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He pulled into the parking lot of the Golden Hand and hopped out of his truck far too eagerly. As soon as he crossed the barrier between casino and corporate offices, a security guard stepped in his path. Thank God he had the proposal packet from MotoTek in his truck. And thank God he could fast-talk his way past the glowering, pot-bellied old man—who fingered his Taser with way too much enthusiasm—and into the casino with only a minimal nod to the fact that he looked more like a failed white wannabe rapper than George Clooney right now.
Second floor. Fourth door on the left, the guard had told him grudgingly. The upstairs offices were clustered along a narrow hallway lined with potted ficus trees and floored in Oriental carpet so old it had probably been woven at the height of the Chinese opium trade.
Her office door was closed but the blinds over the glass-windowed door were open. She sat bowed over a broad mahogany desk, taking handwritten notes in a ledger. Banks of security monitors lined the wall behind her desk. Even on a Saturday she was in a neat, well-fitted suit, the skirt and jacket in a misty silver that offset her dark blouse. Her hair was twisted up in a messy bun, and she had those naughty librarian glasses on agai
n.
He pushed the door open without knocking. “Good morning, Cinderella.”
Her head snapped up. For a moment she stared at him, naked shock flashing through her eyes, her color high. Then she set her pen down and reclined in her high-backed chair, glacial calm falling over her like a cloak. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“You left your shoes in my room.”
“I noticed halfway down the hallway.” Her gaze flicked to his empty hands. “I see you didn’t bring them back.”
“I didn’t. They didn’t match my jeans.”
She laced her fingers together on the desk, her mouth twitching as if she bit back a smile. “What do you want this time, Thomas?”
Thomas didn’t answer until he’d closed the door behind him. He leaned against the wall next to it and folded his arms over his chest. She might want to act as if she wasn’t interested in him, but he knew differently. And there was no way in hell he was falling for the act.
“I want an honest answer,” he said.
She sighed. “To what?”
“Why you ran out on me last night.”
Another sigh. “Let’s not delude ourselves, Mr. Jones.” She picked up her pen and began writing in the ledger again. When she spoke, it was a dismissive murmur, distracted. “I know exactly why you brought me to your room.”
“Do you?”
“Yes. I’m not sure if it’s MotoTek’s policy to include seduction as part of the contract perks, but if it is, I’m sure you’ve just earned your annual bonus.” A disdainful little shrug tightened the shoulders of her jacket. “It was a nice bonus for me, if nothing else.”
The world bottomed out beneath him. His stomach twisted and his face heated. Tension was a noose locking his arms to his body, rigid. “Is that what you think? That they pimp me out to clients?”
“Is there any reason to think otherwise?”
His tension snapped. He shoved away from the wall and stepped closer to her desk. “Is that why you slept with me?”
“Does it matter?”
“Yes,” he snarled.
She blinked and glanced up at him over the rim of her glasses. “Why?”
“Because I don’t win contracts with my dick. I win contracts by being smarter than the competition. By being good at it.”
“I never said you weren’t good at your job,” she said quietly. “Just that you had a motive for bringing me back to your place.”
Thomas frowned and studied her. There was a subtle tremor to her hands, a whiteness to her lips. She was more upset than she let on. Much more upset. “Why can’t it be simple? Why can’t it be something as simple as a man finding a woman attractive and wanting to spend the night with her?”
Her eyes narrowed. “If it were that simple, you wouldn’t have manipulated me into it.”
“Manipulated—” He couldn’t even finish the sentence. He stared at her. At the tight set of her jaw, the defiant tilt of her chin, the hard sheen of her eyes. “I gave you a chance to leave. You didn’t take it. If you were unwilling—”
He stopped when she averted her eyes from him sharply and muttered, “I wasn’t unwilling.”
“Then why am I the villain because we had a mutually enjoyable one-night stand?”
