Tempting Grace (Vaughn)

He chuckled, which was oh-so-yummy. “Yeah. Merrick and I both love it.”

“Male bonding, how cute,” she said, hoping to shake his calm demeanor.

He looked over at the basketball sitting on the porch floor, bent and picked it up. “Do you like to play, Gracie?”

She refused to enjoy the way he said her name. No one called her Gracie. She’d always hated it. Jackson made it sound sinful. “I play some, yeah.”

“Feel up to playing a game with me?”

The double-entendre wasn’t lost on her or her libido. “Your timing is off. I was about to leave when you smacked me in the face with that thing.”

He suddenly stood and cupped her chin. When he turned her head to the left and right, Grace was too stunned to move. Apparently satisfied, he smiled. “You’re too pretty to be bruised.”

“Thanks,” she said. Escape. She had to escape. The man was lethal and way out of her league. She liked simple guys. Guys she could easily handle. Jackson was neither. She started around him. “It was nice meeting you,” she tossed over her shoulder.

“Maybe one of these days you’ll play with me, Gracie.”

His words caught her, and she froze. It took all her strength to get her feet moving again. She didn’t think she breathed until she sat behind the wheel. Grace looked down at her hands and they actually shook. “He’s just a guy, quit acting like such a girl,” she chastised herself.

It was a good five minutes before she could pull the keys out of her pocket and start the car. His words played over and over in her head.

Chapter One

Present day

“He’s driving me insane. I can’t work with him, Merrick. You have to do something.”

“Calm down, Grace, and tell me what the problem is…this time.”

Grace counted to ten and tried to concentrate on not losing her cool. It wasn’t easy. “He’s a Neanderthal,” she stated. “I want to work for you. Not him.”

“Tattle-telling again, Gracie?”

Every muscle in her body went rigid at that deep baritone. She turned around and had to brace herself when she saw Jackson lounging against the doorjamb to Merrick’s office. “Don’t you ever knock?”

He winked, which only infuriated her more. “The door wasn’t closed, and your voice tends to carry. I was curious what had you all in a tizzy.”

She stepped toward him and gritted out, “Call me Gracie one more time and I’ll—”

“Enough!” Merrick shouted. “Both of you, get in here and close the damn door.”

Grace recognized the tone. Merrick rarely got angry, but when he did it was wise not to push him. She stepped closer to his desk and sat in a chair facing him. She refused to look at Jackson, though she could hear the door close behind her.

“Sit down, Jackson,” Merrick said, his voice brooking no argument. Out of the corner of her eye, Grace saw Jackson taking the chair next to her. “Grace, I asked you to work with Jackson because that’s where you’re needed right now. I need a marketing rep, and that’s what you’re good at. With Chloe five months into her pregnancy, I need Jackson to pick up some of my slack. That means you need to pick up some of his slack. You knew this when you took the job.”

Grace drooped. It was all true. She had known what she was getting into. She’d wanted to work at her cousin’s company so badly she’d purposely squashed her concerns about working alongside the much too attractive Jackson Hill. The man put her on edge, and she’d never understood why. He simply rubbed her the wrong way. Or maybe the real problem was that he rubbed her just exactly right, which scared her. She didn’t like being scared. It pissed her off.

“I need to know if this is going to work,” Merrick said, his gaze bouncing from her to Jackson then back again. “You two have been going at it for the full two months you’ve been here. It’s driving me crazy, and I can’t afford to be any crazier than I already am right now. The baby will be here soon and I need to focus.”

“I don’t see the problem,” Jackson said, his voice full of confidence. “Grace is a good worker. I have no beef with her whatsoever.”

She clasped her hands in her lap and just barely kept herself from saying something she’d regret. “The only problem I have is that you can’t take no for an answer.”

He chuckled. “Really? Because I don’t recall asking a question.”

Technically, it was true. He hadn’t asked her on a date. But he’d hinted. At times it even seemed he took great pleasure in pushing her, making her imagine things she had no business imagining. Having sexual fantasies about her boss was surely a no-no. She peeked over at him and caught him staring at her. The heat in his gaze couldn’t be missed. He wanted her. He might not have spelled it out, but the signals were there. She’d effectively evaded them too. Working every day with him was stealing her control, though. She’d snap soon, and then where would she be? Just another of Jackson Hill’s conquests, she was sure of it. He hadn’t tried to hide the fact that he wasn’t into long term relationships. And she wasn’t interested in being a notch on his belt. That left her with one solution. Quit working at Vaughn’s Business Solutions. The thought made her gut clench.

“I want to talk to Jackson alone for a minute. Take a break, okay?”