"Yes, as a matter of fact. He was having a little trouble finding someone he used to know. I was helping him out with some of my resources." Donovan leaned back in his chair and crossed one leg over the other at the knee.
"You are good with those resources, aren't you?" Everything he’d done for me without me knowing? That took a man who knew people.
"That I am. But he’s found who he's looking for now. So he doesn't need me anymore." With barely even a breath to note the change in subject, he said, "I'm hard."
"Because of Cade?" I teased. "Apparently he'll be here later this week for Weston's wedding. We'll have to make sure you two schedule some alone time."
Weston's fake wedding. It seemed silly that Cade was traveling halfway across the world for that. But I was looking forward to meeting him.
"Not because of Cade." With a nod of his head he gestured for me to come farther into the room.
I waited a fraction of a beat then pulled the door closed behind me. Anyone lingering around the office might be able to see us through the glass, but they didn't need to hear this conversation. It was private.
"Something on your mind?" he asked as I walked toward his desk. "Because if you just stopped by to visit, I am more than willing to occupy your time."
I had to clench my thighs together to distract myself from the buzz between them. There'd be time for that later. There'd be time for everything later.
First…this.
"I wondered if your offer was still on the table." My voice sounded breathier, more seductive than I meant it to. Or maybe it was exactly as seductive as I meant it to sound.
"Why yes, Ms. Lind." Even with his devilish grin, his statement managed to sound sweet. "Are you ready to get down on your knees?"
I rolled my eyes. "We’re still negotiating."
He raised a brow. "Then you're ready to negotiate?"
"I'm ready, yes. I'm ready to tell you what I want." I felt shaky all of a sudden, excited. I was eager to say what I had to say.
If he was nervous, he didn't show it. "Sit," he said, and pointed at the chair across from him.
"Like a real business meeting.” I slunk down in the chair. I crossed my legs, letting my skirt ride up my thigh. "Nice." I was being sassier than I needed to be simply because the business terms still prickled at me.
"Keep provoking me, Sabrina, and we'll both have a good evening.”
A delicious shiver ran down my spine. I had to keep focused. Because the sooner I got through this, the sooner I'd have his mouth on me.
And I really needed his mouth on me.
"I hope that's a promise,” I pushed one more time.
It was perhaps pushing a little too far because his response was serious. "What do you want, Sabrina?"
I swallowed, letting my tone match the somberness of his. "You. I want you."
My words hung in the air like the tinsel and the mistletoe of the season. Donovan heard them, absorbed them. I saw them sinking into his skin, saw the flicker of his eyes as they started to form meaning inside him.
I went on.
"I wanted you at Harvard. I couldn't admit it to myself back then, but I wanted you. I wanted you all the years we were apart. Every night in the dark, it was you I thought about. I wanted you when I got here, from the moment I saw you. I wanted you even when I was with Weston. I wanted you when you flew across the ocean to get away from me. And when I found the file showing me all the ways I had you? I wanted you all the more."
He tilted his head just a bit to the right, not enough to disturb my train of thought. Just enough to show he was listening.
"And if that file represents who you really are—which isn’t all of you, trust me, but let's say it's a significant part of you—then I don't want to change any of that."
Not any of it.
Okay, maybe some of it. Small modifications. But we’d get there momentarily.
Donovan's eyes narrowed. "I don't think you know what you're saying, Sabrina."
"Don’t do that. Don’t patronize me like that. I know what I'm saying. I’m saying go ahead and butt in. Interfere. Take care of me." Wasn't that what even Cinderella wanted?
He started to say something else, but I jumped in. "With some understandings in place."
"Right. Terms." He didn't sound angry about the idea. In fact, he seemed quite comfortable with this direction. "Name them."
I glared at his word choice but decided not to argue about semantics. "Mainly, transparency. I want to know what you're up to. If you're maneuvering things behind the scenes, I want to be behind the scenes with you." I winked, just because it sounded dirty.
"The benefit of maneuvering behind your back," he said purposely changing my choice of words, "is that I don't have to justify myself to you." Apparently he did want to argue over semantics.
"Oh, like you mean if I might not agree with your choices for my life?" I over-enunciated the words ‘my life’.
"Something like that." His lips were tight, his jaw tighter.
"Then I guess we’ll argue about it until one of us wins, like all couples do. I think that's the very definition of a relationship."
I stared hard at him.
His shoulders loosened as he chuckled. "How very quaint."
My mouth gaped and I fluttered my eyelashes in bewilderment. "Were you not serious about negotiating terms? Was that just a thing to say to sound noble?"
"Were you not serious when you said you took me how I am?"
I scowled. He smirked.
I must've won because then he said, "Yes, I was serious. Very serious. If you need transparency, I'm happy to give it to you." His teeth were clenched as he said it, but his expression seemed sincere.
I believed him anyway.
"Thank you. I appreciate that." Point for me.
Scratch that. Point for us.
"Is there anything else you desire, Ms. Lind?"
There was so much I desired. And all that was wrapped up in on Armani suit and sitting two and a half feet away from me.
"Along with transparency, I think honesty is a given. But I'll mention it anyway because it’s important." This was mandatory. I would not tolerate lying. "I need to know that everything is out in the open. That there are no more secrets. I don't care if you have someone tailing me and I'm unaware. I'm pretty much going to assume that for the rest of my life now, you know. But decisions that affect my life? Those things can't be kept from me. You have to tell me, or it's a deal breaker."
He nodded before I’d finished my monologue. "Of course."
"I mean it, Donovan. I know you're a secretive person. Things affecting me though, you have to keep completely out in the open." I sounded redundant. But it was well worth repeating.
"I get it. Complete honesty."
He was already looking me straight in the eye, and I didn't want to beat a dead horse, but I had to be sure. "And there's nothing from the past? Nothing left that I don't know? Now would be the time to tell me if there is."
He paused as if mentally going through a tally of the years, making sure that everything was checked off. It was a little unsettling that he couldn't answer right away. I would've been even more unsettled if he had.