Casual Affair

Her little gasp of surprise was enough to push him from a semi-hard state into a full-blown erection. Something he wasn’t as adamant to hide, now that they were alone together.

“My apologies,” he murmured. His dick twitched at the way her teeth bit into her plump lower lip. “Just wanted to make sure you didn’t forget anything else.”

Though she was tall for a woman—he would say around five-nine—his six-five frame still towered over hers. He loved her athletic figure. Loved the idea that she wouldn’t break in his arms, no matter hard he pushed her.

She was the type of woman who would push back.

He loved that a whole hell of a lot.

She nodded and shifted on her feet. “Thank you again for this opportunity.”

He caught the scent of her hair. Gardenias. He’d noticed it when they were paintballing. When he’d practically dry-humped her into oblivion with a couple dozen people surrounding them.

His body reacted immediately to the smell, like one of Pavlov’s dogs.

The way he had been drooling over her since the beginning, the dog comparison wasn’t too far off.

“No need to thank me. Your work is impressive.” Because he wanted to torture her just a little, he took half a step closer. “And you were very…engaging during your presentation today. I couldn’t tear my eyes away.”

Her head jerked up, and he finally saw some of that sass he’d had glimpses of during their paintballing adventure. “From the slides, you mean. You couldn’t tear your eyes away from the slides.”

He grinned, letting his eyes unabashedly rake down the length of her lithe figure. “Sure. Let’s go with that.”

“I should probably get going. Felicity’s waiting in the car.”

“I’ll walk you out.” He began to follow her out the door, but she stopped him.

“No, it’s fine,” she insisted.

He tilted his head at her thoughtfully. “Why do I get the feeling you’ll turn me down if I ask you out for a drink?”

She looked up at him as if he’d asked her what color the sky was. “Maybe because we’re going to be working together?”

He shrugged. “And? I’m not seeing the problem.”

“Mixing business with pleasure is never a good idea.”

He licked his lips, delighting in the way her eyes followed the path of his tongue. “Even if that pleasure was so good it ruined you for any other man?”

She huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. “Confident, much?”

“If you’d give me the chance, you’d see I have reason to be.”

She actually laughed. “I’m sorry. But getting involved would not be very smart. For either of us, I think.”

True. But damned if he would admit it out loud.

Instead, he took another step toward her, a devilish grin forming when she retreated a step. “Passion doesn’t require a lot of thinking, luv.”

She swallowed, uncertainty showing in her features. “Regardless, we need to keep things professional. It’s one of my rules.”

He studied her face for a moment and realized she wasn’t ready for where he wanted them to go. Disappointed but not discouraged, he gave a quick nod. He could be patient. After all, he had a feeling the prize would be worth the wait.

“All right. I’ll agree to that,” he said. “For now. But we’ll be working together for some time. And I’m always up for a good challenge.”

Her spine straightened, her chin lifting. “What is that supposed to mean?”

God, she was cute when she was all indignant. “I can’t promise I won’t try again.”

“And you think I’m just going to fall into bed with you?”

He mimicked her stance, folding his arms across his broad chest, the material of his suit jacket pulling taut. “I saw the way you were checking me out during paintball. Tell me you haven’t thought about what I’d be like in bed at least once.” When she didn’t respond, his lip curled. “That’s what I thought.”

“Really?” she asked through clenched teeth. “You think I didn’t see you checking out my ass? And my legs? And my breasts?”

His attention drifted down to her chest. He couldn’t help it. “And you liked it. You wanted me, Beatrice. I could tell.”