Rose of Thorne (15 page)

Paris
is supposed to be the city for lovers. Six months ago, I would have happily slept with every beautiful Parisian creature that came my way, but that is no more. Now, only one woman holds my heart, and I am hers completely. From the moment I met her, I have wanted nothing more than to wrap my arms around her beautiful body and make slow, sweet love to her. But as much as I want her, I want her to love me first. I need to hear those words from her mouth and feel that she means them. I want her heart to be completely mine when we finally became one. I don’t want bits and pieces of her… I want all of her. Right now, she is holding back from me, but I will stand my ground until she is truly mine. I am a very patient man, and she is worth a lifetime of waiting.

Sebastian

I really hate the holidays. I mean I REALLY hate them! I hate the lights, the sounds, the music, and I especially hate the fact we are all supposed to be in some sort of fa-la-la Christmas spirit. Don’t get me wrong. I believe in the meaning of Christmas, just not the hoopla that goes along with it. Add that to the fact that I always spend my Christmas alone, and I guess Mr. Ebenezer Scrooge and I are more alike than one would’ve thought.

I’
ve witnessed Skylar growing more and more distant these past few weeks. She has a new sadness in her eyes. I can’t help but hope that the sadness is in some way because she is missing me, but I know better. In all reality, I know it isn’t me that she’s missing; it’s Lucas Drake. I’ve heard that he’s been called out of the country to take care of a financial crisis for one of his major clients. Judging by her demeanor and long face, she seems to be missing the lucky bastard pretty badly.

My phone
goes off early Tuesday morning, and I look down to see my assistant Sara’s name on the screen. It is unusual for her to call me so early, but I quickly answer it.

“Good morning, Sara. How are you?”

“Oh Sebastian, thank goodness you answered!” She sounds frantic.

“Sara? Are you ok
ay?”

“
Charles had to be rushed to the hospital last night with chest pains. The doctors seem to think he only suffered a minor heart attack. He had a small blockage, so they had to perform surgery on him early this morning, but they think he will be fine. I don’t know when I will be able to return to work, Sebastian. I can’t leave him,” she cries into the phone.

“You just focus on Charles and don’t worry about work at all.
Please give Charles my love, and if you need anything at all, don’t hesitate to call me.”

“Thank you so much
, my dear boy. I’ve already spoken to Skylar about everything. She’s more than capable of doing my job while I’m out. I’ve updated her on everything she needs so she’ll be ready for this morning’s meetings. I’ve got to go now. The doctor is coming in. I’ll talk to you soon.”

Great!
Just fucking great! There will be no more avoiding Skylar Rose now.

I
’ve done a pretty damn good job of that these past five weeks. I curse under my breath as I make my way to in to work this morning. When I step through our glass office doors, I catch sight of her perfectly managing a thousand tasks all at once. She looks so fucking hot right now, and it’s all I can do to compose myself enough to walk over to where she’s standing.

So much for my confident entrance.

Skylar sees me approaching, and smiles as she hands me a typed agenda
. Wow!
When I walk into my office, a fresh coffee and pastry box from Marie’s bakery sits on my desk. In the conference room, she has binders already in everyone’s seat, as well as an assortment of treats from the bakery spread out for everyone. I shake my head in disbelief; she has thought of absolutely everything.

I need to get my thoughts together for our staff meeting this morning
, but the sight of her in that black dress is driving me insane. I stand at the front of the room and watch her smile pleasantly at everyone as they enter the room. They immediately begin praising the pastries, and thanking her as they make their way to their seats. 

Even though it seem
s to be the longest hour of my life, I manage to get through the meeting with my designers. I stay behind after everyone leaves the conference room to speak to Skylar, and to thank her for everything she’s done this morning. Instead of returning to her desk, she begins cleaning up the tables and throwing the trash that’s left. I close the door of the conference room and clear my throat to get her attention.

“
Oh, I’m sorry. I won’t be but just a minute, Mr. Thorne,” she says as she continues clearing the table.

“Skylar, we ne
ed to talk,” I say as I motion for her to have a seat.

“Ok
ay, um, sure,” she says as she sets the bag of trash down beside her. The large chair seems to swallow her whole when she sits.

“
I just wanted to say thank you for everything you have done to help out today. I certainly appreciate it, and I know Sara does as well.”

“It’s no problem
at all, Mr. Thorne. Sara is a wonderful person, and I’m glad I could help. “

“Yes, well
, there’s something else I need to speak to you about, and I’m sure Sara forgot to mention it. She was supposed to attend a business function with me tomorrow evening. I know that it’s short notice, but do you think you will be able to attend? It is not a formal event, but we will be eating at Driskills Grill. I really need you there to handle taking notes for me and scheduling meetings with some potential new clients.”

“Tomorrow evening will be
fine, Mr. Thorne. What time?” She responds professionally.

I
admit that when she calls me Mr. Thorne, it hits a major nerve. I want her calling me Sebastian.

“I will pick you up at 7:00 pm
, but our meeting isn’t until 8:00 pm. And Skylar?”

“Yes,” she replies.

“Thank you,” I say.

She smiles and nods as she stands.
Her long curls fall around her face, and I catch her candy scent as she moves past me to continue cleaning up. Something about seeing her pick up the trash left on the tables feels insulting to me. I don’t want her having to do this. I reach down and grab her arm, and she jumps at my touch.

That fantastic en
ergy that we have always shared now surges through our bodies. I feel her breathing halt as she stares back at me with a look of confusion in those gorgeous eyes of hers.

“Don’t worry about this
. The cleaning crew can handle it
.”
At this moment, I am fighting the urge to pull her into my arms and kiss her. I feel myself begin to give in and I can’t help myself. I reach for the loose strand of hair that’s fallen in front of her face and gently tuck it behind her ear. I can feel her body tremble at my touch, and to be completely honest, I am shaking myself. She closes her eyes when I run the back of my hand down her cheek.

She is
pure Heaven!

“Please
, don’t,” she pleads. It breaks my heart to see the single tear fall down her face. Without thinking, I take my thumb and wipe it away. I then draw my thumb into my mouth and taste her sweet salty pain. No words need to be spoken because our bodies communicate well with one another on their own. She rests her hand on my chest and looks down. I lift her beautiful chin to look up at me and I can see all of the pain and sorrow in her eyes.

I can’t help
it; I do something that feels so natural. I pull her into my arms.

God, how I have missed this…
oh, how I’ve missed her.

She holds on
to my jacket for dear life and I sway her against me. I know we can’t stand like this for long for fear of someone walking in on us. I personally don’t care, but I don’t want people talking about her. I kiss her on the forehead and she flutters her eyes up at me. We memorize each other for a few moments before I smile down at her.

I want t
hings to be alright between us. I want that more than anything
.

I follow her out of the conference room and become captivated at how fucking hot her ass
looks in that short dress and how every delicious curve moved when she walked. Turning toward the long hallway, I head immediately to my office and into the bathroom. It has grown painful to walk by the time I got there because of the raging hard on I am now sporting.

What the fuck have I just done?

My
mind races with thoughts of her and how good she had felt against my body. Trying to regain my composure I will myself to think of anything else… dead puppies, world hunger, old grandmas with saggy asses…. but my mind only goes back to her. So, I do the unthinkable. I unzip my pants and relieve myself of my problem. The whole time I am pumping my cock in my fist, I imagine her sinful body, and how incredible it will feel to be inside her.

Oh, Sweet heaven above,
I need help!!

Skylar

It is almost 7 pm before I finally make it in from watching Sophie’s game. I haven’t heard from Lucas in over a week and a half. He hasn’t responded to my voicemails or text messages and I have grown concerned. Glancing at the time I calculate that it’s after 2 am in Paris right now. Even though it is late and I don’t want to wake him, I decide to dial his hotel room. The phone rings five times before someone finally picks up. A giggling woman shrieks over the phone and then I hear Lucas’ smooth voice come on the line. He is out of breath and laughing as he whispers something in French to the giggling woman.

“Bonjour,” he says into the phone.

I hear the girl continue speaking in French in the background and my stomach sinks. I can’t believe I actually believed he cares about me. I feel the burn of the threatening tears and I choke back my sob.

“Hello?” Lucas repeats
again into the phone, but I still can’t answer him. With trembling hands, I end the call and watch as the phone drops to the floor. I fall across my bed and allow the tears to fall. I know now that I have been stupid to ever think that men like Sebastian or Lucas will ever be anything but players.

My day at work the next day goes by quickly
, and I am now home getting ready for the business dinner with Sebastian. Taking another glance at the clock, I nervously slip into the dress that I have borrowed from Kylie for tonight. It is a little more fancy than necessary, but I don’t have anything dressy enough to wear other than the dress that Lucas bought for me. It would be wrong to wear that tonight, so I called for help from the fashion queen herself… my best friend.

Sophie whistles at me when I step into the living room.
Rylan and she are cozied up on the couch watching a movie together.

“You
look magnificent, sis! Your date is gonna flip,” Sophie says beaming.

“Th
anks, babe, but it’s not a date, remember? It’s only a work thing,” I correct her. I won’t lie; in my mind, I am secretly pretending this is more than just a work thing.

“Speaking of date, when is the last time you talked to Lucas?” My sister asks me.

I don’t want to talk about Lucas right now. The reminder of hearing the woman’s voice on the line sends sadness to my heart. Although I know I don’t love him, I had grown to care for him. I guess part of me has known that someone like him wouldn’t remain faithful. I am just relieved that I hadn’t slept with him, but then again, he might have grown tired of waiting on me.