desk for it.”
“Good.”
Placing the gift aside, she then took a couple of sips of her wine. She tried not looking at him, but couldn’t help it. When she did, she discovered he’d been looking at her. She swallowed. “Eli called right before you arrived.”
“Did he hear from your grandfather’s attorney?”
“Yes, and Eli’s coming here in the morning to discuss it.”
“I see.”
Did he expect her to ask him to join her when his brother dropped by tomorrow? He had avoided her for the past few days. She assumed that was his way of letting her know that not only did she need to find a permanent solution to her problem, but that she needed to do it without him.
“Sloan?”
She glanced over at him. “Yes.”
“I owe you an explanation.”
She couldn’t imagine what kind of explanation he thought he owed her. Hadn’t he told her she needed to find a solution to her problem? Then what did she do? She used him as a temporary fix. “No, you don’t.”
“I honestly believe that I do.”
He looked troubled by something. She hadn’t picked up on it when he first arrived, but now she did. Maybe the wine had loosened him up a bit; she wasn’t sure. Then it dawned on her that whatever was bothering him involved her. Why?
“Okay, if you feel that way, then what’s your explanation?”
He’d been looking at her, holding her gaze in a way that made her more aware of him than ever before. When he didn’t say anything but continued to stare at her, her heart raced. His look was affecting her.
Clearing her throat, she said, “So, what’s this about, Mercury?”
He broke eye contact with her for a quick second. Then he met her gaze again and said, “The reason I put distance between us is because I was tempted to do something that I didn’t think you were ready for.”
She lifted a brow. “What?”
“To be seduced by a Steele. More specifically, to be seduced by this Steele.”
There, he’d said it. He’d told her the root of his problem. However, from the look on her face he had a feeling she didn’t fully understand. Did she need him to break it down further? Did he need to tell her how he went to bed dreaming of making love to her? How just sitting across from her at this table was nearly driving him insane?
From the time she’d opened her front door, his attention had been drawn to the nipples poking against the fabric of her top. His mouth had watered immediately at the thought of sliding one or both into his mouth with good, hard sucks. Then he would...
“Obviously you think seducing me is something I’d have no say about, Mercury.”
A beguiling smile tugged at his lips. “The only thing you’d be saying is Please move to the next level, Sloan. When it comes to seduction, I’m an expert,” he added.
There was no need to go into detail about how he typically didn’t have to seduce women because they were often trying to seduce him. When he walked into a room, he recognized the predatory gazes, which always made things easy for him.
“So, that’s where you’ve been? Putting your seduction skills to work,” she said in a lighthearted tone.
He’d seen a flash of something in her eyes that gave him pause. Hurt. Something twisted his gut. Was that what she thought? That over the past four days he’d been holding a sex-a-thon? And why did it matter if she did think it? It wouldn’t have been the first time, if he’d had one. He was single and didn’t owe anyone an explanation or an apology for what he did. It was nobody’s business. Definitely not hers.
Then why was unexpected guilt still twisting his gut? And why did he feel it was imperative that she know he hadn’t been with a woman? That whether he liked it or not, for some reason, she was the only woman he wanted.
In his arms. In his bed. In his life...
That