Colette sucked in a breath at his commanding tone. Although he softened his words with a self-satisfied smirk, it didn’t make them any less harsh. Or domineering.
“You know, you’re a real bastard. I’m starting to consider that this whole thing was a really bad idea and even though I don’t want to die a virgin and I work too much to make any kind of social life possible, I think I’ll just ask you to take me back home and call the whole thing off.”
He stared at her flatly, giving nothing away. “If that’s what you want.”
Honestly, she didn’t know what she wanted. Was it the man in front of her, so gorgeous that it wasn’t fair? That he didn’t even seem real? That he was committing some kind of crime just by looking that fucking amazing? Or to go back home and pretend that it never happened.
Of course, if she did that, she might have to change jobs. Going on the hunt wasn’t something she wanted to do at the moment. She’d already put the stupid request out there. She couldn’t just keep showing up at work, pretending like it never happened.
Crazy as it was, she’d opened her big mouth and jumped in with both feet and now that she was totally submerged in the icy waters that were Blake Hanson, she couldn’t just jump out dry and unscathed.
He leaned forward, fist balled to knock on the partition, but she shocked herself by slamming her hand into his chest and pushing him back into the seat across from her.
“No,” she panted. “No, I mean- I- no… I- we’re doing this. Okay. I’m just… nervous.”
His smirk told her just how satisfied he was with himself. He might have won whatever battle of wills they were playing at, but she sure as hell wasn’t going to let him win the war, even if going up against him was one hell of a daunting task.
“I don’t know just how inexperienced you are, Office Baby, but I promise you that opening your legs isn’t going to make you any less of a virgin.”
“I thought you were going to stop calling me that.”
“I never agreed on it.”
“It’s degrading.”
“Not to me.”
Her nostrils flared as she fought back the outrage blooming in her chest. Why the heck had she ever thought that this was the man she wanted to give her v-card to? Sure, she wanted to get rid of it. At twenty, it was embarrassing as hell to still realize that she’d never actually done the deed.
“I’m not going to spread my legs for you to stare at me lewdly like some kind of creep.”
“I didn’t think there was anything creepy about it.” His eyes sparkled and his face changed. He looked more like a little boy than he did a man in control of everything, and it was completely disarming. “But if you’d rather not enjoy what I had planned, and I promise you would enjoy it, then that’s fine. I’m not going to force you to do anything. We can move onto option B, which is to sit here staring at each other like lumps in uncomfortable silence until we get to dinner, which will likely take a good forty-five minutes.”
His words curled around her like a dark, filthy shadow, rich and dripping with promise.
She’d asked him for this. She wanted it. God, she’d wanted it for a long time, but not just with anyone. With him. She just wasn’t going to admit it, especially not to Blaze.
Despite herself, she did want to know what he had planned. She’d spent her entire high school life getting mocked for being a nerd and spending her time locked in her room coding. She’d been so busy developing apps and games and programs that she didn’t have time to go out with anyone. Not that anyone would have asked her. She didn’t even go to her own prom or grad, since there didn’t seem to be any point. No one had realized she wasn’t there anyway. She’d set her sights on a job right after high school and got a good one. One that most people would kill for. Between working her ass off trying to prove she belonged there, and undertaking her own personal projects, learning as much as she could along the way, dating hadn’t exactly been high on the priority list.
She was sitting across from Blaze Hanson and he was hers for the night. Was she really going to throw that away?
She’d worked so hard on that damn app just for this.
She was ashamed to admit it, even to herself, but she was never going to ask for a raise.
She was always going to ask for him.
So no, she wasn’t going to waste this night, no matter how embarrassed she might be to follow Mr. Asshole’s orders.