Bargaining with the Boss (Honeybrook Love, Inc. 2)

"Hiding?"

"Yeah, you don't look at me when I talk to you. You make excuses not to see me. The only reason you went to the hotel without prompting was to save your friend, and even then you bolted when that was off the table."

"Seems like a pretty clear message to me."

"It might be if you didn't always look at me like you want me to rip your clothes off."

"I think you're confusing the two of us again." Her speech was as feisty as ever, but there was a hesitation behind her voice that he knew she couldn't hide.

"Oh no, see, the difference is, you look at me like that. I have no problem simply telling it to your face. Natalie, I want to rip your clothes off."

Her jaw ticked, and the tip of her tongue peeked out to swipe across her upper lip. With every passing second, his heart beat faster, wondering if now was the moment when she'd throw him out or quit. Slowly, he opened her mouth and then—

Ding dong.

"Pizza's here," she said, and then sprinted for the door.

Chapter Seven

"This pizza is..." She hedged, trying to find the word.

"Terrible." He bit a chunk out of his piece of bacon pizza and nodded.

"I'm glad I'm not the only one." She ate the pizza nonetheless, wrinkling her nose in the hopes it would help her ignored the canned taste of the mushrooms.

"I guess you had better stuff in Italy," he said.

If he'd meant to disguise the leading tone in his voice, he'd done it poorly. Not that it mattered. She'd already made up her mind on that front. He'd read her personnel file, fine. He knew about her marriages. Fine.

That didn't mean she had to embarrass herself further.

And to tell him about all that...

She shook her head. "My Photoshop skills are limitless, I guess."

"Come on, Natalie. You've got statues from the Louvre. You've got figurines from Africa--"

"Pier One is great for that stuff."

"Don't bullshit a bullshitter. I don't get the air of mystery. Were you really like a secret agent or something? Are you in the witness protection program?"

"Yes." She took another bite of canned mushroom pizza. She really had to go get some garlic and red pepper. Maybe then it would taste better. And she'd have a couple minutes to develop an exit strategy.

"What could be so bad? I've seriously never met anyone so guarded in my entire life."

"You're one to talk." Yes, that was it. Shift the subject. Throw him off the trail.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You flit from woman to woman. You never leave the office unless you're on a date. Nobody lives like that unless they're afraid of sharing too much of themselves with someone."

"Maybe so." He picked a piece of bacon off his pizza and popped it into his mouth.

She shouldn't have thought it was cute, and it was even crazier to think it was sexy, but there was just something about the way his mouth moved...

The way his jaw looked strong and commanding when he--

"I'll show you mine if you show me yours." His words broke through her thoughts and she nearly choked on her pizza.