Dear Mister Summers

thirty six

The brush of something warm across Andin's shoulder brought her out of a sound sleep. Her lids fluttered open and she turned to stare into a pair of brilliant blue eyes a few inches from her face. Smile lines appeared in the corners as he lightly bit her shoulder. "Good morning," he said against her skin.

She closed her eyes again, smiling. She could not believe that this was actually real. Since that dinner which led to another session in his bedroom, she gave up fighting a lost battle. There was no point in trying to deny the connection between them. As she stretched her body on the mattress, she asked, "What time is it?"

"A little before noon."

"What?!" Andin immediately sat up, and the dark grey sheet slid to her waist. "It is late." A sudden knot of panic kicked up the beat of her heart and tightened her stomach. It was not a weekend. Today was a Wednesday and there were so many things she had to do in the office. She pulled the sheet up to cover her breasts and glanced back over her shoulder at him. He looked at ease and relaxed in a white T-shirt and a pair of loose shorts. "You are dressed but not exactly for the office. Why?"

"I ran five miles on the treadmill." He brushed off the beads of sweat off his forehead.

"And you did not think to wake me up?"

Sebastian rolled onto his back on top of the thick black paisley comforter and stacked his hands behind his head. "You were deep in sleep." His gaze ran down her bare back. "You did not get to sleep until around five."

"Neither did you."

"I do not need a lot of sleep to function."

With one hand she held the sheet to her chest and rubbed her face with the other. Her heart pounded in her throat as she looked around the room at the sparse oak furniture and the blinds closed across the huge, arching window. "Don't you have meetings this morning?" She was thirty minutes from the office if the traffic was good. But even so, there was no way she would use yesterday's clothes to go to work today. People would know and there was no doubt that several eyebrows would be raised. Who would have thought having a sleepover at his place in the middle of a week was such an appealing idea? What had seemed like such a fine idea last night felt like a horrible mistake in the harsh light of day.

"Not for a while." He sat up and pushed her hair behind her shoulder. "I thought I would drop you off at your flat on my way there and once I am done with my meetings, I could pick you up afterward."

Her heart pounded in her ears as she looked about the room. She could not even find her panties. Anxiety tightened her forehead and she feared she was going to have a panic attack.

"Miss Williams?" When she had not replied, he called her again by her first name. "Andin?"

She looked at him. "Yes?"

"Did you hear what I said?"

"You have to go to work."

"I know." He lowered his mouth to her shoulder and softly bit her skin. "But I want to pick you up after I finished with my meetings. Maybe take you to a Mexican restaurant Maxon brought me to the other day. Though the service sucks, the food is great."

"No!"

His head snapped up and he looked into her eyes. She had to think. Had to get control of her life and herself. She could not date her boss. This was not right. She could tolerate them sleeping together casually but if they started dating and people would point fingers. They would judge and look at her differently, especially people from work. She could care less about his family — for all they knew, they both were engaged anyway. But her coworkers would surely judge and it would not be pretty. Call it a cowardly move but Andin was not sure she was ready to face that.