I was an only kid and he didn’t have a son, so I was it.” She’d loved that father-daughter bonding in his workshop. “He was a patient teacher.”

“I’m sure you are too.” Sebastian caressed her with his gaze, moving from her eyes to her cheeks to her lips, as if he were memorizing every feature.

That, too, was part of his charm and his art of persuasion: total focus. “I love teaching,” she told him. “And I try to be patient. Although, I’m afraid I don’t always manage it.”

“Someone like you, with such a clear vision...” He smiled at her. “I’ve worked with artists before. I understand wanting things exactly the way you want them.”

He was talking about art, but the word want hung between them in the back of the limo, making her even more aware of just how close he was...and the fact that it would only take one small move for her to be on his lap.

And for his mouth to be beneath hers.

She’d told herself yesterday that she would be okay with starting something physical with Sebastian at some point. And he’d been clear about not expecting anything from her other than art. Nonetheless, her sculpture still had to come first so there would be no confusion at any point about his commission getting tangled up with hot, sweaty, yummy sex.

Considering they hadn’t even made it to the site yet, she deliberately put a halt to thoughts of getting naked with him. Instead, she talked about her dad. “My father worked on bridges, high-rises, mall projects. He did stuff in oil fields too, on the rigs. And pipelines. A lot of the pipeline work was in remote areas so he sometimes had to leave us for a while. I missed him when he was gone. But he missed us just as much.”

“He sounds like a great dad.” For a moment, Sebastian’s gaze seemed to turn inward, as if he were looking back into the past at his own relationship with his father. One that she sensed from the expression on his face might not have been the best in the world.

“Most of the time,” she said as he came back to her, “we moved with him. A lot of the projects he worked on could last for a year, so we didn’t stay in any one place for very long.”

“How did you feel about moving all the time and leaving your friends behind?”

Charlie didn’t mind his questions, not when he seemed genuinely interested in her answers. No man she’d ever been with had given her so much pure, concentrated attention. Being the center of such focus could quickly become addictive.

As addictive as she suspected being Sebastian’s lover would be.