She dumped a pile of sugar and cream into her cup, but he took his coffee black and didn’t make a bagel for himself. “Aren’t you eating?”

“Like I said, I want to concentrate on you.” When he sat back and asked her, “Why welding?” the full force of his concentration felt like a warm stroke of heat along her body. “From the research I’ve done, it’s not something a woman usually gets into.”

He’d done research? Only on her profession? Or had he tried to find out more about her too? “My dad was a welder by trade. I was an only kid and he didn’t have a son, so I was it.” She’d loved that father-daughter bonding in his workshop. “He was a patient teacher.”

“I’m sure you are too.” Sebastian caressed her with his gaze, moving from her eyes to her cheeks to her lips, as if he were memorizing every feature.

That, too, was part of his charm and his art of persuasion: total focus. “I love teaching,” she told him. “And I try to be patient. Although, I’m afraid I don’t always manage it.”

“Someone like you, with such a clear vision...” He smiled at her. “I’ve worked with artists before. I understand wanting things exactly the way you want them.”

He was talking about art, but the word want hung between them in the back of the limo, making her even more aware of just how close he was...and the fact that it would only take one small move for her to be on his lap.

And for his mouth to be beneath hers.

She’d told herself yesterday that she would be okay with starting something physical with Sebastian at some point. And he’d been clear about not expecting anything from her other than art. Nonetheless, her sculpture still had to come first so there would be no confusion at any point about his commission getting tangled up with hot, sweaty, yummy sex.

Considering they hadn’t even made it to the site yet, she deliberately put a halt to thoughts of getting naked with him. Instead, she talked about her dad. “My father worked on bridges, high-rises, mall projects. He did stuff in oil fields too, on the rigs. And pipelines. A lot of the pipeline work was in remote areas so he sometimes had to leave us for a while. I missed him when he was gone. But he missed us just as much.”

“He sounds like a great dad.” For a moment, Sebastian’s gaze seemed to turn inward, as if he were looking back into the past at his own relationship with his father. One that she sensed from the expression on his face might not have been the best in the world.

“Most of the time,” she said as he came back to her, “we moved with him. A lot of the projects he worked on could last for a year, so we didn’t stay in any one place for very long.”

“How did you feel about moving all the time and leaving your friends behind?”

Charlie didn’t mind his questions, not when he seemed genuinely interested in her answers. No man she’d ever been with had given her so much pure, concentrated attention. Being the center of such focus could quickly become addictive.

As addictive as she suspected being Sebastian’s lover would be.

“Sometimes it was freeing to start over, with everything new and fresh. But at the same time,” she found herself admitting, “I have no idea what it’s like to have friends I’ve known all my life.” Wanting to learn more about him too, she asked, “Did you move much?”

His eyebrows went up in surprise as if he’d expected her to know his story, probably because he was so famous that most people already did. “Born and raised in Chicago. I’ve known my friends since I was a kid. They’re like my brothers.”

She hadn’t given in to the urge to do a Google search on him last night, hadn’t let herself give in to any doubts about their new arrangement. Whatever she learned about Sebastian, she wanted to come straight from the man himself, and now that he was talking, she wanted more. “You all still see one another?”

“We have several business ventures together. We’re known as the Maverick Group.”

“But that’s business. What about spending time with them for fun?”

He looked a little surprised by her follow-up question, as if most people didn’t differentiate between personal ties and business ones. Likely, she thought, because most people wanted something from the sexy billionaire. The thing was, when it came to Sebastian Montgomery, she could see how complicated wanting could be.

She wanted to make the sculpture for his building. She also wanted him as a man.

Just how intertwined those things were going to get, she wasn’t sure. Something told her, however, that both could very likely end up being the biggest highs—and the greatest pleasures—of her life...

“We were all together in Chicago for July Fourth. It was a great time.” He grinned at her and said, “You would like everyone. And I’m sure they’d like you too.”

Again, pleasure suffused her at his words. He truly did know how to make a person feel special, just the way her father always had. “How many Mavericks are there?”

“Five. Evan, Will, Daniel, Matt, and me. Daniel’s parents, Susan and Bob, raised us, right along with Daniel and his little sister, from the time we were all about twelve or thirteen years old.”

“They must be very generous.”

“They are,” he answered with undisguised fondness. “Susan, Bob, and the Mavericks made me the man I am today. I owe them everything.”

There was nothing cocky about him now. The way he shared credit for his success was both humble and sweet. Even a billionaire, with all his money, needed a friend to unload with. Whereas Charlie’s only true confidante was her mom...and for the most part Charlie tried to shield her mother from the problems in the outside world. Francine Ballard had enough of her own problems to deal with.

“We’d do anything for each other. We’re all godfathers to Matt’s kid.” He smiled as he thought of the child, his beautiful face transforming yet again. “Noah’s a great little boy.”

By that look, she knew with perfect certainty that Sebastian was also a great godfather. She wanted to ask about his parents, since he hadn’t mentioned them, but before she could Sebastian said, “We’re almost there. What would you like to know about the building before we arrive?”

Wait...they were almost there? It felt as though five minutes had passed in the limo, not thirty. That’s what being the focus of Sebastian Montgomery’s attention did—made the outside world do a fadeout so that there was only him, his maleness, the deep timbre of his voice.

“Everything,” she replied. “Tell me everything.”

They both heard the sensual undertone beneath her question at the same moment. She’d always been curious, always been drawn to power. It was why she loved creating and delving deep into magnificent creatures like lions and dragons. But she’d never been drawn to anyone as much as she was to Sebastian. From the first moment, she’d been powerfully aware of him and had wanted to know, wanted to experience everything with him.

But for now, they each pretended it was all about his building as he said, “It’s an existing structure that I had gutted. There are all the necessities—a helicopter pad on the roof, a fully equipped gym and swimming pool on the tenth floor, and my production studio on the thirtieth.”

She almost laughed out loud at his definition of necessities. A helicopter pad had never quite made it on to her list.

“We’ve constructed a central lobby with escalators up to a mezzanine that overlooks the fountain. People will need to walk all the way around it to reach the elevators in the back. Everyone will see what you create from all possible angles.”

She was well aware that this was a big project he had hired her to do. Despite how easily he’d written her the check, she sensed that he wasn’t the kind of person who threw money away. Yet it wasn’t until this moment that she truly felt the awesome pressure that came with such a commission.