His Temporary Assistant

If she wore any at all.

“Hmm?”

“So much hmming going around. I really earned that bonus now. While you were over here being furtive, I convinced Mrs. Franklin that you were helping me with my contact and there are no issues with propriety in this office.”

“Did you swallow your contact?”

“Huh?”

“I can’t see how I could have been helping you with it unless I was attempting to retrieve it from your throat with my tongue.”

She smirked. “There’s an image. Besides, now she knows it’s not like her situation. You’re not secretly married, right?”

“Of course not.”

Why did everyone seem to think I was lying about everything? Was it because I was a lawyer, or did I somehow give off an air of distrustfulness?

Everyone trusted my brother, and he lied as easily as he breathed.

She straightened with a proud smile. “So, yeah, I really can do this assistant thing. Stacey’s washing her face, and then she’ll be ready for the meeting. I did that. I mean, she did it. She’s stronger than she gives herself credit for, but I helped her realize men are—”

“Pond scum?” I guessed.

“Close. But actually, I told her if a guy does something like that, he’s not the one for you.” She ran the edge of her nail along her crystal necklace. “If he’s the one for you, nothing and no one can keep you apart.”

“Is that so?”

“You know it is.”

Looking into her eyes, I knew with one hundred percent certainty that she was right.

Which meant I needed to break her hold on me. Now.

I didn’t want to, but I didn’t trust myself around her. Yesterday morning had proved I was out of control, as had the last few minutes. The only way I could be certain we could stick to our respective corners was through distance.

And possibly a sex hex destroyer. I wondered where I could find one of those.

Regardless, Luna’s texts had reminded me this wasn’t a game. I couldn’t let my dick lead me into perdition because real people got hurt when these kind of things went wrong. I knew that better than most.

Ryan might annoy me more than any human on this planet ever had, but hurting her was the last thing I ever wanted to do.

I made a show of looking at my watch as I stood. “I’ll have to keep the meeting brief because I have something to get to.”

“Oh, real

ly?” She didn’t ask what, but I could hear the interest in her tone.

Deliberately, I didn’t tell her more. Maybe that made me a bastard, but I was doing the best thing for both of us.

“Mrs. Franklin,” I said smoothly as the other woman emerged from the short hallway off the waiting room. “We’re all set up in the conference room. This way, please.”

“Stacey,” she corrected, holding out a hand. “I’m sorry about before.”

“No problem.”

After we shook, she smiled warmly at Ryan. “Your assistant is worth her weight in gold. I hope you pay her very handsomely.”

It took everything I possessed not to look toward Ryan. I could feel her pleasure at Stacey’s words, and she deserved them. Clearly, I hadn’t given her a fair shake when she’d taken this job, even if she did have some questionable personal traits and an inability to be on time.