“It’s me,” he said, impatience sliding into his voice. “What do you need?”
He didn’t miss her brief hesitation, and he fully expected her next words to be “never mind.” But this was Mycah.
“My computer just made this weird buzzing noise, then the screen did this even weirder staticky thing. I rebooted it, and now I can’t find the most recent copy of the document I was working on. And I’m trying not to panic.”
Trying and failing, because he clearly caught the thread of it in her voice.
“I’ll be right up.”
“Wait.”
He paused, listening to her agitated breath over the line. “What?”
“You can’t...” She emitted a sound that landed somewhere between a cough and a groan. “...you can’t just tell me how to fix it over the phone?”
“No, I can’t.” He barely managed to swallow his snort. “What’s the matter, Mycah? You have a problem being in the same space with me?”
“Of course not,” she snapped. This time he didn’t bother containing the snort. “Fine. See you when you get here.”
The line went dead, and for a moment, he continued to hold the receiver to his ear. A grim smile curved his mouth.
He must be a glutton for punishment.
Because he could most definitely accomplish the task remotely, and with any other employee, he would’ve fixed her problem that way. But at the thought of seeing her, slivers of excitement stirred to life in his chest for the first time in two weeks.
Definitely a glutton.
Achilles ground his teeth together as he tried to focus on the computer monitor in front of him. And not on the woman behind him. Which was damn difficult to do when her lavender-and-cedar scent taunted him with what he’d once tasted but could never allow himself to have again.
Next time, he didn’t care if he had to text her a PowerPoint. He wasn’t coming up here to this office.
“What’re you doing again?” she asked, leaning over her his shoulder.
Not breathing wasn’t an option. Dammit. “Locating your autorecovery folder to see if your documents are in there.” His fingers flew across her keyboard. It sounded simple, but there were multiple steps required. He worked in silence, and in minutes found the folder. “What are the names of the files?”
Mycah pressed closer, her lush hip brushing his arm. He locked down a growl and forced himself not to flinch from the glancing touch that had lust blazing a path straight to his cock.
Employee. She was his employee now.
Off-limits.
Besides, she’d made it perfectly clear that their night together had been an aberration. For him, it had been, too. Because he’d been looking for a one-night stand and instead it’d ended up being the most intimate, emotional connection he’d had with someone in a very long time. And if that wasn’t sad as fuck, then he didn’t know what beat it.
Sadder still because he couldn’t wrangle control over this need for her, even knowing she was a liar.
And not because she preferred to keep their relationship professional.
He hadn’t misled her when he’d said he understood her reasons. He also hadn’t meant to reveal all that he had about his mother, yet it didn’t change the fact that he did get it.
No, she was a liar about thewhy.
And thewhywas always the most important.
“Damn, you are good,” she breathed. “Those right there.” She tapped the monitor. “‘Release Policies and Procedures.’ ‘Operations Agenda Quarter One. Grisham Inc.’” She exhaled and it ended on a short burst of laughter. “Thank you, Achilles. I was a nervous wreck thinking I would have to re-create all of those files.”
“You’re welcome.” He quickly pulled up the documents, then opened and saved them. “You should be fine now.”
Shoving back her chair, he rose, but a small, delicate hand on his forearm might as well as have been a steel manacle, it stopped him that effectively. He stared down at that slim, long-fingered hand with its neatly polished nails. Branded. The heat, the intensity—it dug past flesh and seemed to scar. He fully expected to see the imprint of her palm on his skin when she removed her hand.
