Playing With Trouble (Desire Bay 1)

He glanced at the mess of office supplies on the floor and the sexily disheveled hair she was rocking, and his chest puffed with pride.

“Just having a good day getting to know my coworker.”

She glared at him again, and he couldn’t help but kiss her quick as she rolled her eyes.

“We’re not friendly. This was . . .”

“Thorough,” he said. “We’re business partners, you know. Pays to know the other’s strengths and weaknesses. Likes and dislikes. For example, now I know you have a weakness for my mouth on you. And you like it both hard and slow.”

“First off,” she said, “we’re not partners. We’re stuck in this together for the moment.”

“Oh, baby, I love it when you talk all logistically to me,” he said sarcastically. “Especially since I just had you begging for me.”

She moved past his words quickly. “Second,” she said, “you have a weakness, too, and I think it’s me.”

He frowned. “I do not. It is not. And I’d love to tell you how much I don’t have a weakness for you over dinner.”

Great, now he sounded like a twelve-year-old. But the woman had him spinning. Making not-so-smart decisions and making him think of her in a way that wasn’t good. Okay, it was good in that when he did think of her she was sprawled out in his bed, and all that hair she kept tied up was down and covering his chest—

Stop!

Not good.

She just smiled and glanced at the clock. “No dating. And thank you for your thoroughness, but I thought you were heading to the warehouse.”

He growled low. She was trying to push his buttons with this whole owner-employee thing, and it was working.

“Enjoy your perch now, because sooner or later a strong breeze is going to blow you right onto that world-class ass of yours.”

“I don’t know about that,” she said confidently. “This place is already looking better and gaining business.”

“Well, whatever you need to do. Spend your money, get your flowers, but don’t think this game of sexy boss versus man slave will last.”

“Oh, I think you like being my man slave,” she whispered low. “And Baughman Home Goods?

? money is my money, and I’ll spend it how I see fit to enhance the business.”

That made Jake pause. “Wait, you took from the business account for all this?”

She nodded. “Yes. These are business expenses.”

“Laura, you can’t do that.”

“I can. My name is on the account.”

“But you just got here. You know nothing about the books or what money is earmarked for, or the accounting. We can’t write checks from the same till with different goals.”

“And what checks are you writing, Jacob?”

His chest stopped. He didn’t know where to begin with that.

“Everything!” he said. “This is a business, and money comes in and goes out, and now that you’ve taken from it, I have to get everything recalculated. You’re leveraging the warehouse with every dime you spend.”

“I’m tired of you thinking of this as separate. The shop is the warehouse, too. It’s all connected.”

This “thirty days waiting to see who would run Baughman” situation wasn’t working.

“This is serious, Laura. You want the shop and warehouse to be together? Then act like it. The warehouse makes real money and employs real people. With families. I’m trying to run a business, pay employees, and keep inventory,” he said and looked around. The amount of foliage that was now in the shop was extensive. She’d likely had it shipped overnight. And the new office fixtures? “How much did this cost, Laura?”