Show Me, Baby

2

Anna

When I fell out of the pitch-black box I’d been locked inside for the past twenty or so minutes, I was angrier than I could ever remember being. It was rare for me to lose my temper, but the sexy magician riled me up unlike any other. I wasn’t entirely sure what it was about him that rubbed me the wrong way except the fact that I couldn’t get sex out of my head any time I looked at him. Which was a big shock, considering how I felt about celebrities.

He hadn’t even done anything to annoy me…until now. It had felt like forever in that small, dark space, but I held on by reminding myself over and over again that Julian only had one more trick to go before he ended the show, so I wouldn’t be stuck in the box forever. The last thing I’d expected when I regained my freedom was to find myself in Julian’s spacious dressing room. I’d been doing my best to avoid him ever since I started working at the Lennox, and I’d been smart not to trust my reaction to him. Because here I was, letting him kiss me senseless after the stunt he’d just pulled.

I allowed myself to enjoy the feel of his lips against mine as our tongues tangled together for another minute before I pulled away and hissed, “What in the world were you thinking by pulling me out of the audience like that and leaving me trapped in a box all by myself without any way to get out?”

He ran his hand through his dark hair, dropping his head low to stare at the floor while he got himself under control. When his gaze met mine again, the passion in his green eyes was tempered by guilt and concern. “I’m sorry. My mind was so focused on being able to stop you from running in the opposite direction before I could get close that I didn’t stop to think about how you might react to being boxed in until I could get back to you. Are you okay?”

I was tempted to teach him a lesson by telling him I was claustrophobic or something, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Not when I still had the taste of his kiss in my mouth and felt the slight burn his dark scruff had left behind. “I’ll be fine, but you can’t go around kidnapping me just because you want to talk to me.”

“That wasn’t the only reason,” he growled.

I threw my hands up in the air. “You’re not making any sense. What else could have made you do it?”

He yanked me close, and I pressed my hands against his rock-hard chest to regain my balance. “That asshat who was sitting next to you.”

Asshat?

What asshat?

“Oh, do you mean Mike?” I rolled my eyes. “He’s just the co-worker who got stuck with the assignment of taking me to see your performance.”

He shook his head, his eyes narrowing. “Trust me, Anna. The asshat didn’t feel the least bit stuck when he was sitting next to you in the audience.”

I pushed against his chest, and my heart raced when his hold on me tightened before he dropped his arms and took a step back. “You’re being ridiculous. You don’t even know Mike.”

“I don’t need to know the man to recognize he wants you.” Julian’s fists clenched so tight at his sides that his knuckles whitened. “I saw how he looked at you, the way he tried to get close.”

“I…you…I…” I sputtered, trying to wrap my head around the possibility that he’d been jealous enough of a co-worker I barely knew to have me hauled off the stage in a locked box. When it felt as though my brain might actually explode, I demanded, “I’m leaving. You’re not going to follow me. And you’re never ever going to lock me in a box again. Got it?”

“I’ll let you go…for now.” He stalked over to the door and flipped the lock. Before he opened it, he murmured, “In the future, there’s no need for anyone to accompany you to one of my shows. You’ll watch from my private box, sweetheart.”

I didn’t trust myself to speak, so I kept my lips pressed together as I squeezed past him to get through the door. The sound of his masculine laughter rang in my ears as I stormed off. I kept replaying what had just happened in my head and was furious again by the time I reached the security office. I stomped my foot in frustration when Knox Dawson’s secretary informed me that he wasn’t back from his wife’s concert yet.

She kept her eye on me as I paced back and forth while muttering under my breath and gesturing with my hands. A few minutes later, she made a call and told me it would only be another fifteen minutes before Knox returned. I practically wore a hole in the carpet in front of Knox’s desk waiting for him. I was beyond worked up again when Knox finally walked into his office.