His Temporary Assistant

“You mean to tell me you haven’t gone on a business trip or to a conference and had a crazy fling with another lawyer or paralegal or bar fly…whatever.”

“No. Of course not.”

“Well, you’re missing out. And missing out on this because my lady boner is definitely deflating.” I evaded him once more and dropped into the chair across from his desk, barely resisting the urge to fan my skirt.

He cleared his throat and walked around his desk to sit down. “I’ve never heard that particular description but I can infer.”

“Infer away.” I waved my hand and hauled my bag onto my lap. I wasn’t sure how I’d managed to hold onto it during our kiss.

Kisses, plural.

I pulled out my compact and winced at the image. My already full lips were bright red and bruised with a bonus bit of beard rash along my neck. Great.

I snapped it shut and stuffed its in my bag. “Look, I appreciate how stubborn you are about wanting some help around this place. Obviously, your dad is super tight-assed like you.”

“I resent that assessment.”

“Yeah, well, I resent we’re not naked. We all have our issues.” Taking pity on him, I sighed. “Don’t you have a temp agency you can tap? Surely April has taken some time off over the years.”

“No.”

“Can you elaborate?”

“She wasn’t supposed to take vacations.”

I laughed. “Are you serious right now?”

“Deadly.” Strain lines crinkled around his eyes. He looked tired and stressed and rumpled in a way that made me want to bite him.

Could that sex hex work both ways? I was beginning to wonder.

“People take vacations. They have to. Since, you know, people have lives outside the office.”

His bland stare didn’t inspire confidence that he did. I didn’t want to feel compassion for him any more than I wanted to like him. Add in his asshole father and Preston’s genuine hurt the day before at his father’s behavior and…

I was softening in his direction. A bit. In ways that had nothing to do with how he kissed like a damn stud and was built like an Italian race car.

If they had big packages. Which probably wouldn’t help their aerodynamics.

At his silence, I rubbed my forehead. “I’m a disaster as you and your father have pointed out.”

He sat forward, his fingers steepled. “Actually, that’s not true. I was going to try to find middle ground before we were…distracted.”

“Ha.”

He pressed his lips together. “It was a very nice distraction.”

I rolled my eyes. “Please move on before I use that stapler on your forehead.”

/> He cleared his throat again. “Right. It was inexcusable that I—”

“Oh, put a sock in it.” I rummaged through my purse. I was operating on no caffeine. No wonder my pistons were misfiring all over the place. “Can I make some of my tea?”

“Uh, sure.”

I stood and went over to the small bar in his office. There was an electric tea kettle pushed to the back. Perfect. I filled it and pressed the button to start it up. “You’re a tea drinker?”

“No. But my mom is. She stops by now and then.”