Pat Cromwell

She could drown in those eyes. It was cliché to think it, but his eyes were bluer than the ocean and as mysterious as the sky above. Whenever he looked at her, she felt as though he was looking into her very soul. His eyes were penetrating, deep, sexy, at times distant, but always haunting. His somber and brooding glance intimidated most people, but not Seine. She saw beyond the piercing looks and dominating manner that had become his trademark. Seine saw the shadows of pain and hurt, much like that of a little lost boy. His eyes held a mystery that she was intent on discovering and replacing with a more satisfying one.

Preferably of her.

She had fallen in love with him when she was sixteen. She did not delude herself into thinking that anything would ever come of it. She was smart, and being the smart girl that she was, Seine told herself that it was just a phase, a typical schoolgirl crush. However, as she got older, the feelings did not go away. If anything, they got stronger. Seeing him was the highlight of her trips home from school.

He was what she wanted. The feelings that began as a schoolgirl’s crush transformed with age into a feeling so strong that at times she actually cried because it seemed hopeless that he would return her affection.

As she got older, her feelings matured, and with the love came lust. Big time! Her fantasies were more erotic. He was every sexy hero in every romance novel she had ever read, the beginning and ending of all things big, bad, and dominatingly male. He was Hollywood gorgeous. His six-foot frame was pure perfection. From his broad shoulders and lean yet muscular arms to his perfectly flat mid section, narrow hips, and hard thighs, she wanted him. The man was perfect. His looks and his voice combined made her think of a dark, secluded, sinister, and forbidden place like Romania. His faintly tanned skin made the blackness of his hair all the more dramatic and sexy. His chiseled features and meticulously groomed goatee afforded him an overall bad-ass boy look.

Her best friend, Lynda once said, “Damn! His mother should be proud.” Seine agreed with that statement. Sure, she wanted him in the biblical sense, but she also knew that there was more to him than his good looks. Seine knew that he was more complex of a person than his sexy outward appearance revealed and that there was a lot of barriers to be broken down to reach the real man inside and ultimately gain his trust and his love.

* * * *

She walked into her father’s study, hoping that this time Michael O’Neal, her father’s number one man at Simmons Publishing, would notice her, praying that he would look up from his papers and be struck by the same bolt of lightening that had pierced her heart.

He sat relaxed in the oversized chair facing her father’s desk, his right ankle crossed over his left knee to create a receptacle for his papers. He wore jeans with a perfect crisp crease down the center, a simple black turtleneck, and very expensive black leather Italian shoes. While commenting to her father about the documents they were reviewing, she noted that he enunciated his words deliberately with his deep voice. She loved the sound of his voice.

It was quite unexpected when he glanced up and half smiled at her while she walked past him. Her next movement was so awkward that she nearly tripped. When he reached out quickly to keep her from falling, the spark between them was so electric and surprising that they stood stunned, their gazes locked on one another for a fraction of a second. Then, spellbound, his eyes followed hers as they perused first his lips then slowly moved down his body to the bulge between his legs where they lingered much longer than they should have. She quickly looked up at him and moaned at the look of total captivation that she saw in his eyes. He was looking at her, finally, as she had always wanted him to: as a woman.

She watched the play of emotions on his face and she knew the exact moment that he saw her as someone other than the boss’s daughter. Seine took note of the shadowed look in his eyes and gave Michael a bemused smile.

He arched one eyebrow and pursed his lips as if thinking “Oh Shit! I am so screwed.” Moreover, by the reaction his body was having to simply touching her, holding her so near, his thoughts had to been just as carnal as hers. In that moment, they both regressed to a basic instinct of awareness of the other. The air rushed from her lungs and her legs grew weak. She took a deep breath hoping to calm her nerves. Things had definitely changed! She began to see the light at the end of the tunnel. She felt victorious. It was a beginning. He was interested. It did not matter to her when he cleared his throat and gently pushed her away. The foundation had been laid. She compared it to a master-card moment, priceless, because he continued to stare at her.

“Are you just going to stand there honey?” Lawrence Simmons asked sarcastically, snapping her out of her reverie. She looked at her father who was staring at her with mocking disgust.

Lawrence Simmons gave Seine his ultimate look of disapproval. She hated that look. Seine translated the look to mean that her father was not in the mood to watch his twenty-year-old daughter bumble around and develop brain fever as she always seem to do whenever she was in Michael’s presence. Seine was well aware that half the women at Simmons Publishing lusted after the man and equally well knew that Lawrence despised the fact that his daughter was one of the lovelorn. From the corner of her eye, she saw her father frown and take an exaggerated breath when she had not moved. She stood mindlessly staring up at Michael like a deer caught in the headlights.

Seine bit her lower lip, shifted her gaze between the two men, and watched the silent reprimand that Lawrence was giving Michael, who was unsuccessfully pretending to be oblivious to the ridiculous scene that was unfolding. There was a visible tenseness in Michael’s features but under the scrutiny of her father’s gaze, Michael’s body seemed to be relaxed. Seine knew that the last thing her father wanted and would tolerate was Michael acknowledging Seine’s crush. He had told Seine repeatedly that he had big plans for his only daughter and nowhere in those plans was there room for Michael O’Neal. He had also made it abundantly clear to Michael that Seine was absolutely off limits and was not to be touched.

“Seine!” He said once more, this time breaking thoroughly whatever spell had so trapped her. Seine walked slowly over to her father, positioning herself strategically so that as she leaned over to kiss her father lightly on the cheek, Michael had a very good view of her cleavage. As she righted herself, she asked her father for his American Express Card. Michael shifted slightly in his chair, his eyes captured by hers.

* * * *

Michael watched her watch him. He had known her for years and had always thought of her as a sweet kid. She was very intelligent and he admired that. The conversations they shared were always enjoyable and he often thought that she had a maturity about her that most kids her age could not claim. He had even found himself looking forward to running into her because he felt so relaxed around her. That is why he felt blindsided today. There was no confusing her for a kid. She was a beautiful woman with a boyish haircut that complimented her thin facial frame perfectly.

He was scared.

This new feeling that he was experiencing for her was totally out of left field and it scared him. He withheld a moan at the thought that it was not merely her body that he was reacting to, but the whole woman. He was so lost in those amber brown eyes of hers. He wanted her, all of her, mind, body, and soul – especially her soul.

His gaze slowly wandered from her doe-like eyes past her patrician nose, to her full, luscious lips. Her skin was the shade of café au lait and he imagined that it felt just as smooth and tasted just as sweet while still bold and strong. Just the way he liked it. Without conscious thought, his eyes perused her body and he saw in her something he had purposely denied seeing in the past. He saw a desirable woman; Seine had grown up.

Then she moistened her lips. It was an action so innocent and one he had seen her do on many occasions, but today it took on a completely new meaning. Curiosity gave way to an emotion that he had clamped down on years ago - need. A simple swipe of her lips with that perky little tongue and he knew he was lost. He wanted to characterize what he was feeling as nothing more than a reaction to a sexy girl, but he could not. Of the women he’d known, and there had been plenty, not one had ever affected him like that.

He felt Lawrence’s eyes narrow on him. Every instinct of survival told Michael to look away, but damn! She had a sexy little smile on those lips that caused the blood to rush to his little head. Finally, he thought, familiar territory. Lust he could deal with and control. Need and overwhelming desire were areas he preferred not to embrace.

He adjusted the papers quickly in his lap, looked at Lawrence and then back at her. There was a sparkle in her eyes that was different from the looks she had given him in the past. There was a look of triumph on her face and it scared the shit out of him. It also pissed him off because he had entered an arena that he would never be able to conquer. He was staring at someone who could potentially mean more to him than everything he had thought he wanted. He eyed her, shell-shocked by the moment.

He had made a promise to himself years ago that nothing would keep him from success and leaving behind all the drama and heartache of his youth. His eyes locked back with Lawrence’s; Michael smiled his “whatever” smile, and resumed his review of the documents he now clutched like a lifesaver.

He would not look up at her again. No matter how badly he wanted to, he would not. There was too much at stake and he would not gamble away his future for anything. Oh Yeah, he thought, you keep telling yourself that. With credit card in hand and a look of satisfaction on her face, Michael followed her movements with his eyes as she left the room.