Some Like It Deadly by Heather Long

high school jock faced with the prospect that the girl might say yes. “A half-day at least.” It sounded a lot better. “No morning meetings, remember?” Of course, he’d barely recalled his name when he woke.
    “Anything for this afternoon, I can rearrange.” She pursed her lips, and uncertainty skated across her expression. So composed and utterly in control most of the time, the vulnerability invited him to firm their plans. Make her choose to be here. “No one is going to die if you take a day off, Richard. You’ve been going full throttle for weeks.”
    “So have you.” Decided, he drained his coffee and padded over to pour himself another cup. “I’m going to make you breakfast, we’re going to eat it by the pool, and you can drowse in the sun to your heart’s content. Unless you have somewhere else you need to be?” His gut said no. He wanted Kate to stay.
    “No, not particularly.” But hesitation hitched between the words.
    “Then you’ll stay.” He nodded and a spike of pleasure at the idea pushed his headache back further. “The only job I need you to do today is to make sure I don’t go to work.”
    Her brows lifted. “A day off spent with your assistant is not really a day off.” When he held up the coffee pot she extended her mug and he refilled it. This close, the scent of vanilla spice he’d discovered in the living room grew stronger.
    “So, I’ll spend it with my friend Kate.” He slid the pot back onto the burner and smiled. “I’d like to get to know my friend better.”
I’d like to get her naked and see just what it takes to melt that professional demeanor so I can play with that sassy woman I keep getting glimpses of—
cutting off the thought before his cock stiffened any further, he reclaimed his mug.
    “Richard...” Kate glanced down at her mug and the uncertainty turned to unease. Guilt flooded through him. “I’m not sure how good that idea would be.”
    “I am an excellent friend.” Not that his life had room for a lot of them, Armand took up an elephant amount of space. Getting personal with Kate was a terrible idea, they worked together—correction, she worked
for
him. Dammit, he wanted her to stay. Not wanting to get personal didn’t mean they hadn’t been. He knew all the cons and he didn’t care. “But I’m not going to leverage our working relationship to demand anything more than a down day for both of us.” If she headed out that door, then so be it.
    “I didn’t think you were.” She looked from her coffee to him and he could feel the weight of her gaze like a caress on bare skin. Her attention was on his chest and he felt like puffing it out a bit, but smothered the urge. “It actually sounds great to just hang out and
be
for the day.”
    “But?” He eased a little closer, then leaned against the counter. “I heard the distinct
but
in there.”
    Their gazes locked and for a split-second, he read heat in her gorgeous eyes. Then her lashes dipped, hiding it before he could see anything more and her mouth twisted into a smile. “But I don’t think you know how to relax.”
    He knew a challenge when he heard one. “Then maybe you don’t know me as well as you think you do.”
    “Oh, I know you.” She grinned. “We’re keeping score, remember?”
    Delighted by the play, he pushed away from the counter and pulled open the fridge. He’d promised her breakfast. “I do remember. So how about a wager?” Unfortunately, his fridge only had bottles of water, a couple of sandwiches in takeout boxes, and creamer for the coffee. He didn’t remember the last time he’d stocked food—or did he? Miranda usually arranged for a grocery delivery, but she’d left weeks before and he’d eaten out or at the office since then.
    “Depends, what are we wagering on exactly?”
    “Well we’re not wagering on breakfast because I would lose.” He glanced at his bare wrist and scowled. His watch was upstairs and he hadn’t tracked down his cell