Chapter 6: I Hate You, Kiss Me

“Don’t you have a home to return to?” Sarah asked, her lips pressed into a thin line. She didn’t want to see so much of William Colton. “I do, but my father behaves like I am a thirteen-year-old teenager, so I would rather come to you,” he said. He placed his coat on the chair and slumped down. Sarah crossed her hands across her chest, but then she put them away and frowned at the soap wetting her shirt. William grinned as he undid his tie and got close to her. “You ogled me this morning and now you are getting wet as soon as I arrive?” He placed a single finger under her chin and lifted her face. He stared deeply into her eyes and noticed the flash of anger. Before she could smack him with her soapy hands, he trapped her wrists and turned her around. Her hands were on either side of the sink. She panted as she felt his warm chest pressing against her back. “Let me go,” Sarah hissed and wriggled. “You should stop moving around if you don’t want to start anything,” William whispered. Sarah shuddered and grew still. “Good girl,” he complimented and allowed her wrists to go free. Sarah bit her lip, feeling a jolt of pleasure at being praised. So, this was what she liked: being praised! She gulped and stepped away from him. William slowly rolled his sleeves up and cleaned the remaining dishes. He wiped the sink down and washed his hand before turning to her. “Little girl, you shouldn’t wash the dishes with your pretty hands. Dishwashers exist for a reason.” Sarah scoffed humorlessly. “It’s not clean enough. Why, are you volunteering to be my dishwasher?” she challenged. William cocked his head to the side and cradled her face with his wet hands. “Oh, would you like to play house with me, Miss Mitch?” he goaded. His face inched closer until she could feel his soft breath fanning over her face. He pressed a light kiss at the corner of her lips before pulling away. He turned to the dishes and started drying them like he hadn’t just turned her on completely. “Are you playing with me?” she gasped. “No. Do you feel better now?” Seeing Sarah’s confusion, he continued, “I heard that you are tutoring during the vacation. So, it means you are a promising student. But it makes me wonder why you aren’t doing an internship.” Sarah nodded. “Maybe I want to run away from heartless capitalists like you,” she joked. “That could hardly be the case. You are studying to be the heartless capitalist… if not aid them.” He watched her carefully. “Do you enjoy teaching?” Sarah shrugged. “I didn’t get an internship that interested me,” she said. Actually, she had turned down offers from big corporations because she wasn’t suited for the cutthroat work style there. It would be too close to the Stones. And the companies she had applied to thought she was… boring and not ambitious, whatever that meant. She went to the fridge and started taking out ingredients for dinner. William was imposing on her, but he had washed the dishes for her. “And what kind of job interests you?” William found himself asking. He was interested to find out what this woman liked. He was completely enraptured by her peculiar take on life. He was flabbergasted by how easily she adapted to his presence. William knew he was pushing boundaries… that Sarah didn’t want him around, but she still allowed it. “A little of everything. I want to work in the field and make sure operations and partnerships go smoothly,” she answered. She had never mentioned this to anyone. “I want to handle sticky situations and resolve issues where I can see the actual impact of my work,” she confessed. William hummed. He knew exactly what kind of person she was from that vision alone—she liked to do the dirty job; she wanted to be told what to do, but not how to do it; she was loyal and wanted her work to benefit more people than she had ever met. He was impressed by her. This was real ambition. “The only way you can do that is if you build a brand of your own.” Sarah shook her head. “That’s not true.” She smiled. “I want to be an insignificant employee who gets their wages on time.” William burst out into laughter but didn’t comment. He could see a fire in her that few people possessed, but something had poured water over it. The fire was barely burning, very close to being extinguished, and he felt the need to protect it and fan it until it burned everything down. They silently had their dinner as William plotted in his head. He even cleaned up and waited for her to come out of the washroom. “What are you still doing here?” Sarah asked. “Did you think I would mooch off you and not give you benefits?” The wicked intentions he held couldn’t be missed. “I don’t want your benefits,” Sarah claimed blandly. She bent over the couch to pick up his jacket, handed it to him, and was going to ask him to leave when he saw the dark look in his eyes. “Baby, I don’t believe you,” he said huskily. He looked down at her white shirt, his eyes flitting over her collarbone and then to her slightly parted mouth. “Everyone wants something from me. Come on… tell me… what do you truly desire?” Sarah bit her lip when she felt her body tighten. She couldn’t get rid of the flashes of the last night from her head. “I don’t know what you mean.” Sarah’s voice broke mid-sentence. “Don’t lie to yourself, Sarah.” His eyes roamed over her flushed face. He knew he was close to his goal. “Let me teach you a rule of business: If you are honest about what you want, you will have an easier time negotiating your way to the top.” His eyes bored into her. She was undecided for the most part, but the coiling sensation at the pit of her stomach made it abundantly clear what she wanted. What her body wanted. She was not the sort of girl to have a one-night stand. But she had chosen this devious man out of everyone else at the club. She had a taste of him and she knew she hadn’t had enough. She rationalized her decision to herself, ‘I can be with him… no strings attached… for some time.’ It took her some time to finally decide. “Are you done lying to yourself?” William asked, knowing he would hear from her soon. Sarah glared at him. Her hands fisted his shirt and she gave him a little sneer as she spoke. “Damn it, I hate you.” She paused. “Kiss me.”