couldn’t fully understand or come to comprehend. Upon closer inspection, she noticed how as he breathed, he looked younger, softer even.
It wasn’t until she realized this that she understood that she had been intimidated greatly by him for a long time, but now it didn’t seem like she was quite scared… rather she felt entranced by him.
She didn’t know how close she had gotten until he suddenly moved his arm and he was staring at her with those violet eyes. There was no malice nor aggravation for interrupting this moment of respite, rather, there was a curiosity and even something deeper churning within his gaze.
Andrea stiffened, knowing full well she was caught and that he was staring at her now. All that mattered now was whether or not she ran or tried to explain herself.
He beat her to it.
“You know,” he murmured and Andrea swallowed.
“You can always send me a message to wake me up.”
“Ah, right… sorry.” Andrea apologized, straightening and pulling away.
To her immense surprise, she felt his fingers wrap around her wrist, gently, almost imperceptibly.
When she looked back down at him, he was pulling his arm off his head and shifting to straighten in his seat.
“You make me curious,” he mused aloud. Andrea blinked.
“I… I do?”
“Yes,” he said, and his thumb was caressing the inside of her wrist and making her feel strange and hot.
“You’ve been here a lot longer than the other assistants I’ve hired. By all means, you should have quit ages ago. Instead, you’ve stayed. Why?”
She didn’t understand his question, nor why he would ask such a thing. Swallowing, she licked her lips but felt her breath catch when his eyes caught the motion and honed in on her lips.
“Be…because I like working here,” she admitted quietly.
“It’s a good place.”
“You like working here?” he parroted, and she caught a hint of humor in his tone. “That’s interesting.”
“It is?”
He tilted his head, looking at her with a different kind of appraisal. Suddenly, he was standing and she had to crane her neck upwards to follow his eyes. He towered over her, barely a few inches of space between them and her wrist still caught between his fingers.
“I must ask a question you are free to not answer.”
Andrea searched his gaze, feeling her body tense with anticipation the more his eyes fell to her lips.
“It’s very simple. In fact, it’s more a request rather than a question.”
“Yes…?”
She saw his eyes narrow for a moment, the violet in his gaze darkening, as she saw his pupils expand and the touch in his hand become more smoldering.
His voice was low, rumbling and she swore she could feel it in her throat.
“I would like to kiss you, Andrea.”
Andrea’s mind went blank, all rational thought escaping her as she felt herself surrender to the sensations of being caught beneath his gaze, of all the fantasies she had had several times during work and how none of them could ever make her heart race quite like his words did then.
“May I?”
Andrea swallowed hard, feeling her eyelids flutter as he lowered his chin slightly. The air that passed from his mouth ghosted over hers, making her skin feel electrified with every effervescent thrum of energy between them.
Finally, she nodded, small and minute in case a more sure movement discouraged him or made him change his mind.
“Good,” He murmured, and she felt the way his tongue worked over the word. From the back of the throat before sounding that last consonant with a gentle flick over his teeth.
Andrea shuddered, her mind spinning when his lips finally closed over hers, a soft and velvety texture that felt both bizarre and satisfying.
Andrea tilted her chin, turning it slightly to better accommodate an angle for their lips to better press close. His other hand rose to cradle her jaw, his fingers digging past the curve of her neck to grip beneath her head.
He pressed closer and Andrea surrendered to his