Giving him a little smile, she discreetly moved his hand back to his lap. "None, unfortunately. I don't have any."

"No way, I don't believe that." He narrowed his eyes, giving it a thought, then his lips formed a mischievous smile. "How about modeling? Could you strike a pose?"

"Not really though," Andin giggled as she suddenly remembered what Damon had always made her do whenever they had done shopping. "My friend, Damon, always asks me to try out the clothes we bought and pose."

"Then I'm sure he sees your talent there." His green eyes danced. "Are you free tomorrow?"

Andin glanced at Sebastian for one split second before answering, "I'm sorry but my schedule depends on my boss."

"Would you come over and pose for me? I'll put your beauty into canvas," promised Roberto with a smile. "What do you say?"

"I'm afraid I have to say no."

"Oh, come on." He turned to Sebastian. "Can I borrow her for a few hours tomorrow?"

Sebastian shrugged and then took a drink of his red wine. "That's really up to Miss Williams. I have business in town tomorrow and she doesn't have to come along."

"See, Andin," Roberto gave her one of his dazzling smiles that had no doubt captured dozens of female hearts and yet all Andin could see was something predatory that made her even more afraid. "Your boss allows it."

"No, I really can't. I have other paperwork I need to tackle and I can't possibly let my boss go alone."

Roberto laughed delightedly. "Alright. Maybe next time." He looked at her through those dark flashes. "I like you too, darling. And it has been a while since a female said no to me."

"Well, I'm sorry to be one of a few who said no. But really though, what makes you want to paint?" she asked, rising as they moved back to the long lounge to drink their coffee. The wine had made her faintly muzzy and the air seemed stuffy and hot. She felt a strong inclination to lie back against the cushions of the couch and drowsily close her eyes. Accepting black coffee, she sipped it in the hope that it would help her to stay awake.

After talking long enough about his attempt at paintings, Roberto insisted on getting one of his masterpiece in order to show her what she missed by refusing his offer earlier.

As soon as he was gone, she was alone with Sebastian again and finally could relax. Andin leaned back thankfully, her lids drooping.

"Enjoying yourself?" Sebastian asked her mockingly.

Forcing her eyes open, she looked at him dazedly. "Very much. Thank you," she murmured.

"Would you like me to leave?" he asked bitingly.

She stared. "What?"

"You've been giving him the green light all evening. I have no doubt he expects you to stay when I leave," he said coldly.

Andin's cheeks turned red as she realized what he was saying. She could not believe that he thought she was truly seducing Roberto when all she had done was simply be friendly. She had declined his offer to be the model of his painting, had she not? So what in the hell was Sebastian's problem?!

"Are you insane? I was just being friendly with him. You told me —no," she shook her head, her eyes narrowed accusingly, "you ordered me to be friendly so that he will accept our offer. Seriously, what is wrong with you? Why do you keep on accusing me like this?"

The door opened before he could answer and Roberto came back with his painting. He had unbuttoned his jacket and the two top buttons of his shirt, his bow tie discarded. "What do you both think?"

"I think that you have talent both in painting and acting, Roberto," answered Andin smoothly and she was being honest. Even though his painting of a duck swimming in a river had an amateur air about it, it was really good. Clearly, unlike what he had claimed to be, Roberto had not just 'picked up the brush'. He had put a lot of effort into doing it.

Once they had chatted about his painting and his passion for it, Sebastian slowly steered the topic into his other talent which Roberto had been known for: acting. The talk became serious. Discreetly, Andin slipped into the background, letting her boss lead the discussion. He negotiated toughly, but smoothly, and it was a pleasure to watch him on the job. He knew exactly what he was doing when he performed this function, she thought. He and Roberto fenced tirelessly, each trying to strike the best bargain, but although he badly wanted Roberto to sign with Summers Entertainment, Sebastian showed no sign of weakness or bluff, countering all Roberto's demands and refusals until at last, they came to a mutual agreement.

"I'll let you have the agreement when it is drawn," Sebastian said with a smile, and both men firmly shook hands.

"I'll fly over to D. C. to sign it," Roberto promised. He slanted a wicked glance at Andin. "What do you say we have dinner when I'm there, Darling?"

"Thank you," she smiled. "I would love to."

Sebastian stood up abruptly. "I'm afraid we'll have to be going now. It must be nearly midnight, and I have business early tomorrow morning."

Roberto had a sullen glint in his eyes as he said, "How about having another session tomorrow afternoon after you finished with your business? We can relax by the pool and Andin can swim while we chat, then I will have something sexy to look at while I talk."

"I'm sure Andin would enjoy that," said Sebastian in a sardonic tone before she could say anything. "We will see how it goes tomorrow."

Roberto cheered up, his wide mouth curving. "Alright," he said. He walked with them to the door, halting Andin as he stood aside to let Sebastian move outside. Into her ear, he said softly, "Be honest with me, darling. Are you his?"

His blunt question caused her to flush terribly. "No!" Her voice was sharp.

"Alright," he said again, with satisfaction "I got an idea that you might be."

She said goodnight and joined her boss. Roberto waved as the car moved off down the drive, then the gates smoothly swung, open and they spun out into the road. Sebastian drove in total silence, his profile unreadable in the dark interior of the car. Andin felt oddly nervous. Somehow she expected some barbed remarks. His attitude all evening had been puzzlingly difficult to read. He had asked her to be nice to Roberto, yet he had sniped at her all the time whenever he spoke to her. Could he be sexually jealous? Yet if he resented to whenever she was friendly to another man. This made her angry as he had no right to be jealous. Despite what Roberto had said, she did not belong to anyone and certainly, she did not belong to him.

When they arrived at the hotel sin-blinked as her eyes became accustomed to the bright lights, following him to the desk to collect their keys. The terse silence persisted as they went upstairs in the lift and he walked past her to his own room without even saying goodnight. Angrily she let herself into her room and went straight into the bathroom. Bolting the door on his side, she stripped and showered, then changed into her brief black-laced nightgown.

Her room was so stuffy that she opened the french windows. Drawn by the cool air and the illuminated promenade she moved out onto the balcony and leaned on the rail, breathing in the fresh night fragrance. her head was still heavy after all that wine. She stared at the dark sea, remembering the raft swinging gently under her shoulders as Sebastian forced her to admit her own need for his lovemaking. She closed her eyes, groaning soundlessly.

When she went back to Washington, she had to talk to the HR department. She had to leave soon. She could not wait for another two and a half months. She had to get away from him. The effect he had on her was disastrous and overwhelming. If she stayed within his ambiance one day he might succeed in persuading her to drift into an affair with him. She no longer trusted her own strength of mind where he was concerned. She had been sure she could resist him, but it had been the confidence of folly. She was so involved in her thoughts that she did not hear the movements behind her until Sebastian was merely a few feet away.

She turned around and stiffened. He had just finished showering, and his dark hair was damp. He wore a short white towelling dressing gown, and beneath it his legs were bare. His piercing baby blues moved probingly over her. She had not even thought to put on a bathrobe, since she had intended to go to bed until drawn out by the wine-sweet air of the night. The thin lace of her nightgown fluttered in the wind, revealing the thin side slits which ran from the hem to the hip. Shivering, more from his inspection than from the wind, she said, "It is getting late. I think I will go and get some sleep."

Sebastian moved into her path silently as she moved to go inside. The brooding darkness of his eyes transfixed her like a moth fascinated by fire. She fought in her mind to escape him, but her body was swept by sensations against which she had fought for too long. With the rush of a bursting dam, the flood of desire drowned her mind. Past concealment, evasion, rejection, she waited helplessly as he lowered his face towards her. "You have no idea how I have been waiting all evening for this," he said harshly, his mouth closing over her lips. 

* * * * * * *

"You have no idea how I have been waiting all evening for this."

They kissed desperately, her arms closing around the back of his head to pull him nearer. Her half-naked body was trembling in his arms. It had been so long, the kisses were a hot rush across her flesh, an overload to her senses that woke up all those lonely places inside her that she had ignored for god knew how long. He touched his tongue to the seam of her lips, and her chest got tight and achy and her knees threatened to buckle. She raised her hands to his shoulders to keep from falling and tilted her head to the side. Her lips parted, and the slick touch and warm glide of his tongue were like dropping a lit match on a pool of gasoline and she went up in flames. She wanted to burn and make him burn along with her. He tasted like beer and liquid sex and she wanted to eat him up. A low moan escaped her chest, her breasts grew heavy, and her nipples tightened into hard points of pleasure. All of her defenses had weakened and her walls came crashing down.

Sebastian broke off the kiss to ask roughly, "And I gather that so have you. Have you not, Andin?"

For a moment she had forgotten what he was referring to and her brain helped her a little. "Yes," she finally admitted in bitter weakness. Who was she kidding? She had developed a crush on him back when she had been working for only a month and then over time, her crush had grown bigger and bigger. But with that, she still had to see a woman over woman, more than a dozen of them, walking in and out of his life — and no doubt, his bed as well. Right then she realized that she had been wasting her time and that was when she finally agreed to go on a blind date that her mom had set her up. If she was being honest, she had tried picturing Leroy as Sebastian and perhaps that — and of course, Leroy's clingy behavior was one of the reasons the relationship had not worked. She had been ready to stand in the background, be the professional Miss Andin Williams that he had always praised her to be if he had not insulted her by implying that her boyfriend must be someone boring.

Then that kiss. The kiss that they had had at his birthday party had been haunting her. Then another kiss this afternoon then another earlier this evening. She had talked, smiled, and performed her part in the social minute of the evening with one thought at the back of her mind, the memory of the moments out on the raft and right before they had left their bedroom for dinner at Roberto's place. She had been trying to force down more dangerous thoughts. She had told herself again and again she would not allow Sebastian to touch her again — yet now she could no longer resist him than she could fight against herself. The sensuality against which she had fought for four years had the upper hand. She had no power or desire to halt or control the hunger which was driving her.

He picked her up in his arms as if she were a child, the frail lace was blown upwards to expose her naked thighs. Walking through the open french windows into her bedroom, he laid her down on the bed. She was hot, yet shivering, as if she had a fever, looking up at him as he lay down beside her with passion in her dark eyes.

Staring at her with brooding savagery, he said, "All evening I have been wanting to touch you, to be alone with you, and I had to watch while you smiled at that boy and let him flatter you and flirt with you. That bastard even put his hand on your leg, and you let him. You bloody let him. Do you think I did not know what was going on?"

"Sebastian, you brought me here to be friendly with him, ease him so he will sign the contract with us," she answered, trying to reason with him as she looked at him through her lashes. She could sense his obvious jealousy — it was on his face and thick in his voice.

"Sometimes I do not know whether I knew you at all," he paused and dipped his head to kiss her senseless. After a while, he brought himself up again and continued, "Clearly you know how to handle boys like him," he said irritably. "You said no and left them wanting more. Tonight you were deliberately encouraging Rob." His piercing blue eyes blazed. "But I was the real target, was I not? You knew bloody well what it was doing to me to watch you with him."

"I was just being friendly to him," she retorted, angered by the accusation. "That was what you wanted, was it not? In the past, you have focused me on being too unbending with clients. You hinted that you wanted me to be as accommodating with our male artists as you clearly have always been with the female ones like London Starr, Patrice McLawrey, Elsa Turner, and god know how many other female actresses, models, or artists."

He tensed and stared down into her eyes. "Are you jealous, Andin?"

The question was uttered on a new note which sent shivers down her spine. She read the eagerness in his voice, the pulsating triumph, and she sat up angrily. "No," she denied. "Why on earth would I be jealous? I was just horrified by the way you used your charms to get them to sign a contract."

The insult made him rigid for a few seconds, and an ugly smile lifted his mouth. Andin felt a tremor of fear as the menace in his eyes deepened, but before she could move away his hand found the small of her back and slid up her spine, urging her closer. He exerted gentle pressure, closing the space between them until her breasts pressed against the front of his bathrobe. She slid one hand up the side of his neck and her fingers combed through his hair. He pressed the full, hot length of his hard body against hers and she felt his erection against her lower abdomen.

Then before she could comprehend what was going on, he pushed her backward on to the bed. His hands were encompassing the warmth of her half-exposed breasts. And she grew strongly inside her. His fingers tightened, hurting her ruthlessly. She moaned, her head moving from side to side in bitter protest.

Sebastian pulled down the thin straps and caressed her slowly. Beneath the skin of his palms, her nipples hardened. She twisted restlessly, her eyes shut. No man had ever touched her like this before. The poignant, terrifying sweetness was new to her, and she struggled to reach the lost ability to deny him. Gasping for breath, she pushed away the hard intrusive hands, surprised when he did not stop her. Opening her eyes, she tensed in terror as she realized he was untying the belt of his bathrobe.

"Wait!" she said fiercely. "I can not do this."

"Come on, Andin. You know you want me," he said between his gritted teeth. "You have admitted it. Do not play games with me now, Andin. This is real. And for your information, I want you. I have spent the last few weeks getting cold showers and furthermore, ever since this afternoon when we were on the raft, I have been wanting you more than I have ever wanted any woman in my life. If we did not have to go for dinner, I would have you right here. Now that the moment has finally come, are you truly going to stop us, to prevent this from happening? When will you learn to let go and be honest with yourself for once?"

"Look, I think I drunk too much wine, Sir," she said bitterly. "It is just a momentary lapse of control. I do not wish to go to bed with you. I do not want you, Sir. I work for you. This is not how I want our relationship to be."

"It was not the wine," he said tersely. "And I swear, if you throw that same reason about me being your boss again, I will call HR right now and have you terminated immediately." He closed the gap between them and his expression softened. "It was not the alcohol. It was us. It was this."

Andin struggled as his body arched over her, but she was incapable of fighting against the strength with which he subdued her. And even though his body was crushing her back against the bed, his kiss was tender as if he was trying to make love to her. As if this was not just hot, passionate sex.

Imprisoned by the hard, muscled thighs, she twisted and turned in attempts to escape. She could fight it if he was being savage if he was ruthless and hurting her, but he was not. And she was helpless to fight against her own body as slowly quivered under his kisses. Dizzy waves of desire mounted to her head. Gradually her resistance ceased. With a groan, her lips parted at last, and his tongue softly touched the torn inner softness.

"Look, I'm sorry if I was being mean or if I said anything that might hurt you," he whispered softly against her mouth. "I do not want to hurt you, Andin. But please, don't fight me. Don't fight this. For once, stop pretending. We both know you want it as much as I do so please, give this a chance — give us a chance."

"Sebastian," she groaned her voice carrying its own message of total surrender. Her hands moved against him, caressing the rough skin of his chest, sending erotic signals down her spine. His chest rose and fell rapidly under her touch. He watched her, breathing hard.

Pushing back the loose hair from her face, his fingers searched the hollows beneath her ears, her neck, and her heated nape. His hand curved around the back of her head in a sudden movement of possession, pushing her face into his chest. Under her hot cheek, the coolness of his skin was agony and delight. Breathing fiercely, she kissed him. She tasted his skin against her tongue — something she had never done before, something she had never thought she would do.