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That had her heart stuttering. “I only deserve to be left alone to continue my work. I never asked for anything more.”
“And if I consider granting you this?”
And that had her heart skipping like a pebble over water. “Y-you would?”
“I would. On the condition that you become my partner.”
She coughed a mirthless laugh. “I’m not even partner material for an ice-cream stand. I know nothing about running a business. If you’re doing this to stop me from leaving for some reason only you’ll ever know, I assure you, you don’t need to bribe me with any bogus executive position I have no wish for and would be useless at. I’m probably the only person you’ll ever meet who considers such a promotion a terrible fate and not a reward. But I’ll gladly stay if you let me continue my work.”
“So you’re fine with me as your boss? You’d stay in spite of all your vigorous objections to me and my methods?”
“As long as you leave me alone, professionally and personally, I don’t care if you’re developing immunizations to sunlight for vampires and to silver for werewolves.”
His lips split in such an exuberant smile, dazzling her with a flash of white teeth and searing charisma.
She was trying not to hyperventilate when he made it impossible, reaching out and slipping the backpack off her shoulder, his long, strong, capable fingers sliding against her flesh, making her core clench with violent need.
“Until we come to a new agreement,” he said, “put your personal effects back where they belong.”
She clung to the backpack as if to a life raft. “What new agreement? We didn’t have an old one.”
“Then we’ll make a brand-new one from scratch.”
With the utmost gentleness, he insisted on tugging the backpack out of her white-knuckled grip.
Letting it go felt as if she were lowering her last shield against him.
After placing it on her workstation, he faced her with a grin that had her swaying like a building in an earthquake. He leaned his hip on the desk, folded his arms over his expansive chest.
“Now that that’s taken care of, there’s something else I require.”
“What’s that?” she croaked.
“You. For dinner.”
Four
“You want to have me for dinner?”
Lili hated that she’d squeaked. This man kept yanking at her composure. It was a matter of time before he snapped it.
“I meant I want to take you to dinner.”
Her insides tightened more at his forbearing tone. “My IQ might be selective, but even I got that. Don’t be—”
“—redundant? Yes, I know how you hate that.” His gaze took on a new level of intensity. “But the other meaning is also right. Though I’d rather have you for dessert.”
More convinced he’d decided to go all out having fun at her expense, she hissed, “Spare me the clichés, Dr. Balducci. And stop looking at me like that.”
“Like what? Like you’re the most fascinating thing I’ve ever seen? How can I, when you are?”
“That’s what you tell yourself about the people you toy with? That they had it coming, being who they are?” She shook her head as his smile faltered. “But that’s not how you’re looking at me. At least, it’s not how you’re making me feel.”
Every trace of levity left his face, avidness replacing it. “How am I making you feel? Tell me.”
“You make me feel as if you’re probing my every last thought.”
His lips quirked, the smile back in his gaze. “Why would I do that when you wallop me over the head with everything that comes to your mind the moment it does?”
