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She held off the shiver because he didn’t need to know he’d affected her that way. He shouldn’t be affecting her that way. Her armor—the shield she easily employed with other men—seemed to soften far too easily when he was around.
“Business,” she repeated. “We have to make more progress on the leak. The news broke on Monday. It’s Thursday morning. I’m no closer to plugging the blabbermouth than I was then.”
She’d done a considerable amount of digging this morning on her own and had found a couple of promising leads. Right before Gage had arrived, she’d ordered the most high-level background check money could buy on every last employee in this company. But he didn’t have to know that. In reality, she didn’t want him anywhere near her files or embroiled in a real discussion about her strategy.
His job was to tell her what his connection was to the leak. What strings he was pulling. Which angles he was playing. She needed to uncover every last secret, especially when he looked at her like he was right now, like he wanted to finish what he’d started last night in the gazebo.
Because as soon as she handed him over to the authorities, then she could remind herself with cold hard facts that he was the spawn of Satan. Somehow she kept forgetting that.
“It’s a problem,” he agreed far too easily.
Suspicious of his capitulation, she nodded. “Right. We find the leak and then we can think about pursuing a...personal relationship.”
She caressed the term with her voice as suggestively as she could. She had to regain the upper hand.
“Oh, no, sweetheart,” he growled. “You have it all backward. That orgasm last night? Only the beginning of what’s in store for you. For both of us. It’s an absolute necessity that we start there and then worry about the leak.”
His heavy, masculine vibe snaked through the room, engulfing her. Tempting her down the wrong path, where she craved that pleasure, that connection more than anything else. “That makes no sense.”
His intense gaze zeroed in on her and she felt it deep inside, where he’d thoroughly woken up her latent sex drive. He didn’t move, didn’t touch her, and somehow that was more powerful than if he had.
“It’s the only thing that makes sense. We’re not going to get anything accomplished until this fire between us is extinguished. Admit it. You know it’s true.”
She hated to say it...but he might have a point. Worse, she couldn’t think of one solid argument against it, but she had to try as a matter of principle. “That’s your logic? We’re not disciplined enough to work together so we should just screw around instead?”
He didn’t flinch. “If you want logic, then do it for the best reason of all. You want to. And I want you, Cassandra.”
His deep voice caressed her name, unleashing another wave of desire that grew very hard to contain. This was a seduction, plain and simple, but she’d lost track of who was seducing whom. Besides, dragging it out wouldn’t change things. It was just sex. She wasn’t going to fall for him again. Why deny herself what she wanted?
Maybe she’d failed thus far to get him to admit anything incriminating because she really needed to get him naked first. Naked and sated.
“I dug up some paper archives from Harper’s research over the past few years that have names of the employees attached to each stage of the development. Can we at least pretend to do some work tonight?” she asked as the compelling force of his smile nearly drew her into his space, magnetically, like she’d transformed into a pile of metal pins straining toward him.
“Sure. If that’s what turns you on, I’m game.”
“Be at my place at seven.” Her turf, her rules. And there was no way she’d let him get to her like he’d done last night. Ruthless detachment was the only way. “I’ll bring the files and you bring the drinks since you’re such a big baby about wine. I have until tomorrow to report progress back to the other executives. So we definitely have to do some work.”
Hopefully she’d discover she did her best work between the sheets.
He grinned and saluted. “Wear something sexy and I’ll read every one of those files word for word.”
She’d removed all the proprietary information from the files and her employee’s names were posted on the company website, so she had no qualms about sharing that information with him. With enough incentive, he might slip up and clue her in that he recognized one of the names. “It’s a deal.”
