Page 26 of The Billionaire's Vow

Dimitri had to bite back a laugh.

Damn, he liked that simmering fire in her.

She wasn’t timid now.She wasn’t hesitant.She looked like she was ready to start a war — and he found it far more appealing than he should have.

She’d been beautiful before.

But glowing with righteous anger, Giselle Carrington was glorious.

And he had the sudden, undeniable urge to push her even further… just to see how brightly she burned.

"Why don’t you wear it if you like it so much," she snapped, planting her fists on her hips like she was about to lead a rebellion."And I don’t want my role changed.I like my job, and I’m very good at it."

Dimitri barely managed to keep his face straight.This woman had no idea who she was challenging.

Dimitri fought off the inappropriate grin.The image of her bent over his lap was almost enough to distract him from the far more inappropriate thoughts that had already taken hold—thoughts of bending her over his desk, flipping up that god-awful blue skirt, and discovering just how loud he could make her moan.

Focus.

"I’m shifting you to head up a new investigative team," he explained, fighting to keep his voice level.He had thought about this last night—well, in between other, more interesting, thoughts—and knew it was the best move."You won’t just be working for this company.You’ll be in charge of looking for theft inallof my companies."

He watched as excitement sparked in her eyes, lighting them up in a way that made his chest tighten.There it was.

"You’ll need to travel with me," he added casually, waiting for her reaction.

As he expected, she stiffened like he’d just told her to run into a burning building.For a moment, he caught a glimpse of the vibrant, unstoppable woman lurking beneath all those layers of control, but then—just as quickly—she shut it down.

The light in her eyes died.

Dimitri felt the shift immediately, and it pissed him off.

"I can do the research from my office, thank you very much," she said primly, crossing her arms.

"Not good enough," he shot back, standing up and stepping forward, narrowing the distance between them.

He refused to let her hide from this.

"I saw the stack of invoices on your desk last night," he continued."You’ll need to compare them against the shipping container labels and the manifests.The only way to know for sure that the number of boxes or items in a shipment matches what was received is if you’re actually there."He caught the way her lips parted slightly, the flicker of hesitation as she realized he was right."Plus, you’ll need to verify the contents of the boxes at the retail stores."He took another step toward her, enjoying the way her breath hitched."That’s going to require a lot of traveling."

"That sounds… incredible, but I can’t travel, sir.I have… obligations here."

“Family obligations?”

Dimitri studied her, waiting for the confirmation.Sure enough, after a brief hesitation, she nodded slowly.

"Yes, sir," she said, but this time, she immediately winced.

Dimitri didn’t even bother to hide his amusement, grinning openly at her.

She knew what she had done.

She backed up a step, suddenly wary, her hands twitching like she was fighting the urge to cover her mouth…or her behind.But the moment of uncertainty didn’t last long.She squared her shoulders, lifted her chin, and glared at him defiantly.

Damn, she was sexy when she was pissed.

"We’ll work out the details later," he said smoothly, clearing his throat.

Not “if” she traveled with him.When.