Hot Stuff (Hot Zone 1)

He shook his head and groaned. "Damn but they never change."

"What world do they live in?" Annabelle asked.

"Their own."

"How can they not see you? How can they not appreciate your talent? Your drive? Your altruism?"

As she extolled his virtues, something inside him softened toward her even more.

"Listen, about the interview-" she began.

He clasped her hand and cut her off midsentence. "You did a good job promoting the lodge." He swallowed hard. "Thank you for that."

She narrowed her gaze. "No yelling, no screaming?" She pressed the back of her hand against his forehead. "Are you feeling okay?"

He laughed. Shockingly he'd never felt better. "I'm fine. I'm also not stupid and I know what you were trying to do with that report."

Annabelle smiled. "I never said you were stupid. Now would you care to fill me in on why you haven't sided with your parents when it comes to the news report? I'm sure you hated it as much as they did."

And Annabelle had been steeling herself for the confrontation all day. She just hadn't expected it to happen at the party.

He headed for the couch, pulling her along with him until they were seated, thigh to thigh. "Let's get a few things straight."

She tried to concentrate, but his body temperature was too strong, her attraction too potent.

"For one thing, I never side with my parents."

"I can see why." Watching the family dynamics was painful in the extreme. "They really don't get you, do they?"

He shook his head. "And neither do you. At least not when it comes to gauging my reactions." But that wasn't her fault. He'd refused to let her in. "Do you know where I spent the afternoon?"

"Running around the lake at the lodge?"

"Hiring a new security firm and then adding extra men so we don't lose much time. And all the while, I was thinking about how I could save the lodge. Which led me back to the fact that I'd hired you, then tied your hands with lack of information."

She blinked, startled into silence. "I really didn't expect you to realize that."

He reached his arm along the top of the couch and leaned back, laughing. "Well I may have taken a few hits to the head in my day, but eventually I can do the math. I need you to help me succeed and you need information out of me to do your job." He inclined his head. "You see? I get it."

She grinned. "So I can expect your cooperation from now on?"

He nodded.

Seeing opportunity, she snuggled closer. So close she smelled his delicious aftershave and her insides curled with warmth and desire.

She peered up at him and fluttered her lashes. "Your cooperation in all things?" she asked, deliberately coy.

"All things business," he said with a grin and a quick wink.

She laughed. "Well you can't blame a girl for trying." Meanwhile he'd given her his professional trust and she couldn't imagine a better gift. "Don't we have people to see?" She gestured to the study door.

He let out a groan. "That we do."

During the next excruciating few hours, time made more painful by the dominant overseeing of Vaughn's parents, Annabelle discovered a few more things. She learned not only did Vaughn consider this town home, but he had good reason.

The college board of trustees applauded the television interview. They felt Vaughn's devotion to children only bolstered their desire to hire him as a coach, and his old teacher's admission of academic difficulty made him more human to

them. More real.