by Anna Durand
Without looking up, he smiled. "Yes, ma'am, Miss O'Shea."
"You are completely impossible." Remembering something I'd meant to give him, I opened a desk drawer and pulled out the item. "Almost forgot your uniform."
"Uniform?"
I tossed the plastic-wrapped shirt to him.
He caught it. "Ah, yes. I did notice all your employees wear these shirts."
"You'll need to wear beige pants, but we don't provide those." I eyed his incredibly muscular arms. "Hope the shirt is big enough. It's the largest size we have, but we've never hired a brawny Highlander before."
"No kilts allowed, I'm guessing."
"Sorry, no. Beige pants only."
He tore open the plastic and brought out the uniform shirt. The wrapping fluttered to the floor. Whipping off the shirt he was wearing, he donned the royal-blue one emblazoned with the store logo and spread his arms wide. "What do you think?"
The fabric of the shirt stretched taut when he flexed all those muscles. I forgot what he'd just asked me, too distracted by thoughts of those arms belted around my naked body.
"How do I look?" he said, pronouncing each syllable with extreme precision.
"What? Huh?" I ripped my focus away from his chest. "Looks like it fits okay."
He linked his hands behind his head and leaned back. "Think I'm going to like working under you, Miss O'Shea."
Ignoring the innuendo in his voice, I rolled my chair closer to my desk and opened the accounting software on my computer. For ten minutes, I tried to concentrate on entering yesterday's receipts. After the fourth time I screwed up and had to start over, I gave up.
Rising, I cleared my throat to get Evan's attention. "Can I trust you to behave if I leave you alone for a while?"
"Behave? Me?" He pointed at his chest, his expression one of faux innocence. "I'll be the best employee you've ever had under you, Miss O'Shea."
"Making a suggestive statement is not behaving, Mr. MacTaggart."
"Is it my fault you have a dirty mind? I meant I work under you because I'm your employee. You are my superior." He tsked. "Try to keep your mind on business. I wouldn't want to have to file a sexual harassment complaint."
"Uh-huh." I laid a hand on my computer monitor. "Do not use my computer or the phone while I'm gone. If I come back to discover you have ordered me a yacht, I will fire you no matter how cute and sexy you are."
He grinned. "I'm cute and sexy? That's definitely harassment. Shame on you, Miss O'Shea."
"I will be on the floor if you need anything."
The infuriating man made a hungry noise deep in his throat. "Haven't had ye on the floor yet."
"The sales floor. It means I'll be walking around out there." I made a vague gesture in the direction of the main store area if we could've seen it through the walls. "Read the manual while I'm gone."
"Aye-aye, Miss O'Shea."
"Be—" I'd almost told him to behave again, but he would've liked that. "Just read the damn manual."
He skated his hands down his thighs and back up to his groin. "I'm looking forward to being under you all day long, but you'll be under me after hours."
Maybe he was the one in need of taming.
With that thought in my mind, I headed for the door. As I closed my hand around the knob, Evan spoke.
"Don't eat before you come to me this evening. I'll buy you dinner."
I walked out the door.
Chapter Eighteen
Evan
Keely had canceled our date last night, the one she wouldn't call a date, claiming she was too tired. I'd been a little jet-lagged myself, despite sleeping during the entire flight, so I let her get away with canceling. She probably needed time to come to terms with the fact I was not giving up on her. I'd give her one more night alone before I started my campaign to tame her fears and win her heart.
How did a man do that? My cousins were the only examples I had, but each of them had taken a bumpy road to happiness. Bumpy? Their roads had been full of land mines they planted in their own paths. They might not be the best role models for my relationship with Keely.
Tuesday was my first full day as an undercover agent. Spending eight hours working under Keely made me want to get under her in other ways too. Ten days without touching her, without feeling her naked skin on mine, had threatened to turn me into a bampot of the first order. Never before had I craved a woman the way I craved her. It was more than sex, though. I wanted to devour her because she was the most stubborn, intelligent, and exciting woman I'd ever met.
I liked seeing other sides of her. The assistant manager who treated her employees like her own brood of chicks enchanted me as much as the bossy woman who loved to tell me to behave. I looked forward to experiencing every side of her, and I suspected I had a lot more to learn about Keely O'Shea. I understood I'd have to tell her about myself too. She wouldn't open up to me unless I did the same.
After work, I drove back to my motel. My cousin Iain called, distracting me from my preparation for Keely's arrival. He teased me about my new "girlfriend," and I let him. Sometimes it was easier to accommodate my cousins than to try to make them stop harassing me. I considered tormenting Iain in return but decided I hadn't reached that level of family engagement yet.
I had just stepped out of the shower when someone knocked on the door. Wrapping a towel around my hips, I hurried to the door and swung it open.
All the blood rushed to my cock.
Keely wore the dress from Paris, the deep-green one that made her creamy skin look creamier and her stunning eyes seem an even more intense shade of green. The low neckline and spaghetti straps left large expanses of her soft skin exposed. The high hem brushed her thighs. She'd worn the same stiletto heels she'd had on in Paris. I wanted to grab the knot that nestled between her breasts and yank it hard to tear the dress from her body.
Like I had back then, I imagined pinning her to the wall and lifting one of those slender ankles to hook her leg around my hip while I thrust into her.
Keely swept her gaze up and down my body. "I thought you'd be dressed."
"You caught me getting out of the shower."
"I can see that." Her attention shifted to the towel covering my hips and part of my thighs. "Guess the motel doesn't have Scotsman-size towels."
"No, they don't." I stepped back. "Come inside, Keely."
Ahhh, but I did mean that in every way.
She sashayed over the threshold and leaned back against the wall beside it.
I shut the door and caged her with my arms, my hands on the wall at either side of her head. "I'm glad you're here."
"You're having inappropriate thoughts, aren't you? I'm here to talk and have dinner with you. It's not a date, simply a get-together."
"It's a date, Keely." I fingered one of her spaghetti straps. "You're wearing the Paris dress, which means you came here to defile me."
"Oh please. I was not looking for sex the first time I wore this dress."
"Maybe not, but we did have sex. I don't believe you have no idea what message this dress sends." I hooked my finger under the strap and skimmed it up and down her skin. "You want me to take your body, then take you to dinner."
She lifted her chin. "You can think what you like, but for me, this is not a date. Do you want to talk or not?"
"We usually talk after sex, but I'll let you have it your way this time."
"There is no usual between us. We are not a couple."
I couldn't help laughing softly. She was the most obstinate woman. "Already agreed that we can have a conversation first. You don't accept victory well, do you?"
"Never can be sure I've really won an argument with you. You're sneaky."
"I'm not sneaky. I'm clever and a master negotiator."
"And oh-so-humble too."
"Where's the value in being humble? Nobody knows how good you are unless you tell them."
She must've guessed based on my sligh
t smirk that I was having her on because a slight smile of her own tightened her lips. With one finger, she gestured toward my towel. "Are you going to put some clothes on?"
"After we talk." I stepped back and dropped the towel. "Unless nudity bothers you. It didn't back in Scotland, but maybe you've gotten uptight since then."
She waved a hand in a negligent gesture. "Stay naked. I like ogling you."
I ambled to the bed and hopped onto it, bouncing and making the frame creak. Shifting sideways, I made room for her and patted the mattress. "Come, Keely."
"Now you're talking to me like I'm a dog?" She kicked her shoes off and climbed onto the bed beside me. "Woof."
She panted loudly with her tongue hanging out.
I slapped her thigh. "Behave, Keely."
Her lips quirked into a sly smile. "I will if you will."
"Let's both misbehave. Often."
Her smile faded. "I've already misbehaved with you in ways I never thought I would do with anyone. Not sure if that's a good thing."
Disappointment erased my smile too. She wasn't sure if I was a bad influence on her, that's what her statement implied. I wanted to be good for her, good to her, but she couldn't seem to shake her fears of getting hurt again. "Tell me what your exes did to make you so afraid."
Her head fell back against the wall, and her whole body wilted. "Guess I better start at the beginning."
I slipped my hand around hers on her lap.
She curled her fingers around mine. Her gaze was aimed at the far wall, but her focus seemed to have retreated into a place only she could see. "In my junior year of college, I met David. He was beautiful and sexy and the guitarist for a local rock band. I went to college in Albuquerque, so this was the glamorous big city for me, and I was in awe of everything metropolitan. Like a silly little groupie, I followed David to all his gigs to scream and clap. I was head over heels for him. When he asked me to marry him after two months together, I said yes. My parents were not thrilled, but they let me make my own mistakes. His parents hated me."
"How could anyone hate you? They must've been eejits."
"They weren't idiots, but they were snobs."
I was impressed she'd figured out "eejits" without asking, but then, she was an incredibly clever woman.
She sighed and closed her eyes. "David's parents thought I was trailer trash, told me so to my face. I pointed out I have never lived in a trailer in all my life, but they didn't care. I wasn't good enough for their little darling. David married me anyway. Everything was good for a few months—until he changed."
Keely lapsed into silence for several seconds.
Though I wanted to ask questions to prod her along, I held myself back. She needed to tell me in her own time.
"He wanted to be a rock star," she said. "When he announced he was moving to LA to pursue his dream, I assumed he would ask me to go with him. Instead, he announced he wanted a divorce."
"The bod ceann abandoned you?" I wanted to hunt down her first ex-husband and throttle him.
"What did you call him?"
"A dickhead, in Gaelic."
Her mouth started to tick upward, but the expression faltered. "I should've known better than to marry a guy for sex and rock 'n roll."
"You must have loved him."
"It's pathetic but true. I loved the bod ceann." She pulled in a long breath, blew it out, and sat up straighter. "A year later, I found out he'd married someone else and they had a baby. Last year, after my second divorce, I got maudlin and googled David. Turns out he and his wife own a music school and have three children. Sounds like they're happy."
Her tone was so miserable I longed to drag her into my arms and kiss her until she stopped thinking about the past. "You don't know how happy they are. What you've seen is the surface, the bits they choose to share with the world."
"I know, but it's not like I want David to be unhappy."
"Of course you don't. You're a kind person."
"Kind of bossy, you mean."
I hooked a finger under her chin and turned her face toward me. "I like your bossiness, you know that. It's not a fault. It's part of what makes you Keely O'Shea."
"My parents made me Keely O'Shea. They picked the name."
"Be quiet. I'm trying to pay you a compliment."
Her lips twitched, but she seemed unwilling to smile yet. "Go on, Mr. MacTaggart. Pay me a compliment. Make it a good one, though. As soon as you're done, I'm going to tell you another pitiful story."
"Well, in that case, I'm thinking actions might do better than words."
I caught her face in my hands and gazed into her green irises, wondering if she might understand how much I thought of her if I stared long enough and deep enough into her eyes. The tension in her body eased, and she angled in a touch. I brushed my thumbs over her lips. They parted in response, and she angled in more, her eyes fluttering half closed.
"Keely," I murmured, "you are the most enchanting woman I've ever met. And I've traveled the world, met more kinds of women than most men will see in their lifetimes. You are exceptional in every way, far more than any of the silly girls who want to bed a billionaire or the married women who think they can make me their sex toy. You have a keen mind, a loving heart, and a strong will. You know who you are and what you can offer, and you never try to be something else. That's what makes you Keely O'Shea, the most incredible woman in the world."
Her lids popped open. "Holy shit, Evan."
"What? Did I say something wrong? I'm not the best with words, at least when it comes to expressing feelings. I'm sor—"
Her delicate fingers sealed my lips, silencing my apology. Her mouth curved into a sweet smile that made my chest ache in the strangest way.
"Don't apologize," she whispered. "What you said was perfect. Nobody has ever described me that way before, and I can't even think of words strong enough to express how much it means to me that you feel that way." She removed her fingers from my mouth. "Thank you, Evan."
"I spoke the truth, nothing more."
"Oh, it was a lot more." She crawled onto my lap, straddling me, and splayed her hands on my chest. "You are much more than a billionaire CEO. You are hands-down the smartest man I've ever met, you're sweet and thoughtful, sexy and demanding, but most of all you are one of a kind. I want to know you better. Considering the story I shared with you, I think it's time you shared something of equal value with me."
I had agreed to talking, and if I wanted her to trust me and concede we were dating, I had to share my past with her. I cleared my throat and tried to sit up straighter, but that only rubbed her body against parts of mine that wanted more of her.
She poked my chest with one finger. "Speak, Evan. I can't read your thoughts."
I groaned. "You know what that tone of voice does to me. How am I meant to reveal painful secrets when I'm hard as steel?"
"No more procrastinating. Tell me." She raked her nails down my skin. "If you answer one question for me, I'll do you right here and now." She curled the tip of her tongue over her front teeth, gliding it back and forth. "I'll do it with my mouth."
Keely's mouth. Around my cock. As if I hadn't been hard enough already, my dick shot stiffer than a flagpole.
I dug my fingers into the covers. "What's your question?"
"Are you ever going to tell me about your secret project?"
"Eventually."
"But not tonight." She analyzed me in silence, tapping her fingernails on my chest. "Okay, we can shelve that question for later. Here's another one. Why don't you get along with your mother?"
Though in my head I snarled a slew of Gaelic curses, I managed to stay calm on the outside when I answered. "My mother has been keeping a secret from me all my life. Even though I'm a grown man, she still won't tell me."
"How do you know there's something to know if it's a secret?"
"It's simple." I exhaled a long, heavy sigh. "I have no idea who my father is."
Chapter Nineteen
Keely
I searched his eyes for some clue to his mood since his expression had gone flat, but I couldn't find anything in his silvery irises either. At last, he'd shared something with me, but I sensed there was a lot more to the story. I itched to ask more questions. I didn't want to be too nosy. Since I had him talking, I needed to let him continue at his own speed the way he'd done with me. Tonight, here in this motel room, I felt closer to Evan than I ever had with anyone.
The hairs on my arms lifted, prickling my skin. I could not be falling for him. I didn't want to. Feeling close to him didn't mean I'd gotten attached to him. Still, the idea of getting attached to him didn't frighten me as much as it had a week ago.
Evan's expression softened, and he touched my cheek. "Go on. Ask your questions. I know you're dying to interrogate me, and I never want you to hold back because you're afraid I won't like it. Even if I don't like the question you ask, I always want you to feel free to ask it. Understand?"
"I think so. Thank you."
He settled his hands on my hips. "Ask away."
"Why won't your mother tell you who your father is? Isn't his name on your birth certificate?"
"There is no father's name on my birth certificate. My mother claimed she didn't know his name, but I realize now that was a lie. She knows. She doesn't want to tell anyone, not even me."
"I can't imagine not knowing something like that. It must be awful."
He shrugged. "It's been this way all my life. Other children cared more than I did about my family situation."
"What do you mean?"
"They taunted me. Called me names, all the things children do to be hurtful. It wasn't so much that my parents didn't marry, but more that I had no father. They called me an alien and said I was strange because my father came from Mars. That was the kindest thing they said." He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. "It's part of why I was quiet as a lad. I still don't speak unless I have something worthwhile to say, though my cousins have been doing their best to cure me of that habit."
"You talk about your cousins a lot."