hazel eyes lit up and a wicked smile spread across his face. âJust so you know, the fact that you label dinner at your place as pleasure warms my heart tremendously.â
She held off the shiver because he didnât need to know heâd affected her that way. He shouldnât be affecting her that way. Her armorâthe shield she easily employed with other menâseemed to soften far too easily when he was around.
âBusiness,â she repeated. âWe have to make more progress on the leak. The news broke on Monday. Itâs Thursday morning. Iâm no closer to plugging the blabbermouth than I was then.â
Sheâd done a considerable amount of digging this morning on her own and had found a couple of promising leads. Right before Gage had arrived, sheâd ordered the most high-level background check money could buy on every last employee in this company. But he didnât have to know that. In reality, she didnât want him anywhere near her files or embroiled in a real discussion about her strategy.
His job was to tell her what his connection was to the leak. What strings he was pulling. Which angles he was playing. She needed to uncover every last secret, especially when he looked at her like he was right now, like he wanted to finish what heâd started last night in the gazebo.
Because as soon as she handed him over to the authorities, then she could remind herself with cold hard facts that he was the spawn of Satan. Somehow she kept forgetting that.
âItâs a problem,â he agreed far too easily.
Suspicious of his capitulation, she nodded. âRight. We find the leak and then we can think about pursuing a...personal relationship.â
She caressed the term with her voice as suggestively as she could. She had to regain the upper hand.
âOh, no, sweetheart,â he growled. âYou have it all backward. That orgasm last night? Only the beginning of whatâs in store for you. For both of us. Itâs an absolute necessity that we start there and then worry about the leak.â
His heavy, masculine vibe snaked through the room, engulfing her. Tempting her down the wrong path, where she craved that pleasure, that connection more than anything else. âThat makes no sense.â
His intense gaze zeroed in on her and she felt it deep inside, where heâd thoroughly woken up her latent sex drive. He didnât move, didnât touch her, and somehow that was more powerful than if he had.
âItâs the only thing that makes sense. Weâre not going to get anything accomplished until this fire between us is extinguished. Admit it. You know itâs true.â
She hated to say it...but he might have a point. Worse, she couldnât think of one solid argument against it, but she had to try as a matter of principle. âThatâs your logic? Weâre not disciplined enough to work together so we should just screw around instead?â
He didnât flinch. âIf you want logic, then do it for the best reason of all. You want to. And I want you, Cassandra.â
His deep voice caressed her name, unleashing another wave of desire that grew very hard to contain. This was a seduction, plain and simple, but sheâd lost track of who was seducing whom. Besides, dragging it out wouldnât change things. It was just sex. She wasnât going to fall for him again. Why deny herself what she wanted?
Maybe sheâd failed thus far to get him to admit anything incriminating because she really needed to get him naked first. Naked and sated.
âI dug up some paper archives from Harperâs research over the past few years that have names of the employees attached to each stage of the development. Can we at least pretend to do some work tonight?â she asked as the compelling force of his smile nearly drew her into his space, magnetically, like sheâd transformed into a pile of metal pins straining toward
Sidney Sheldon, Tilly Bagshawe
Laurie Alice Eakes
R. L. Stine
C.A. Harms
Cynthia Voigt
Jane Godman
Whispers
Amelia Grey
Debi Gliori
Charles O'Brien