Sealing the Deal (Business and Pleasures) by Valentina Lovecraft Page B

was sensational.
    So tonight was a momentous occasion, he was going to do something he had never done before. He was going to ask her to be his girlfriend. However, he feared her answer.
    London's traffic was heavy at six, but he had left early enough to be in time for Rin, she always chewed him out when he kept her waiting.
    He liked driving around Canary wharf. It was so rich but so dull. There were always puffed-up banker types in their pink shirts laughing about their successes. It reminded him that there was so much more in life to strive for than money.
    He pulled over a street away from Rin’s office per her instructions. Switching off the engine he leaned back in the leather seat. They could get any takeout she liked, go to her house or his, go out if she changed her mind, he didn’t care. His preoccupation with putting Rin in a position where she could confirm something between them or ultimately end them and their series of secret dates was bothering him.
    He shook the worry out of his head and sought out his happy place. He fantasized about screwing her sat right here in his car. The space was a bit tight, but if he pushed his seat right back and pulled her on top of him with her back up against the steering wheel he could-
    CLUNK!
    “Hiya! Thanks for picking me up!” In a fluid movement of entering the car and kissing him on the cheek, she had sat and closed the door before he had even opened his eyes.
    His stomach knotted, but his composure gave nothing away.
    “Hey Red, hard day at the grind stone?” He asked sitting up and considered pulling her back for a proper kiss.
    “Always! I’m so ready for the weekend!” Rin pulled the clip out of hair and shook her blazing mane free, an action that always brought a wave of arousal to Jensen.
    “Shame it’s only Wednesday then huh? So where are we headed?” He asked firing up the engine noisily and scaring a group of suits on a cigarette break that stood a few meters away. Jensen laughed, in the corner of his eye, he could see Rin’s wicked smile.
    “I have a change of clothes in my office, technically I don’t need to go home.” She said distantly, He had come to learn that this was the voice she used when she was talking to herself.
    “So what you mean is, let’s go back to mine, and if I drop you into work tomorrow you will have fresh clothes, and you won’t have to sneak off like a thief in the night.” He replied, turning in his seat to challenge her.
    Her mouth dropped open in surprise.
    “JENSEN! I do not sneak off!”
    “Yes, you do. I know both times you had to work but there is really no call for the walk of shame. I'm perfectly happy to take you wherever you need to go, I can also make you breakfast,” he said trying to keep his voice even. Rin was virtually speechless. He quite enjoyed calling her out.
    “So are we agreed? My place?”
    “Like a thief in the night!” She was still shaking her head in disbelief. Jensen laughed and headed back into the traffic, at least they were closer to his apartment than Rin’s house in Battersea.
    By the time they had parked up; Rin’s attempts to explain away her leaving had died out, and she had become sulky.
    The lift ride was silent, Jensen knew better than to provoke her further. He was after all, still hoping to win her over at some point this evening, but he had to say something.
    “Rin.”
    “Yes?”
    “Why are you even bothered?”
    “Bothered? You insinuated I was a thief!”
    “No, I was provoking you with an uncomfortable truth.” Jensen crossed his arms and smirked at her. She furrowed her eyebrows, folded her arms and leaned against the opposite wall.
    “Why did you call me Rin?”
    “That’s your name isn’t it?”
    “Yes, but YOU never call me Rin, not in conversation anyway.” She corrected. He knew she was referring to sex talk.
    It was Jensen’s turn to frown.
    “I don’t know. I was distracted, I suppose.”
    “Distracted by what exactly?” She shot back