Your Irresistible Love (16 page)

“Please do.”

He lowers me onto the soft leather and climbs on top of me. “I could stay with you inside this apartment forever.” He caresses my lips, then leans in and kisses me senseless.

Chapter Twenty

Ava

Forever lasts until Monday. I insist on Sebastian driving alone to work after he drops me off at my apartment.

When I arrive at the office, I have this dopey grin again. It grows wider during my presentation with Sebastian and Logan, even though we both act professionally. By the look on Logan’s face, it’s obvious he knows about us. I manage to convince both of them to go forward with my suppliers for the show, so I spend the rest of the morning on the phone, trying to convince said suppliers to take us on. Most of them put up a good fight because they’re already solidly booked. By the time I’m done, I’m exhausted enough that my enamored-puppy-grin has faded somewhat. It returns in full force during the meeting with the marketing team in the afternoon, because Sebastian attends it. I might come across a bit maniacal. I love my job, but no one in their right mind can believe that talking about suppliers and deadlines makes me that enthusiastic.

On Tuesday, the tables turn. I’m talking total overhaul here.

The nastiest cold I’ve had in a long time keeps me from getting out of the bed. My eyes water and my forehead burns. I barely manage to send Sebastian a text, announcing that I’m too sick to work, before collapsing in a coma-like sleep.

When I come to my senses again, I don’t feel much better. I’ve soaked my pillow and nightgown, and the inside of my mouth feels like gum.

I sneeze as I try to sit up, so I give up on the endeavor, lying back down. Then I hear a voice. With the greatest effort, I push myself up on my elbows, trying to peer through the open door into the main room. At first, I don’t see anything; but then I notice Sebastian as he paces back and forth, his phone plastered to his ear. Noticing me, he mutters something into the phone, and then yanks it away.

“You’re up,” Sebastian says.

“Barely.” I turn to one side and catch my reflection in the wardrobe mirror. I look as horrible as I feel. “What are you doing here, Sebastian?
Go away,” I mumble, pulling my pillow over my head. “I don’t want you to see me like this.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’ll stay here and take care of you.” He sits at the edge of the bed, holding a cup in his hands. “Here, sit up and drink this tea. You look adorable with your red, puffy nose.”

“You’re a CEO.” I pull my covers up to my chin, because I’m shivering all of a sudden. “Go do CEO stuff.”

“Woman, let me take care of you.” His tone doesn’t leave any room for discussion. A fuzzy feeling of warmth overtakes me at his words. Sebastian helps me sit up and drink. His phone rings twice, but he ignores it. After I’m done with the tea, I cuddle against his chest, starting to feel drowsy again. I know the medicine I need, but I don’t have any with me.
Come on, Ava. You’ve done this before. Get your sick ass to the pharmacy before you fall asleep again
. Clumsily, I attempt to get out of bed.

“What are you doing?” Sebastian asks.

“Going to the pharmacy.”

He raises his eyebrows. “You’re mad if you think I’ll let you go anywhere in this state.”

“Sebastian, the pharmacy is around the corner; I’ll make it. I need that medicine or I won’t feel better. I have a fever, so I might have the flu, not a common cold.”

He stares at me as though I’ve grown a second head. Hell, I feel like I’ve grown a second head, and both heads are swimming right now. “How about you tell me what you need, and I’ll get it for you? You know, since I’m here anyway.”

“Oh,” I say. “I hadn’t thought of that. Are you sure?”

“Yes. How did it even occur to you to get out of bed?”

“I take care of myself all the time. I get sick at least once on every project. I should carry a bag of medicine with me.”

“What do you need?”

I tell him the name of the medicine, and he’s off. Either he knows how to teleport, or I fall asleep, but it seems like only a few seconds have passed when he returns.

“Here you go.”

He holds me in his arms after I take the medicine, and it feels so warm and impossibly good that I don’t ever want to let go. I fall asleep again.

I wake up to whispers—this time they belong to two different people. One voice belongs to Sebastian, the other one to a woman. There is the sound of a door closing
and the whispering stops. 

“Who was that?” I ask.

“My mother. She dropped off some chicken soup. Homemade.”

“Oh, that is very kind of her.”

“Pippa also stopped by. She brought you some sweets. Self-bought.”

I snicker. “Can I have some soup?”

“Yeah, not a good idea.”

“Why not?” I ask, genuinely puzzled.

“My mother is a woman of many talents, but a very unpredictable cook. Her pastries are delicious, her soups horrible.”

“I’m sure that’s not true,” I counter. “I want to try it.”

Sebastian smiles. “At your own risk.” He opens the lid of the Tupperware container, putting the spoon inside. As I eye the soup, my throat constricts, rejecting the mere idea of food. I need liquids in my system, though. Soup is perfect. I shove a spoonful in my mouth and it takes all I have not to spew it back out. With the greatest effort, I swallow it.

“My God, this is horrible.”

“Told you so. We never had the heart to tell her. But you’ll like the sweets Pippa brought.” He puts them in front of me, and I dig in, suddenly full of appetite.

“Now we’re talking,” I say. “Sebastian, I feel a little better. You can go back to the office, you know.”

“I’ve canceled all my meetings for today.”

I look at him, stunned. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“No, I didn’t have to, but I wanted to. Now, stop being such a mule and accept that I’m going to stay with you today and tomorrow if you don’t feel any better.”

“Okay.”

“You’re accepting it?” he asks suspiciously.

“Do I have a choice?”

He grins. “Not really.”

“But I have to warn you, I won’t be much fun.”

“You’re always fun.”

“I mean
that
kind of fun.”

“Ava Lindt, I’m not here for sex.”

Now it’s my turn to be suspicious. “That’s a sentence I haven’t heard from any man.”

“I’m not just any man.”

“No,” I sigh, “you’re not. You’re perfect.”
I begin to sneeze. After I calm down, Sebastian presses his hand on my forehead. 

“Your fever isn’t going down,” he says worriedly.

“Well, that medicine should kick in at some point.”

“It might not be strong enough. I also bought some Tylenol.”

“Ugh, I don’t want more pills.”

Sebastian laughs softly. “Are you five years old?”

“Yes, I am.”

I frown the entire time he pulls out the package of Tylenol, releasing a pill into his palm.

“Now, don’t be a bad girl, Ava.”

I open my mouth obediently and swallow it. Then I pull my sheet up to my nose, shivering. “Oh, wow,” I say. “Wow.”

“Okay, you’re starting to worry me. This is Tylenol, not some fine whiskey. Why are you so wowed by it?”

“It hasn’t kicked in yet, and my fever is stronger than whiskey. My head is swimming worse than before.
Hey, the good part of being sick is that I see two of you. Twice that sexiness. Too much for my eyes to take in.”

Sebastian frowns.
“You should sleep.”

“Okay. Can you lie next to me?”

When he obliges me, I cuddle against him, burying my head in his skin.

“Can you thank your family for being so nice to me?”

“I will.”

“I never had someone take care of me like that.” Damn this fever
. It loosens my tongue. 

“How about your mother?”

“She wasn’t around much. She worked three jobs, and taking care of me while sick would’ve meant one meal less, so she had no choice. I miss her. I wanted to take care of her, like you do with your family, but she died before I got the chance. You’re very lucky, you know. To have all of them.”

“I know,” he says. “They are great.”

“So are you. No guy I’ve dated treated me like you do.”

“That’s because they were all idiots. You deserve to be taken care of and spoiled every day.”

“Shhh, stop,” I mumble. “You’re going to make me fall in love with you.”

I’m not sure if I imagine the next words, but I think I hear, “That wouldn’t be so bad.”

I fall into a deep sleep within minutes.

Chapter Twenty-One

Ava

The worst of my cold goes away after two days, but I work from home, afraid I’ll make everyone at work sick. I only go to the office on Friday. I’ve barely settled onto my chair when Sebastian bursts into my office.

“What are you doing here?”

I swear this man wears a suit like no one else. Trouble is, now I know what hides beneath his designer clothing. I know exactly how defined his muscles are, because I caressed every single one of them, and I can’t wait to do it again.

“Working.” 

“I thought we’d agreed you wouldn’t come in this week.”

“No.” I barely contain my smile. “You said that. I never agreed.”

Sebastian eyes me, stepping past the table and stopping in front of my chair. Leaning in over me, he tilts my chin up. And there goes my breath. “There was definitely a yes there somewhere.”

“I was referring to something else.” I lick my lips, reminiscing about the naughty things we’d done. In the tangle of limbs and kisses, he said I shouldn’t come to the office the whole week. Then he asked me if I liked what he was doing to me. He was dragging his thumb across the slick spot between my legs, so of course the answer was a resounding yes. Maybe too resounding.

“Really? And what was that?” He’s so close to me now that his intoxicating scent fills me, making me squirm.

“You know what.”

“I want to hear you say it.”

Before he can muddle my thoughts any further, I push him away. “Stop teasing me. We’re at the office.”

“We established that already.” He rests on the edge of the desk, peering straight at me. “I want to take you to dinner tonight.”

“Mmm, what’s the occasion?”

“I don’t need one. I can take my girlfriend to dinner if I want to.”

“I’m your girlfriend?” I ask, stunned.

Sebastian’s brow furrows. “What did you think you are? Wait, a better question is what am I to you?”

My head’s spinning. There are so many things going through my mind right now. Sebastian saw a part of me I thought was long gone. When Tylenol clouded my thoughts, that little girl hungry for security and love surfaced. It was as if he was holding up a mirror, and in it, I could see myself bare.
He
was the mirror, and even after witnessing everything, he didn’t run away. Because Sebastian Bennett is a real man.  

I go for the one thing I know for sure. “You’re the most wonderful man I’ve dated.”

“Charmer.” He caresses my cheeks, his fingers igniting my skin. “You’re trying to distract me with compliments.”

“Maybe.”

“I’ll pick you up at eight. We’re going to the Sense.” He looks at me as though I’m supposed to know the place.

“I haven’t heard of it. How fancy should I dress up?”

“Fancy enough.”

“Oh, I have a perfect dress. It shows a lot of cleavage,” I tease. The effect is instantaneous. He presses his lips into a thin line, his eyes darkening a notch.

“I’m taking you there as my date, not so you can find a date.”

Unable to maintain the charade any longer, I chuckle. “I was trying to bring out the caveman in you. You’re adorable.”

“Adorable and caveman don’t go together.”

“Yes, they do, and you’re the result. Now go, because I want to get some work done.” 

That’s when Logan walks in.

“What is this?” he inquires, his head snapping from Sebastian to me and back.

“Your brother is shamelessly flirting with me,” I fill him in. Sebastian stands and joins Logan in the doorway.

“Okay, let’s set some ground rules.” Logan squares his shoulders.

“I’m not having
the talk
from my brother,” Sebastian says. I grin at his warning tone. Ah, nothing like the banter between these two to start my day at the office. 

“I’ll give it anyway,” Logan replies.

“Of course you will.” I barely stifle a laugh.

“Whose side are you on?” Sebastian asks.

“No sex at the office,” Logan declares. 

Straightening in my chair, I lay my elbows on the desk, steepling my fingers under my chin. “I agree.”

“Well,” Sebastian says. “I agree as well. You two”—he points at Logan and me—“have no business having sex anywhere. The two of us, however—” he adds, giving me a loaded look.

“You’re impossible,” Logan says as his assistant comes to inform him and Sebastian that they have a meeting starting in five minutes.

I watch them leave with a large grin on my face. These past few days have been out of this world. Sebastian came to my place every evening, taking care of me and spoiling me. I get all fuzzy remembering it. If I thought concentrating was hard before I gave in to him, it’s nothing compared to how it’s going to be from now on.