Chasing Temptation by Payton Lane

sat silently and the words fell out anyway. “My world's falling apart at the seams. This guy is trying to put me out of business. I have an employee who is driving me crazy because he’s so chipper. I’m dealing with a confession of midlife crisis and of a tattoo in the most unlikely place.” She pushed on her temples again in hopes the throbbing would cease and desist. “You know, the usual stuff that can make a normal person go insane.”
    “I wouldn’t call you normal.” There was a smile in his voice.
    She refused to look up because his smile always knocked her for a loop. “I said it would make a normal person go insane.” She gave in and looked directly at him. Her heart kicked because a smile was trying to fight its way out. “I never said that I was normal.”
    The corner of his lip twitched , but he didn’t let out the laugh. “Excuse me then for misunderstanding.”
    There was that damn itch. He would be the perfect remedy.
    Thankfully, Nate cleared his throat and leaned forward. “I’ve been thinking.”
    So had she, but none of the thoughts were good for her. “And?”
    “I think we should go on a business dinner.”
    “Ah,” she replied, unimpressed with the set up.
    “Ah?” His voice had grown a sharp edge. “That’s all?”
    Exasperated, she said, “Did you not hear the list of everything falling apart?”
    “I did, but any business man–um, person should be able to handle their personal life and their business responsibilities.”
    She laughed, too amused everything he'd just said. “So you plan to goad me into this date?”
    Any hint of smile disappeared. “I said business dinner.”
    She rubbed her chin with the backs of her fingers. “What am I to wear? A simple black dress?”
    “Nothing about you is simple, but, yes, where we're going is black tie.”
    She narrowed her eyes. “And you’re picking up the tab?”
    “Yes, since I’m the one doing the convincing.”
    “Then it’s a date.” She laughed harder. “I’ve given you my answer. I’ve been giving you my answer since the first day we met. We can have whatever business discussion you want right here and now to save you some money. But you, Mr. Craine, are using this dinner as an excuse. So it’s a date.”
    Nate stood and ran his hands down the button's of his jacket. His fingers were steady. “It’s business.” He stalked to the door then stopped. “The driver will pick you up around eight.”
    And then he was gone.
    “That man is delusional.”
    To be fair so was Lynne because she hadn’t tried to fight his offer of a...business dinner at all. Even now she could hear her mother’s laughter, then Nate’s voice, deep and low. Her skin tingled and a rush of heat rose to her cheeks.
    Why was everyone winning over the natives in her life?
    She pushed the thoughts aside and clicked on the quarterly report due in the next few weeks. She allowed herself to get lost in the activity and all the administrative duties of doing business until her mother cleared her throat at the door.
    She’d have known that “Ahem” anywhere. Given she'd ignored her mother since ten that morning, Lynne forced herself to glance up with a smile on her face.
    Only her mother could look immaculate after seven hours on a retail floor. The bob still had bounce; her face still held every inch of makeup, and—Lynne let her gaze go down to her mother’s feet–Eloise still had on her shoes.
    Her mother beamed. “How is the paperwork going?”
    “I want to stick this pen in my eye, so pretty well.” She tossed the ballpoint back on the desk.
    Her mother's smile held as she collapsed in the chair. “I’m glad I was a stay-at-home mom. I don’t know how you do this every day.”
    Maybe she hadn’t heard her mother right. Her brain was fried. “What?”
    Her mother's eyes twinkled. “Have you been having trouble hearing lately?”
    “Smart ass.”
    Her mother batted her eyelashes innocently. “Where do you think you got it