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“That’s because you wanted me to.”
“I did no such thing.”
Jake rested his palm on the table edge and leaned down. “Yes, you did. Those pretty eyes of yours were scanning my entire body while you worked that lower lip nearly raw.” He ran his free thumb over said lip and she gasped. “What was it you were thinking so hard about, I wonder?”
“How to get rid of you,” she said, but there was an edge to her voice that made Jake’s skin prick. Okay, he could play this game. Competition was one thing, but Laura was frustrated, in more ways than one. And he may not be high on her let’s-be-buds list, but he was going to try to at least indulge her however she’d let him.
“How to get rid of my clothes, maybe,” he countered. “You’re not discreet when it comes to things you need.”
“What I need is a key to the flower shop, which you still haven’t given me.”
“That’s not all you need.”
She pursed her lips and looked up at him. “And I’m sure you’re going to tell me what it is I need now, huh?”
He gave her his best guaranteed-to-melt-panties grin and leaned a little closer until he could smell her neck. “I felt what you needed . . . right before you left my house.”
The woman was hard up, that much was obvious. Maybe he was coming on strong, but he didn’t care. Logic and reason left his mind when he was this close to her. All those bad ideas? Like the fact that she was his mentor’s daughter and a flight risk? Didn’t matter. She was also technically his competition and a pain in his ass, until Walt made a decision twenty-nine days and thirteen hours from now. But he wanted her. All that other important stuff fell second to that one fact.
Fantasies die hard, and Jake couldn’t help but wonder if she still had her old cheerleading uniform . . .
“Didn’t your mother teach you not to stare?” Laura said. And Jake realized he was doing just that.
“My mother taught me to appreciate women. Especially a fine one.”
“Oh my God, was that another line?” she asked.
“That’s just a fact.”
This was a means to an end no matter how he swung it. Either she or he would take over at the end of the month. Walt was going to retire and name a head of the company. So Jake just had to do his best to show he was right for the job. Granted, her yelling at him in nothing more than a towel had been hot. And he’d be more than happy to witness that again. They responded to each other. And despite his better judgment, he could really use a night of getting lost. He was juggling a hell of a lot and just wanted to relax, preferably next to Laura Baughman.
“I know more about you than you’d like to think,” he said. “I know that you haven’t been here. And actions speak loud. Your actions have been in California, and mine have been here.”
Her eyes shot wide and her throat worked double time to swallow what looked like a dose of concrete.
“You know nothing,” she rasped.
“I know enough.”
She leaned into him. “Then you know that I work very, very hard. I’m ruthless when it comes to what I want.”
“So am I.”
The heat passing between them was enough to tense Jake. He wanted to throttle this woman as much as he wanted to kiss her. He’d never wanted someone so much.
He leaned closer.
“Say the word and we can stop pretending. I know what you want,” he said.
“I don’t even like you,” she said. Which was a lie. She liked him a little. He glanced at her teeth sink
ing into that plump bottom lip again.
“I was talking about the shop.” He grinned. “But since you brought it up . . .”
“Get over yourself.”
“I’d be happy to, just as soon as you admit that you want to get under me.”
