The blood drained from Matt's head. He didn’t care what people said about him. He knew his personal life proved a great attraction for the staff, but he refused to let Kari become part of the office gossip train. "What? Who?"
"Hell, I could tell from the way you talked about her on the phone." Rob brushed his hand across the desk as if removing a non-existent piece of lint. "Then there was the look on her face this morning."
"What are you talking about?"
"She's attractive."
Matt tried to count to ten but couldn't even start without sputtering. "Rob, I swear I'm going to-"
"Here's her contact information." Rob pulled a piece of paper out of his shirt pocket and slid it across the desk to Matt. "As part of her contract, she's obligated to provide ongoing assistance to Coleman for six months. So, you lucky bastard, she has to take your call."
"What the…" The sinking feeling in Matt's stomach turned to a sucking void. "Are you matchmaking?"
"Doesn’t sound like me."
"Why did you really come out here?"
Rob shrugged. "To check on you. To offer her a job."
"And?"
"You’re paranoid." He tapped his finger on the paper with Kari's number. "You should see if she can help with that."
###
Kari could think of a thousand places she'd rather be than standing at the threshold to Matt's office. Lydia had called insisting there was an employee problem at Coleman and citing the clause in her contract that required Kari to return. She would have asked for a replacement to fill in, but explaining the delicate situation to her boss guaranteed her termination. He was not the rule-bending type. Since she planned to strike out on her own as soon as her business plan was in order, there was no reason to cause trouble now.
Trying to gain the advantage today, she'd arrived early and asked Lydia not to buzz Matt and let him know she was here. Standing there now, seeing his sleeves rolled up and his body bent over a thick file, she remembered the first time she'd met him. His eyes promised intelligence while his smile signaled something a bit naughtier.
Since she'd left him, a small almost invisible flame of hope had flickered inside her. She'd been desperate to believe he felt something more for her than a quick release for an unwanted erection. But three weeks had passed without so much as a text. The man accused her of sleeping her way to the top then pretended she didn’t exist.
She wanted to write him off as a loser who sucked the life out of women and deserved a slow, painful death by castration, but her heart refused to go there.
"You called about an employee issue," she said into the silent room without warning.
Matt jumped in his chair. "Kari."
She ignored the husky thread to his voice and the way his mouth kicked up in the corner as if he were happy to see her. Oh, no. She'd fallen for the handsome hottie routine once and was now immune. Or at least she'd promised she would pretend to be.
He waved to her as he got up from his chair. "Come in."
That was close enough. She intended to keep at least a half-room distance between them at all times. "I’d prefer to work out of the conference room. If you could just-"
"Shut the door, Kari."
The rumbling tone licked at her senses, but she beat down the attraction that refused to die. "I don’t work for you."
"Only because you turned down Rob's job offer."
She refused to defend her actions. That resolution lasted for all of two seconds as he stood there staring at her, his gaze dipping down the front of her silk blouse. "I turned it down when Rob offered it to me in New York and when he said it again before I left San Diego three weeks ago. I wasn't looking for a job here, except on a contract basis. Whatever he told you-"
Matt came around to the front of his desk and leaned against it. His legs stretched out, resting only inches from the edge of her open-toed pumps. "Let's try this again."
"That depends on whether you're going to interrupt me every time I speak."
He had the nerve to shrug. "Probably."
Her control expired. It was either leave the room or pound on his chest. She turned on her heel and headed for the door. "Goodbye, Matt."
"I have an employee problem that falls squarely within your contract."
At the rise in his voice, she stopped. She was a professional. She could handle this. She would handle this.
She slammed the door shut and faced him again. "Fine. What's the issue?"
"This man, he acted like a complete ass."
She held her briefcase in front of her like a shield. If he said the wrong thing, she just might smack him with it. "I'll need more details. I can start with interviews of everyone involved."
"There were only two people. The ass and this amazing woman he treated like crap."
Something in his voice, in the way his head dropped to the side, clued her in. "What did-"
"He let his ego get bunched up and hurt her."
Her gaze shifted to his hands. He clenched the edge of the desk hard enough to turn his knuckles white. His voice sounded steady but everything else about him stiffened, even the muscles in his face tensed. "Matt, I don't-"
"He had feelings for her and he panicked. He latched on to an innocent comment made by his boss and decided she'd deceived him. See, this guy had never dated a woman at work before." Matt shot her a sad smile. "He wasn't exactly smooth this time around."
His words came at her in an echo. They registered in her brain, but the fog surrounding her pulsed until it shut out everything else.
When she didn’t say anything, he cleared his throat and continued. "But he fell for this woman, so the idea she might be using him sent him spinning."
"He should try a little communication." She mumbled the response, not sure what else to say or how much to believe. Every word fanned that stupid, tiny flicker of hope until the flame burst to life again.
"In his defense, he tried but the lady in question ran before he could apologize and explain."
She stood up straight, letting him know he had to fight if he wanted to win this one. He couldn't say a few words and make it all better. He needed to take responsibility. "I didn’t run."
He pushed away from the desk and stood in front of her. They didn’t touch but she saw the lines of stress around his mouth and the uncertainty in those bright blue eyes.
"You didn’t stick around either," he said.
The accusation kicked hard against her heart. A rush of denials and defenses filled her brain, but she let them fall away. When he had launched into his madness three weeks ago she could have shaken him, called, made him listen, but she wanted him to just know she was innocent without her having to say it. Part of her knew that wasn't quite fair.
She swallowed a lump of pride. "I guess I have to own that."
Those rough lines smoothed and he took her hands in his. "I apologize for being a dick."
"You were that."
He lifted on of her hands to his mouth and kissed each knuckle. "I'm sorry for leaving you alone in that hotel room."
The memory snuck up on her and pummeled her all over again. "That sucked."
"But mostly I apologize for not coming to you and telling you the truth." He pressed a warm kiss on the palm of her hand.
She fought back a shiver and concentrated on his words. "Which is?"
He lifted her arms and put them around her neck, bringing her body tight against his. "I don’t know what we have here, but I know it's not going away just because we have a manual that spells out how and when we can date."
Light flooded through her. The memory of all those pathetic hours of wondering what she'd done wrong vanished. "I still don’t work for you."
"Meaning?"
Her fingers slipped through his hair. "It's not a violation for us to see each other."
"I'm hoping that means you want to."
"Well, someone has to keep you from slipping into giant ass mode. I have a feeling it's a full-time job." She press
ed on his head to get his mouth close to hers.
"One that requires round-the-clock monitoring." He whispered the words against her lips.
"What woman could resist that?"
She barely got the question out before his mouth slipped over hers. The slow kiss burned through her. She'd missed this. He answered a desperate need she didn’t even know she'd had. Touching him, feeling his hands and mouth all over her, filled her with a confidence and settled happiness that the long hours on the road failed to provide. When he broke off the kiss, her heart continued its wild beat.
Short of breath with his hands sliding up and down her back, he rested his forehead against hers. "What about the distance? You live a few hours away."
"My work is portable. The bigger question is what your staff will say."
His hand slipped under her waistband. "Probably that it's about time I found a good woman."
"And Rob?"
"Trust me. That's not a problem."
Matt had an answer for everything. The idea he had been thinking about her, plotting while he was without her, washed away the rest of her worries. "So, now what?"
"I believe we have an unfinished date." His fingers went to the tiny white buttons on her shirt. He slipped one after the other through their holes until her shirt hung open to the waist.
She felt a brush against her camisole then her breasts were free and in his hands. "We'll never make it to the hotel, but your desk chair looks pretty sturdy."
"I thought there was a rule against that sort of thing." He pressed a trail of kisses down her neck as he spoke.
"You know what they say about breaking the rules."
He lifted his head long enough to smile down at her. "Lock the door."
###
About The Author:
National bestselling and award-winning author HelenKay Dimon is a former divorce attorney (in her head she’s a “recovering attorney”) who now writes romance full time. She is thrilled to create love stories for a living rather than end them…though her characters can be as difficult as real people. Two of her novels have been named “Red-Hot Reads” by Cosmopolitan Magazine and excerpted in its issues. Her books have been featured at numerous venues, including E! Online and The Chicago Tribune, and have been published by Doubleday Book Club and Rhapsody Book Club and translated into a dozen languages. Other than her readers, the best part of her job is the commute, which consists of going from one side of the house to the other. You can visit her website at http://helenkaydimon.com for a list of digital and print releases.
Other digital-only releases by HelenKay Dimon:
A Proper Seduction, Samhain Publishing (May 2010)
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A Walk on the Wild Side release
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Portia Da Costa
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