Seven Day Seduction by Emma Shortt

door.”
    “Then…” Her eyes widened and she tucked her
hair behind her ear. “Why are you sending me home?”
    Jude frowned, confusion, along with the
feeling that he was missing something important, chasing through
him. “You need to rest,” he said softly. “I know you were worn out
from yesterday. I want you to go get some sleep. Be all rejuvenated
for tonight.”
    “Tonight?”
    He nodded. “I made dinner reservations.”
    “For you and me?”
    “Who else would they be for?”
    “I thought for a minute…” She shook her
head.
    “Thought what,” he prompted.
    “It doesn’t matter.”
    “Louise…”
    “ Fine.” She threw her hands
up. “I thought you meant go home because we were done.”
    “What?” Jude roared, is eyes widening. “Are
you even serious? Louise what the hell is wrong with you?”
    She shrugged. “End of the project, end of
us.”
    “You think this is over?” he asked, aghast.
“That this was some sort of seven day fling?”
    “I don’t know,” Louise whispered. “You
haven’t exactly been clear in your intentions.”
    He followed her over to the door and crowded
against her. Christ, how could one woman be so much trouble? So
exasperating? How could she even begin to think that there was any
chance of him letting her go?
    “I told you I want you.”
    “To get in my panties,” she sighed.
    “Yes,” Jude agreed. “But it has always been
about more than that. Do you really think I would have chased you
so hard for a quick fling? Split up your relationship for nothing
more than sex? Christ, what sort of man do you take me for?”
    “Then what?” she demanded. “Why did you do
it?”
    How could she not know? How could anyone,
least of all her, not realize how he felt for her? It was written
all over his face, Jude knew it was. It colored his decisions,
reflected in his actions. He was drowning in her, had been since
day one.
    “Louise,” he said slowly, making sure she
understood every single fucking word. “You are mine. Do you get
that? Mine. What that means I don’t know. There are words I want to
say to you, but it seems like it’s too soon, like you’re not
ready.”
    “Words?” she whispered.
    Jude nodded. “Do you want to hear them?”
    “I don’t know…I…” She shook her head. “I
don’t know what I want, Jude.”
    ***
    Only she did, but Louise was too nervous to
say. Her heart was racing, her stomach flipping, and she felt like
she was standing on the edge of a precipice. One step in the wrong
direction and…
    Jude shot her a smile. It held so much.
Understanding. Desire. And something else, something that made her
shiver. He took her hand and squeezed it with his large one.
    “ You want me,” he said, and
his words held no arrogance, they were simply a statement of
fact.
    “Yes,” she agreed, taking her courage in
both hands. “Jude, I do.”
    The smile widened. “As I want you. Never
doubt that, Louise, never doubt how much I desire you, need you,
yearn for you.”
    “I thought for a moment.” She shook her
head. “I worried at the beginning that you only wanted me for one
thing, and when you told me to go home...”
    “You thought I meant because we were
over?”
    She nodded and answered honestly. “It
hurt.”
    He pulled her into his arms. She rested her
head against his wide chest, feeling his heart race beneath her
ear. How to describe how it felt being cradled by him? Like she was
precious, delicate, cherished.
    Louise couldn’t bear the thought of losing
those embraces. She was too far gone to imagine it.
    “I would never hurt you,”
he said, kissing her forehead and rubbing his hands along her back.
“The idea is abhorrent to me. I want to make you happy. I need to make you
happy.”
    “Then this is…” she swallowed carefully and
took a deep breath. “This is just the beginning?”
    “There are going to be many days ahead,”
Jude said. “Many.”
    “More than seven?”
    He laughed, the sound rumbled between