1: City on Fire
“I. Want. You.”
She said those three loaded words in a dirty low whisper that made a shiver flicker up the back of his neck. She’d waited till Nolan was distracted and lent in quickly, uncomfortably close so her breath brushed his check, so he wouldn’t misunderstand.
Then she walked away. The heels, the legs, the black suit and the no-nonsense hairstyle that should’ve made her look sexless, forbidding. She was so freaking gorgeous she couldn’t hide it in all that stiff expensive tailoring. She glanced over her shoulder once to check he’d follow.
He laughed, louder than was sensible, and earned a sharp look from Nolan.
She didn’t want him for his ability to code a program or provide IT support. This was a bad idea, but the city was burning, so if the girl was on fire, he had a duty to put her out.
He followed her across the empty hotel conference room that should’ve had hundreds of happy shareholders in it, Nolan’s eyeballs stuck to his back. She made sure no one could interrupt or overhear them. She wasn’t in a socialising mood.
“Look Mason, you either want this or you don’t.” She spoke softly in that you will obey me voice, looked him dead in the eye, daring him to misinterpret.
He was hooked. He’d been snagged by her from the moment she’d stood at the front of that meeting room back at the office, explained the game plan and called him on not paying attention in front of nineteen other people. She didn’t care if she’d embarrassed him. He didn’t care enough to be embarrassed. But if he didn’t find his tongue now he’d lose his chance with her. And it wasn’t the most disciplined organ. It sat thick in his mouth and refused to move, or said inappropriate and ill-timed things that irritated people.
“Mace,” he said.
She frowned. “What?”
There it was, irritation—and he’d only said one word. “No one calls me Mason except Nolan, and he’s an idiot.” Which she was smart enough to know.
“Get too cute and I’ll start thinking this is a stupid idea.”
No point not saying it. “It’s a monumentally stupid idea.”
She let out a sigh, noisy with attitude. “That’s all you had to say.” She stepped around him to leave.
If he wanted her, he’d have to suck up the tough bitch programming. “I’ve got nothing else to do.”
She stopped. She was so straight-backed, so crisp in her movements, there was little left over for loveliness. She was military, her own parade. He was cannon fodder. If he did this, he’d get to see her without the armour, without the authority that kept her separate, like another species of woman, one without warmth or softness. He’d get to see her stripped of all that made her a corporate machine, the heiress apparent.
That alone was worth the snark.
She turned back, fixed him with a hard stare. “Changed your mind?”
He shrugged. “Why not?”
“Not good enough.”
He tried again. Used his words. “Maybe the world will end tomorrow.” Yesterday that comment would’ve earned him too cute points and he’d be going home alone. After what happened, the explosion, fire still raging outside, the cause unknown, police and emergency service workers using the hotel foyer as a briefing area, he’d scored a break.
“Why me?” Jacinta Wentworth could choose anyone she wanted, but it was risky choosing someone she worked with, even if two office towers and fifteen layers of authority separated them.
She raked his face with eyes so stunningly certain, so sure of what she wanted, he didn’t need her answer, but he got it. “Because you’re seriously hot.”
He laughed, too loud again, those words didn’t seem right coming from her mouth, and across the conference room Nolan scowled at him, a thousand censures radiating from under his monobrow. Mace was fraternising way above his pay grade and for that there’d be a slap on the wrist.
She stepped closer. “Because it’s been a long campaign, an awful day, we failed and I’m pissed off.” She gestured towards the street outside. “We don’t know what’s going on out there, an accident, a terrorist attack.” She shook her head at the horror of the idea. “And maybe an asteroid will smack down, cause a tsunami and the world will end tomorrow. If that’s the case, I’d like to go out with a bang. You look like you know how to handle that.” One hand went to her hip and he couldn’t stop his eyes going there too. “Good enough?”
He nearly laughed at her phrasing, but she was fierce with it, so he checked it in time. “Almost.”